Northern Michigan calls itself America's Summer Golf Capital, and the Lower Peninsula's northern half earns the title — world-class resort golf, Golden Age classics, and a reversible Tom Doak masterpiece all sit within a two-hour loop of Petoskey. Everything on this list is open to traveling golfers: public, resort, or semi-private courses you can book without a membership. Most visitors base around Petoskey and Harbor Springs and work outward; the five below cover resort stay-and-play, links-style golf, and one of the oldest championship tests in the Midwest.
1. Forest Dunes — Forest Dunes Course, Roscommon
The Forest Dunes Course is the Tom Weiskopf design that put a remote Roscommon address on the national golf map. Opened in 2002 in the Huron National Forest, it plays as two distinct personalities: the front nine threads through tall northern pines, while the back nine runs over natural sand dunes deposited by ancient glaciers. It is a fixture of Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public list, with 7,116 yards, a 75.2 rating, and a 146 slope from the back tees — and it has a 19th hole, a 117-yard par 3 over water with a bunker in the middle of the green, built for settling bets.
Forest Dunes is deep in the northern Lower Peninsula — the resort describes itself as about 90 minutes south of Mackinac — so treat it as a destination, not a drive-by. The course is open to outside visitors, but the best play is a stay-and-play trip at the on-site Lake AuSable Lodge, which also unlocks The Loop (see below). The golf season runs May through October, and you can pair both Forest Dunes rounds with the property's 10-hole Bootlegger short course to make a full day of golf without leaving the resort.
Forest Dunes — Michigan's unique golf experience — forestdunesgolf.com ↗
Forest Dunes – A Worthwhile Trek Off the Beaten Path — golfpunkhq.com ↗
2. The Loop at Forest Dunes, Roscommon
The Loop is Tom Doak's fully reversible 18-hole course — the first of its kind in America — and one of the most architecturally famous ideas in modern golf. The same 18 greens and fairways play clockwise as the Black Course one day and counterclockwise as the Red Course the next, modeled on the Old Course at St. Andrews, which was played in alternating directions in the 19th century. The result plays like a true inland links: firm, fast fescue over sandy soil where drives run out and approaches are often best played along the ground. It won Golf Digest's 2016 Best New competition as a single 36-hole concept.
The Loop is walking-only, and because the routing alternates direction each day, the course begs to be played on consecutive days — which means booking a stay-and-play trip at Forest Dunes' on-site lodging. The Loop is reserved for guests staying at the resort, so this is a two-day commitment by design: one direction per day, with the Forest Dunes course and the Bootlegger short course filling the rest of your itinerary. Caddies are available, and the walking-only setup makes a good pair of shoes the most important gear choice of the trip.
The Loop: Black Course at Forest Dunes — Golf Digest ↗
The Loop: Red Course at Forest Dunes — Golf Digest ↗
Forest Dunes Golf Club (The Loop) — where2golf.com ↗
Forest Dunes Michigan golf getaway — weekendgolfgetaways.com ↗
3. Bay Harbor Golf Club, Bay Harbor (Petoskey)
Bay Harbor Golf Club is Arthur Hills's 27-hole masterpiece on Little Traverse Bay, and the flagship of BOYNE Golf's 'Magnificent Eleven' collection of northern Michigan resort courses. Hills designed the three nines — Links, Quarry, and Preserve — in collaboration with owner Stephen Kircher, and they combine into three different 18-hole configurations along five miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The Links/Quarry combo is the marquee, a fixture of Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public courses. The Quarry nine is the most photographed: holes dart atop and alongside the shale quarry the site was built on, with elevated tees and towering rock walls.
Bay Harbor welcomes visitors on weekdays and weekends from April through mid-October, and the smartest move is staying at the Inn at Bay Harbor, the resort hotel on the water. Book the Links/Quarry combination as your headline round — the Links hugs the lake shore while the Quarry delivers the drama. Pair it with sister BOYNE courses nearby: Crooked Tree is minutes away in Petoskey, and the four courses at The Highlands in Harbor Springs make an easy second day of the same trip.
Course Overviews | Bay Harbor Golf Club — bayharborgolf.com ↗
Bay Harbor Golf Club — where2golf.com ↗
4. Belvedere Golf Club, Charlevoix
Belvedere is the Golden Age soul of this list: William 'Willie' Watson's 1925 design in Charlevoix, a semi-private classic that has hosted the Michigan Amateur 40 times — more than any other club in the state, with the 41st edition played in 2025. The clubhouse and course sit much as they did a century ago, and a 2016 restoration by architect Bruce Hepner returned the greens, fairways, and tees to Watson's original hand-drawn 1925 plans after the drawings were rediscovered in a downtown Charlevoix print shop. Belvedere also hosts an annual Society of Hickory Golfers major championship, making it the American home of hickory golf.
Though private in character, Belvedere is available for public play daily from April 15 to October 15 — members hold preferred tee times from noon to 2 p.m., and the public is welcome all morning long, with twilight play after member hours. Call the pro shop (231-547-2611) for tee time availability rather than assuming walk-up access. It's a walkable, old-school test that pairs naturally with a Bay Harbor or Boyne Highlands trip — old-Michigan summer-colony golf before the big resort rounds.
Michigan Amateur to be Played at Belvedere for the 41st Time — MI Golf Journal ↗
Belvedere Golf Club — golf-info-guide.com ↗
Belvedere Golf Club Selected as Host of 2019 U.S. Hickory Open — eatsleepgolf.net ↗
5. Boyne Highlands — The Heather, Harbor Springs
The Heather is where northern Michigan golf started: Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s 1966 design at Boyne Highlands was the first Boyne golf course and a former member of Golf Digest's 100 Greatest and 100 Greatest Public lists. Set at the base of the resort's ski slopes, it is a stern, tree-lined ball-striking test with doglegs, sculpted bunkers, and water hazards demanding accuracy — 7,154 yards from the back tees with a 147 slope. The Highlands resort now holds four championship courses: the Heather, an Arthur Hills course (1999), a Donald Ross Memorial course (1989) built as tribute replicas of famous Ross holes, and the Moor (1974), plus the new nine-hole Doon Brae par-3 course (2025).
All of the Highlands courses welcome visitors on weekdays and weekends from April through mid-October, with advance booking required. Base yourself at the resort and build the trip around The Heather as the anchor round, then add the Arthur Hills course — its par-5 13th drops 516 yards from the top of the ski slope — or the Donald Ross Memorial for a playable tour through Ross's greatest hits. Shoulder-season trips in spring or fall are the relaxed way to see multiple Boyne properties in one visit.
Boyne Highlands Heather Course — Golf Digest ↗
Boyne Highlands Resort (Heather course) — where2golf.com ↗
Boyne Highlands Resort & Country Club reviews — golfshake.com ↗
This guide was created with AI assistance using the linked sources. Course access, rates, and conditions can change; confirm details directly before booking.
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