The Black Forest at Wilderness Valley Golf Resort

This course 5 yrs ago was amazing... Now, however, it's unfortunately very dilapidated and neglected. $45 was twice what I'd feel comfortable paying to play it for the given course conditions.
Fairways appeared to have not been mowed in a weeks time. The greens were very very slow and unevenly mowed...
The main entrance and road leading to the course are amoung the worst I've seen.. Bring your 4wd and go slow..
The carts are also neglected, had to change 3 times due to different issues.

The staff was friendly and the pace of play was fast (due to being the only group on the entire course).

Once again, this place has amazing potential but will require a significant investment in time, money and management know-how to get back to its former glory.

I played Black Forest for the first time this year and I'm already planning a trip back. Definitely a must play when in the gaylord Michigan area. Course layout, landscape, and difficulty was amazing!

the up keep of the course was the worst I've ever seen , 4th of July weekend, fairways not cut, greens in terrible shape. No cart person, carts were in bad shape. Hopefully management see's this and addresses the issues. It's a beautiful layout, championship caliber set up. Needs TLC

Played the Black Forest today (6/29) and if this is the worse course anyone has
played, than I think they need to take up another hobby. The course was in
good shape and had a great time.

I played here 8 years ago and this place was a 10, one of the best maintained tracks out there. Played here yesterday and was SHOCKED. This is a terribly maintained golf course. It must have went bankrupt. I can hardly believe it . I had to take pictures of it to show people, because when I tell them this was the worst condition of any course I have EVER played...I want them to see it. What a shame a great course has been trashed like this. Tom Doak should get his name OFF the score cards

Look I love Doak courses. This course has a great layout. Typical characteristics of Doak. But my god is the condition embarrssing.

The greens were a mix of brown grass, dirt spots, ant farm hills/mounds, and thatch. They appeared to not have been mowen yet (late May). We ended up playing automatic 2 putts because the greens were unputtable by any standard.

The fairways weren't really fairways. They were spotty at best with grass but were filled with dandelions and thatch. Had to bump balls everywhere to find grass in the fairway.

There isn't really rough. It's like a mix of 30% grass, 30% dirt, 20% dandelions, and 20% random mix of stuff that wouldn't be on a golf course.

I can't comment on the staff because the only person I saw over the course of 18 holes the girl at the register. Other than that, on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend, the course was a ghost town. Came upon a group late in the round but that's it.

This course is in terrible disrepair and needs help... And quick... The course really isn't playable in it's current form. You can't putt on the greens at all. You can't even walk to some of the tee boxes without having to step through overgrown weeds to get there (I.e. #18, a par 3 on the front, and a handful of the Laidies tees). It's the end of May and I'm not sure a single mower has been used on the course.

Oh and not a single bunker was raked on the entire course. All of them had tire tracks and/or foot prints in them. Also, in most of them you could see the bunker liner because the sand is gone.

Not sure I will ever play here again. It's a shame the new owners let it get to this point. It's a great design and was done by a Michigan legend. He would be ashamed.

First I did have some positives.
1) Pace of Play was great because it was late on a Sunday so everyone was headed back south
2) The course layout is excellent and challenging. Always has been and always will be.
3) The staff was friendly.

Black Forest has always been a hidden gem for those of us that play the Gaylord area, because they never shove 4 somes off every 7 minutes like a couple of other courses in the area, very challenging course and the scenery is cut through a thick wooded area.

Here is the bad and I mean bad.
When was the last time the course was sprayed 2-3 years ago? The winter kill was devastating. Before you think well it is still early in the season, Black Forest was the third course my wife and I played over the weekend and none of the others were in this shape. The tee boxes were a complete disaster, most of the fairways have not come back and the greens were a complete embarrassment. Some of them I can only describe as putting on the surface of the moon.

The nice thing is we were charged spring rates of $55 with a cart. The problem with that is, that was over priced. The course at this condition is now a $35 at best and still over priced at that.

The biggest problem I had is we never finished 18 holes because my wife needed to use the restroom. It is fine for us guys to use the nearest tree but UNACCEPTABLE for my wife, other customers wives, girlfriends and or daughters TO USE THE WOODS AS THE RESTROOM! This is the weekend before Memorial weekend one of the biggest golf weekends in northern Michigan and the porta potties were not out. This is insulting to your customers. Please do not tell me it was because we had late cold fronts because the other course we played had restrooms open and/or prat potties out.

