Stoatin Brae at Gull Lake View Golf Club and Resort

This is an absolutely gorgeous course. Ignore the reviews from 2017, the first year the course was open. Greens were immaculate and the entire course was well maintained. It’s a great looking course with enough difficulty to make it a challenge but not too difficult (thanks to shorter length of some holes).

I would be back to play this again and again if it weren’t 4 hours from home. Glad I got up early and snagged the 7am tee time to enjoy the beautiful course on a beautiful morning!

This Stoatin Brae course has huge potential. First off we loved the cart coolers, kept the beers and jellow shots ice cold all day. It was a perfect Saturday out there, and after some great Charles and Darls BBQ and beers the night before, our glutes were firing early and often. Keeping shots in the fairway is no problem here, so the 2 nephews and I were 7 under at the turn. The greens are perfect and roll true. It's not especially long, and we took advantage of the generous fairways here. We cranked out 6 under on the harder back side, and finished up at -13 for 3 men. Like all of Gull Lake, you can feel the spirit of Darl Scott all over the course, and as we smoked a bowl and enjoyed the spectacular vistas in the twilight, you could imagine his presence. It's a southern Michigan gem, we will be back for more of this one. Keep on Rockin.

Really enjoyed the round today. Large fairways but tough rough and don’t go near the heather. Greens are large and challenging. We said the course was a combination of The Meadows, Macatawa Legends And Harbor Shores (greens).

No driving range was the only bummer for the day.

Great views as the whole course seems to on the high point of Kalamazoo county.

I enjoyed the course very much was in very good shape
I would play the course again
Has lots of tee boxes to choose from and is a good test from all of them
I think all handicaps will enjoy this course

The back 9 has the great land and the front 9 is sneaky fun and very challenging if you get into the rough. The half way house is one of the coolest I've seen anywhere built right into the land. If you are in this area this is a must play!

Renaissance design has built a gem into some of the best land in the Kalamazoo area. The back 9 is spectacularly laid out.

This is truly the stupidest course I've ever played and I've played loads of courses. I suppose one day maybe 5-8 years from now it will soften up (although I will never know cuz I will never be back) but currently it is unplayable. Greens, fairways and tees are firmer than concrete-- they could've saved money and skipped planting grass on greens. Can't even place your ball in front of ball mark without ball rolling away..Pretty scenery but pretty does not mean playable. Save your money- and it is quite a chunk of change- and play anywhere else but here.

We (my wife and I) played Stoatin Brae today and were extremely disappointed with pretty much everything.
Starting when we arrived plenty early to warm on the range and get in some practice putts - the course has no range (they can put you back in your car and send you a sister course a couple of miles away) and no practice putting green!!! Seriously I have been golfing for 30 years and have never even seen an 18-hole course without a practice green.

Next the manager had just let out a five-some ahead of us and stated that we could go ahead of them when we caught up to them. The starter then told us that we could go ahead but that there were foursomes stacked ahead of them so there was really no point. No problem we said, we're on vacation and can take our time - which was fine until we arrived at #11 and a ranger pulled up to tell us there would be a shotgun start on 10-15 starting in 40 minutes - the obviousl implication being that we needed to get it in gear (remember we were a twosome playing behind a fivesome).

Ok, the course itself. Most of the fairways and greens themselves were in reasonable shape, but the tees were ridiculous - on most tees, you simply could not get the tee (wood or plastic) into the ground more than ~ 1/2 inch. The areas around many of the greens were extremely beat up, due to uneven watering and wear.

We are golfers who enjoy different courses and experiences, but in our opinion there is no way this course is ready for play. The course itself need more preparation; the staff needs more training (I didn't mention the beverage cart that went roaring past us as we were putting on #18); the amenities need to be put in (ok, I never thought I would refere to aputting green as an amenity). All-in-all this place needs a few more years of preparation before it is ready for play (did I forget to mention that they are charging the highest green fees in the area). The property itself is beautiful, but in my opinion the owners rushed this into use before its time, didn't train the staff properly and have really put themselves behind the 8-ball in terms of providing an enjoyable golf experience for the public.

