You have to be crazy, or just a normal golfer, to play '10 of Michigan's Toughest Holes'

Bill Hobson and I have been friends for nearly 20 years, and he’s one of my favorite people in golf media. He’s the host and executive producer of “Michigan Golf Live,” his long-running television and radio show that transports viewers and listeners each week to interesting courses all over the state.

Hobson is one of the wittiest and funniest people I know. Every time I run into him at a tournament, as I did at the Rocket Mortgage Classic recently, I’m instantly in a better mood and ready to laugh about the mishaps, indignities and quixotic adventures he relates about producing his show or navigating life.

So it’s with great confidence that I can tell you Bill Hobson is a wonderful man. Just not a very smart one.

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That’s because he learned nothing from joining me in 2005 to play the toughest 18 holes on public courses in metro Detroit for a Free Press article I wrote. It was a logistical nightmare and the kind of physically demanding challenge that would have made a Navy SEAL cry for his mommy. I mean, sometimes the air conditioning wasn’t great and we ran out of snacks.

Our odyssey required driving all over Detroit over several days. We got out of the car, played one hole, got back in the car and drove to the next course. We did that 18 times.

Nearly 20 years later, Hobson decided to put himself through another severe ordeal and play "10 of Michigan's Toughest Holes,” which is the title of the MGL show that will air at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on Bally Sports Detroit.

Why? Why, Bill? I’m speaking of course of Hobson’s decision to go into TV with a face for radio.

But I also want to know what would possess a man to embark on the grueling task of playing some of the hardest holes in the state, stretching from the Upper Peninsula to Detroit’s Downriver area? Did he slip into a coma while I was driving during our 2005 death march, or did those TV klieg lights finally fry his noggin?

“Well,” Hobson said, “those memories come and go a little bit.

“It’s the same kind of thing, though. We want our viewers to go and play these courses. So we’re having fun while we do this, but I’m also posting my score for everybody to see. You’re going to see the full 10-hole scorecard in what feels like 7,000 yards in 10 holes if it keeps up at this rate.”

Hobson’s brainchild — I use that tern very loosely — was born from a survey of his viewers in February. He asked them to vote on “the holes that give you the most fits.” From more than 2,000 votes, he culled the list of the 10 holes on public courses he played. The holes aren’t ranked, but these are the holes in the order and yardages Hobson played them.

1. Sugarbush Golf Club in Goodrich. No. 13, 646-yard par-5.

2. Boulder Pointe Golf Club in Oxford. No. 5 Dunes Course, 497-yard par-4.

3. Wild Bluff Golf Course in Brimley. No. 15, 218-yard par-3.

4. Lakes of Taylor Golf Club in Taylor. No. 8, 531-yard par-5.

5. Lake Erie Metropark Golf Course in Brownstown Township. No. 11, 445-yard par-4.

6. Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti. No. 13, 540-yard par-5.

7. St. Ives Golf Course in Stanwood. No. 14, 449-yard par-4.

8. Huron Meadows Metropark Golf Course in Brighton. No. 9, 467-yard par-4.

9. Grande Golf Club in Jackson. No. 16, 497-yard par-4.

10. The Medalist in Marshall. No. 11, 424-yard par-4.

Hobson didn’t drive in a straight line, but Wild Bluff and Lakes of Taylor are more than 350 miles apart. He played these 10 holes on 10 courses in 17 days, while squeezing in his broadcast from the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Speaking from experience, it’s difficult enough playing a hard hole — getting out of a car after hours of driving and striping a drive without any warmup isn’t the easiest thing.

There was one point Hobson wanted to stress about his challenging adventure. It’s self-inflicted, a little contrived and not meant to ward off potential customers.

“Every course takes great pride in recognition,” he said, “but nobody wants to be thought of as an impossibly difficult course, which makes sense.

“So we always make sure we tell everybody, ‘You don’t have to play this from the very back tees that the pros would play.’ And we asked the courses to set up things in a very difficult way. We wanted it to be a stern challenge. So I don’t want to scare anybody away.”

I doubt there’s any danger in that. In fact, the tougher and scarier anyone makes these holes, the more you want to play them. I can’t speak for the entire list, but I’ve played three of these holes (though not from the tips). While they’re extremely tough, they aren’t unfair.

For the record, Hobson’s personal choice for the toughest hole was the fifth at Boulder Pointe, a really long par-4 that plays to an uphill green. He also thought he should have had a parade thrown in his honor for parring the tight 14th at St. Ives that requires a hybrid off the tee and two forced carries, plus an elevated green that calls for one extra club.

If you’ve read this far, you’re clearly intrigued by Hobson’s list. And you’re probably thinking about playing these holes yourself. If that’s the case, I ask you this question: Are you crazy?

Don’t bother. I know the answer. You are, because you’re a human, and humans love to test themselves in dumb ways with challenges that are deliciously daring and daunting.

It’s why President John F. Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” It’s why Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest, said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

It’s why Uncle Rico thinks he can throw a football over them mountains. It’s why I believe I will solve the Wordle one of these days in three — OK, six — tries.

And for that subsection of humans, for those irredeemable and unrepentant souls the rest of the world knows only as golfers, we carry an extra burden. We willingly search for mastery over a game that cannot be mastered, a perfect shot that is almost never perfect. And now my friend Bill has given us something else to carry: A list that guides us on this journey of testing ourselves as harshly as possible.

Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.