To the new owner of the course, I apologize for the horrible review of your course but you have let us faithful players of Black Forest down. I truly hope you can turn this course around but I am afraid the course is now ruined and you do not have the experience to bring it back to its once beautiful glory.

Had a group of 8 anticipating 3 nice tracks in the Gaylord area for a nice long weekend. Heard/read good things about Black Forest in the past, but read some reviews here so we touched base with the course to ensure the issues had been addressed from2015 and we were duped.

I feel bad as the staff was friendly, but this was unanimously the most disappointing course any of us have played. The greens looked like some foreign surface and rolled, I would guess, at about a 2. The sand was concrete with roots and other foliage growing in it, tee boxes were in rough shape, and the fairways/green's seemed uncut. We paid $40 and I wouldn't play it again for $5. Take your money down the road and avoid the disappointment.

The rough was in good shape though.

Beautiful course with an amazing landscape. Great value at an affordable price.

I've played Black Forest many many times over the years. After reading the reviews of golfers this season I can understand their disappointment. Since this is a Doak design - extremely difficult and quirky - and written up as a NoMi bucket list course to play in several golf rags there's an anticipation of 100pct pristine conditions by the 1st timers. That simply has not been the case for several years but the routing, design features and crazy greens always bring me back. The greens were fairly acceptable the day I played but course does need some extra TLC in all areas - which is difficult because it's a nightmare to maintain with lots of traps and impossibly fun green complexes. Black Forest continues to be one of my favorites in NoMi - it's one heck of a challenge and will always be on list of must plays when I travel up there. I still recommend highly and you should try to play with someone who has some course knowledge. Other than that good luck! Course right now is worth about $30 or $40 to play in the condition it's in so if you're a bucket list golfer get a hot deal and/or don't "dismiss" this course.....because this course on each and every hole will challenge your imagination and game....just deal with the conditions. I'll return next year for certain....and if others don't I'll again enjoy a 4 hour round on this incredibly challenging scenic track. 3 stars all because of maintenance. 5 stars otherwise.

MANY FRIENDS RECOMMENDED THIS COURSE. BUT TO MY DISMAY IT WAS IN AWFUL CONDITION. FAIRWAYS AND GREEN APPEARED TO HAVE SNOW MOLD. BUNKERS OVERGROWN AND NOT MAINTAINED.WE DROVE 290 MILES TO PLAY AND WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED. CAN'T BELIEVE COURSE IS OPEN.

My wife and I played this course in less than 3and a half hrs because we were the only people on it . This is wonderful layout if it was taken care of. We talked to people in the area the night before about said course no one had a good word about course. All of them were locals to gaylord golf .such a shame. I might like a retry if I knew this course is still open for playing a few yrs.

Staff and facilities were great. The course itself has not been weed maintained in years. The worst condition I have ever seen. Someone should be fired over this.

We have played this course many times over the years and it normally is in great shape. Not this year! Bad greens, fairways, bunkers and overall maintenance. Hated to see this great layout in such poor shape. Will check it out again in a month to see if improved.

The greens on this golf course were in horrible condition. Extremely slow. They looked like they had not been cut in a week. Also, places on the greens with no grass. They were very bumpy and making a putt over 2 feet was not likely.

This golf course is in terrible condition. The fairways are below average. The greens are extremely bumpy and very slow. There are places on the greens with no grass and making a putt from more then 2 feet is pure luck.

Typically try to play here once a year as the conditions are almost always pristine and well maintained. NOT this year. When I pulled up to the Bag Drop, the attendant asked me if I had played here recently, which I hadn't in rougly 5 years and he said the course had some trouble with snow mold the previous season.
I purchased an Unlimited Play pass from Groupon for $49.00 so I didnt feel too bad compared to the $75 rack rate.
Needless to say, the tee boxes were shameful. Bare spots everywhere, thin grass where the was any. The sandbunkers, which usually are pristine, had weeds growing and/or were hardpacked. Greens were the worst I've ever seen, Big bare patches everywhere.
I'll be extremely surprised if this course stays open much longer due to these poor conditions. Also, Wilderness Valley, the sister course on site, those greens were atrocious, dry, and brown. Almost as if it were August and in a drought.