Excellent course in a well maintained county park.

• Variety: Excellent - Nicely balanced between wooded & open, with a good mix of fairway shapes. A few Ace runs to go with the numerous grip 'n rip holes. Long and short tees help you bite off as much as want to chew, but even the short (blues) feature plenty of distance with several legit par 4's.

• Elevation: Very Good - about 1/3 or so of the holes feature some tasty elevation, with a slight majority playing flat.

• Challenge: Phenomenal - This course will test your distance, shot shaping, decision making, and possibly your endurance. Wind could easily be a major factor on some of the longer holes.

• Aethetics: Excellent - This is a pretty course that winds its way from wide open meadows, into mature woods, and back to the meadow a few different times. #7 plays alongside the Belle River. Wonderful views from the elevated tees on 6 & 10. Open holes feature well defined fairways that make you smile reaching for your go to driver.

• Equipment: Good- At this point, only a few of the tees are concrete, with most of them being heavy duty rubber securely fastened to the ground atop finely crushed gravel. But all of them are pretty good size. Yellow DisCatchers are easy to spot (really nice on holes as long as this course has). Front 9 has nice tee signs... but only the gold. As of this review: no tee signs on any of the back 9 or front 9 blue tees. Many "Next Tee" to help find your way.

• Memorable holes: #6 is noteworthy with a wonderfully built elevated (blue) tee, plus a top of the world shot from the gold. #6 also has two full time baskets: a short pin out in the open (visible from either tee), plus a 2nd, longer basket tucked into the woods, well to the right and a bit further back than the short pin (blind from either tee).

#10 features two elevated tees playing through a bunch of mature trees.

Gold layout features three par 5's in the 1000 foot range.

• Fun Factor: Most experienced players will really enjoy playing here, as will quite a few novices. But many beginners will feel completely overmatched. No doubt this course becomes a whole lot less fun if you have difficulty staying out of trouble.

• Routing/Nav: Pretty good on the whole. Laid out in two distinct 9 hole loops on either side the Lodge/Pavillion. There are a some long walks, but that's to be expected when the gold layout clocks in at over 10,000 ft.

• Facilities: Excellent - Handsome Lodge with spacious pavillion, tons of picnic tables, and clean, modern bathrooms.

An excellent course shouldn't have many cons.

• Next Tee signs lack the contrast to notice from a distance. They're not that easy to spot, and would be a lot more helpful if they caught your eye before you got right on top of them. Not too bad once you realize what you're looking for, but kind of annoying.

•Would appeal to a wider range of players with a 3rd set of white tees offering a 5000 - 6000 ft layout. Doesn't seem like the designers were chasing that. That said, there's plenty of room to do it, even if only on the longest of the open holes.

If you like to bomb: you'll love playing here. If you enjoy well wooded holes with mature, old growth trees: you'll love playing here.

You won't feel robbed because your disc kicked off a tree you couldn't see. The wooded holes feature large, mature trees that took decades to grow. If you don't see these trees, make an appointment with an optometrist.

I also enjoyed how the course changes pace, going from open to wooded a few times over the course of 18 holes.

This is a helluva course, and even though it's basically a day trip for me, I'll find the time to make it back here occasionally. One of the best championship courses SE Michigan.

My thanks to the Bendik family for choosing to honor their son in this way, and donating generously enough so the designers could execute what they envisioned.