Bello Woods Golf Course Review

Bello Bos
Macomb, Mich
Grade: D
Teacher comments: Poor conditions and pedestrian design.

Bello Woods offers 27 holes of golf in a park-like and wooded setting. I played the red and gold nines.

The Gold Nine is largely forested and often so cramped that it induces claustrophobia in the golfer. Water (or swampy areas, as in the second) threatens seven of the holes. There are also three tight doglegs, two of which are right angles.

The first on the Gold goes into the forest; eight and nine open into open fields. The entire routing is quite flat.

The Red Nine is more open and fun – or at least less frustrating. The first three holes are straight shots and flat, but from the fourth there is some elevation surrounding a creek that runs through the property, known by the unprepossessing name of ‘Hart Drain’.

With the exception of one dogleg (the sixth), the holes are mostly simple in design. Water appears on seven of the nine holes, mostly at the edges, although on the aforementioned sixth Hart Drain crosses the fairway.

I haven’t played the “White” nine, but it looks similar to the Red one. I dare say that my opinion of the course might have been higher if I had played the red-white combination instead.

Greens complexes on both nines were relatively mild. A bogey golfer should be able to have a good putting day at Bello Woods.

My favorite hole was the fourth on the Red Nine. From a slightly elevated tee the line of play descends, crosses a pond and then rises slightly to a flat approach.

The hole has a slight dogleg on the right. Trees on the right fairway line threaten the tee shot. Too far to the left, and a hidden pond can cause problems.

The green complex is not particularly noteworthy, but does have bunkers on the left and right with a short drop at the back.

In a nice stretch of routing, five run parallel to the fourth back, using the same two ponds as obstacles. The approach shot on five rises to the green, which is on the same knoll as the tee box for four – and also for six. A small section of hill, creating interest on three holes.

Bello Woods is not a member of the GAM and does not have a course rating and slope on the scorecard. There are two sets of T-shirts. On the Gold-Red route I played, the men’s tees are at 6,155 yards.

The conditions on the day I played were not good. The fairways ranged from weedy and overgrown to sparse. The wooded Gold Nine needed some serious work with a chainsaw to push back the edges and get the grass to grow. Some of those fairways were downright oppressive.

The greens were okay though.

Ultimately, I cannot recommend a trip to Bello Woods without substantial evidence that conditions have improved. There wasn’t enough value in the design to overcome that handicap. That said, the price was right. If you’re in the area and looking for some basic golf, Bello Woods might be for you.

The Bello Woods Golf Course Review was first published on November 20, 2025 from notes and photos taken during a round played in the summer of 2025.

Read all of GolfBlogger’s golf course reviews in Michigan.

A photo tour of Bello Woods follows:

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