P.S. In case you think we are just miserable old cranks, we played a different course held by the same ownership group the day before (Stonehedge) and were favorably impressed with the quality of the golf and most of the ancillary features.

played this course with 3 other friends. i understand the course is new and hasn't somewhat taken hold yet but i feel the course isnt very playable, especially the greens and the area around the greens. the course is picturesque and most fairways are ok but the greens have very little way to receive approach shots. you have to play at least 2 clubs down most of the time and if you miss your run up, you are overly penalized with sharp run offs and no acceptable collection areas. on top of that, the greens in some cases are not puttable either because of the condition or the speed. i more enjoyed walking the heather and finding golf balls than making my next shot. if you are a bogey golfer like me sprinkled with 6 or so pars in a round, i would really prepare yourself for a frustrating round. i hope the owners realize they could lose return golfers for the current cost and make some course saving changes.

I went to play this course with my son on a Sunday afternoon. We were able to get off earlier then our tee time but promptly met up with a very slow foursome (looked like there were 4 foursomes stacked up that were slow). No offer to play through for us but at the same time there was no ranger on the course. Since I had lots of time between shots I was able to walk through the gourse and find golf balls (so there is a benefit to slow play). Course will be fantastic after another year of maturity and I will be back then.

Was blown away. Yes the course has to mature, but when it does, I believe it will be a top 5 Michigan course. Also has cooler and ball washer on carts, halfway snack shop called Bunkers built into a hill. Best par 3's and even seen a baby coyote chilling on the green I was on.

I have personally played at most private and public courses in the area and by far this is the BEST course design. The Scott family has raised the bar with this new course. The views are awesome!!!! Members of our group kept commenting, "we feel we are in Northern Michigan playing golf".

Challenging layout, but fair and playable for all players. The big hitters in my 4 foursome were brought back to the pack because it requires shot making and patience to navigate this course. If you have a pull hook shot or a bad slice, bring plenty of golf balls.

"The Bunker" (half way house) is so unique and creative. Good selection of snacks and drinks.

Give this new course 2-3 years to grew in and it will be the top rated course in SW Michigan and even Western Michigan (book it!!!). However, it is high quality in it's current condition.

The customer service was above average (A+), typical for Gull Lake View staff.
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I highly recommend this course.

Thought the piece of property and land was very impressive, highest point in battle creek area it seemed and you can see clear from one end of the course to the other. very impressive how the holes are shaped to the land and not vice versa.

The green complexes were absolutely fantastic, all the greens i thought were pretty small in size. which became even smaller when you take into effect the complexes. even in early growth thou they played rather firm today but rolled so true.

the start of the round, holes 1-5 were pretty uneventful, felt like you just go back and forth (one hole north, one hole south, etc.) with 4 par 4s. Once you get to the par 5 6th thou the round really started to become something great

i do have to say i think the back nine is one of the finest collections of holes ive played in a while. the 3 par threes are absolutely phenomenal. the par 5s feature favorable landing areas and great greens made pars feel great, imagine birdies feel even better. the stretch of 10-14 was just spectacular.

overall i would def say as the course grows in it will only become even better. peak season i would pay in the $105-85 range for this course when its fully grown in. Doaks associates did a spectacular job routing the course with the land and i left thoroughly pleased. Wind howled all day and made for a very difficult scoring round, but still had a great time. highly recommend it

Very nice course that will continue to improve over the summer and in the coming years. Fair layout. The greens ran smooth but not overly fast. By design it is a rugged, natural, links style golf course. No trees to speak of, rolling hills, some blind tee shots. Not much else like it in Southwest Lower Michigan. It all adds up to a very enjoyable round of golf. Worth it.