Medalist Golf Club & Banquet Facility — Restaurant in Convis Township

Quick Review: COURSE - 5/5 VALUE - 5/5 PEOPLE - 5/5 AMENITIES - 5/5 OVERALL - 20/20

Detailed Review:

COURSE - 5/5 Hands down, The Medalist is one of my favorite courses I've ever played. The course is always extremely well kept, with perfect fairways, smooth and fast but fair greens, and rough that will stop your ball but is not impossible to hit out of. Not only is the course well kept, but it is beautiful as well. I especially love the view from the tee of 11 and looking back from the green of 17. The holes are spaced out well enough to have each one feel individual and isolated, but not so far that walking feels like a Herculean task. From a player's perspective, this course is the perfect challenge. Always tough but fair, most holes will have a side that is safer and offering an okay miss, while the other side will spell trouble. Additionally, I personally love playing knowing that the last 5 holes or so on the back 9 are birdie opportunities, it helps keep the mental game intact during a competitive round.

VALUE - 5/5 I wish I could give more than a 5/5 for value at The Medalist. There is no course in southern Michigan that offers a better golf experience for the cost. As of now (7/2/19), the range of costs goes from $7 to walk 18 holes after 5pm, to $65 to cart 18 during prime time on the weekends. First of all, $65 is absolutely worth paying to play here. Compare to other courses around, and you'll find a similar cost for any course that comes anywhere near the quality of The Medalist. Personally, I'm currently a college student, so I take advantage of the 5pm rates more often than not. I absolutely love the opportunity to play such a great course for such a great price, it allows me to play much more often, and is honestly a really smart business model because I know where I'll be playing when I have the money for Saturday morning golf.

PEOPLE - 5/5 The Medalist staff is fantastic, always friendly and smiling! They are also prompt in giving information about tee times, cancellations, etc. As for other golfers on the course, I have had nothing but good experiences. Most everyone is friendly and polite, and will let quicker golfers play through. As someone who frequently plays single, I've even had many golfers offer to have me join their group, which is always a good time!

AMENITIES - 5/5 The Medalist's golf carts are equipped with GPS systems for distances, which is always helpful. They also offer a feature that lets you order food from the clubhouse and have it delivered to your cart out on the course, so you don't even have to wait for the turn if you skipped breakfast. Though I've only used this feature once, the price was fair especially for a restaurant on a golf course, and the burger I ordered was delicious! The course also offers a drive-by snack bar between nines for those who want a drink or a quick bite but not a whole meal.

OVERALL - 20/20 There's not really a whole lot more to say at this point, if you're still reading this then go make your tee time before someone...

First and foremost, I love this course and the layout. Top notch stuff. More importantly however I love it even more in the condition I am used to seeing it in. With that being said, about a week ago we brought six players out and we hit the 2:00 pm deal. Before 2:00 pm to play was over $50 which seemed insane for spring golf. We ventured out and immediately noticed no tee markers were laid out. Then, we noticed no rakes in the bunkers. Then, we noticed the greens were NOT in good shape, at least in the shape we're used to seeing in the spring. Finally, my cart power was on empty and barely made it back to the clubhouse at the turn because the cart wasn't clearly charged. Not to mention, another cart in my group died mid round and we had to wait for it to be replaced. While playing, we noticed three other carts spread across the course that had died on players. It was quite clear that this course is operating on a skeleton crew and are trying to cut corners wherever possible. Nothing like when Osprey owned this place. In discussion after our round with my friends, we all agreed that if we had paid over $50 to play, we would have been coming back in for refunds. $29 or whatever we paid is a stretch. Rating this a 2 star fair rating only because I know what the course has the potential of being. We won't be back until I hear from reliable sources that the course has...

Sept 21 - as we played on 14th hole the golf pro drove up to us and asked if we had gotten the message of slow play - we noticed the red lettering but didn't worry too much about it as we kept looking back. the message says to allow faster golfers to advance, which we would have done if there was anyone waiting on the tee box. My group has played golf for about 40 years so we know the rules - I shot 46 and 48 so I felt good. This was my second time playing there and some of the tee off boxes were not labeled the best and hard to find. The pro told us the group in front of us was on hole 17, so about 3 holes ahead. We didn't dilly/dally as we played and as we made the turn we went to the pro shop to hit the restrooms and grab some waters. There was a scheduled outing at 2 pm and I think that was more of the issue to try to make sure we are off the course as they start. This golf course was by far one of the best courses I've played next to The Dunes in New Buffalo but the management needs give us a heads up if we need to move along - as the golfers behind us were actually in the fairway of 13 as we were in the fairway of 14 - I can't control the speed of the golfers in front of us but I can control the...