Quick update from an outsiders view: a group of 6 of us just spent 3 days playing golf up on the hill. Here's my initial reflection.
Gold: you can tell a lot of trimming (tee box areas, fairway lanes, and greens) had occurred. Grass was short or manageable on all holes. It was cart friendly. The redesign (phase C) was complete the last day we were there. Hole 13 plays same fairway but ends about 300 ft up fairway and is tucked 15' into left side of tree line (basic straight throw with light fade at end of flight). Not a standout hole, but ok. Hole 14 was open field throw, approximately 300'ish feet. It doesn't fit the gold course IMO, just too basic. Hole 15 is a gem!! 500'ish ft hole, plays slightly uphill to a big rock then goes down and over old hole 13's green to a pin tucked into the woods. My favorite of the redesigned holes and totally fits the flavor of the gold course. It will take a year to beat holes 14 and 15 in, they were pretty rough feeling since they had literally just been cut out. Overall, this course has received a ton of work since the last time I was at Highbridge (about 3 yrs ago) and it is looking and playing great.
Granite: this course was in the best shape overall, very clean tee box areas, fairways were all groomed and the lanes all trimmed, rough was cut back, greens were in great shape. There were a couple things different than I had remembered, with one hole having a complete different green that I had never seen in my previous 3 visits to Highbridge. If you remember the big "downed tree" hole (I can't recall which hole #) the basket was just pass the downed tree on a small mound on the right side of the fairway. Anyway, it now goes slightly left and up a steep hill where the pin is located at the top of the hill amongst some trees. This must have been the original design placement and I think it adds a little difficulty to the hole, great change IMO! This course tops Gold as of right now in having survived the years of overall neglect by the previous owner. It has recovered nicely and looks fantastic!
Woodland: this was just as I had expected and remembered , except one hole (previous owner used the fairway for the whitetail course but has now been reclaimed for the woodland green course). The course is in great shape and looks beautiful!
Blueberry: very sadly, and to no fault of MM, this course is not the same as we remembered. What was once a fan favorite of our group (because of its natural beauty, mild challenge, walkability , mix of short and long holes etc.) was our least favorite course of the trip. It looks tired, a bit neglected, and has lost its shine (other than hole 2 which has never looked better). The redesign of many of its holes is a definite minus (several holes are missing and we had to play Granite holes, other holes were altered from the original layout and not in a good way). I'm hoping the holes we played were only phase B of the redesign and that there is a better plan for the permanent phase C hole designs (in fact, I'm pretty sure MM is hard at work figuring this out). Again, I want to reiterate that this has NOTHING to do with MM and everything to do with the previous owner. He let this once pristine course turn into a lesser version of itself and his current selfishness has only hurt the legacy of Blueberry by causing a redesign that (as of now) hurts the course and the golfing community. Is Blueberry playable, absolutely. Is it what it once was, no. Can it find a new identity (because it will never be the same), I'm sure MM and his crew will do their best to make this happen.
Other observations: the pro shop and surrounding area looks better than ever. Many of the old stages, a burnt down cabin, and random piles of crap from JJ have been cleaned up. The courses are super clean, I think we only saw one random beer can on the courses. The rough, fairways, tee boxes, and greens were ALL mowed and trimmed better than ever. JJ would have some parts of the courses cut but there were always parts of the courses he just didn't manage. This was the first time I experienced all courses completely cut and managed, it was awesome! Many of the tee box benches were replaced or fixed. It is abundantly clear which parts of the hill are owned by MM and which parts are owned by JJ. Random thought: JJ, what he!! are you going to do with the thousands of tires you have strewn about your properties??? It is an absolute disgrace and it makes you a hypocrite based off your previous "largest organic blah blah blah" you preached for so many years. Thousands of half buried rubber tires and thousands of rubber tires in massive piles cannot be environmentally friendly and it sure as he!! isn't organic in that state! I feel for MM as he tries to navigate around JJ's piles of crap collected by the Honka house as well as the rest of the land JJ owns. We can only hope that JJ looses or sells the rest of his his land to someone who will #1 allow dg to coexist with it #2 will take care of the land the way it deserves. I don't want JJ to be broke and homeless, but it sure would be nice if he just left the hill to those who really care about that land and will manage it with integrity and respect for Mother Nature.
Finally: would I recommend a trip to Highbridge right now? A resounding YES!! It looks the best it has looked in years! MM and his faithful crew have already left their imprint on the hill. We ran into him a couple times while we were there and I made the comment that the hill is starting to smile again. I think this resonated with him as he had a small but proud smirk on his face. He seemed very humble and was cognitive of the massive amount of work still left on the hill to get it to where he wants it. He was also professional to us, in that he never once mentioned JJ or the crap he has had to put up with, fix, clean up, and work around (he can't clean JJ's crap piles on JJ's land). I want to be clear, the land that MM owns and/or manages has never looked better. The irony is that because his land looks so good and JJ's land looks so bad it makes JJ's crap stick out even more. Ain't that a kick in the sack, lol. If you are contemplating a trip to Highbridge, be reassured that you will love what you see and will have a great time. I left confident that the hill is now in better hands! Thx MM and friends for a great experience at Highbridge!!