CaddieTrail Guide
Michigan is home to some of the finest golf in America — Crystal Downs ranks among the country's top ten, and the Lake Michigan corridor rivals any resort destination in the country. These are the courses serious Michigan golfers pursue.
Twenty courses spanning the breadth of golf in the Great Lakes State, from the Upper Peninsula's rocky coastline to the historic clubs of metro Detroit. Crystal Downs and Oakland Hills' South Course headline the top tier — two of America's 100 Greatest, both private and rarely accessible. Arcadia Bluffs sets the resort standard along Lake Michigan's western shore, with both the Bluffs and South Course earning national recognition. Northern Michigan delivers Kingsley Club, Forest Dunes, and the cliff-edge views of Greywalls, while metro Detroit's historic clubs — Bloomfield Hills, Meadowbrook, Orchard Lake, and Franklin Hills — anchor the back half. The trail mixes Golden Age architecture with modern destination resorts, and the path through it requires both planning and patience.
#1 on trail
Crystal Downs Country ClubFrankfort, Michigan
MacKenzie and Maxwell's 1929 collaboration on Michigan's glacial dunes ranks among the most strategically demanding designs in the country. Consistently placed in America's top 10.
#2 on trail
Oakland Hills Country Club (South)Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Donald Ross original, redesigned by Robert Trent Jones for the 1951 U.S. Open — where Ben Hogan famously declared "I'm glad I brought this course — this monster — to its knees," giving rise to the nickname "the Monster." Hosted six U.S. Opens and the 2004 Ryder Cup.
#3 on trail
Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs Course)Arcadia, Michigan
Clifftop public layout by Warren Henderson and Rick Smith, perched above Lake Michigan with forced carries and wind-exposed holes that demand shot-shaping throughout.
#4 on trail
Kingsley ClubKingsley, Michigan
Tom Doak design in northern Michigan, opened 1993. Minimalist routing over rolling terrain with naturalistic bunkering. One of his most celebrated early works.
#5 on trail
Lost Dunes Golf ClubBridgman, Michigan
Private 18-hole layout in Bridgman, MI, set among Lake Michigan's coastal dunes. Rugged sandy terrain defines every hole, rewarding precise shot-making over power.
#6 on trail
Forest Dunes (Weiskopf Course)Roscommon, Michigan
Tom Weiskopf routing through northern Michigan's forests, opened 2002. Generous fairways give way to firm, contoured greens. Public access resort play in Roscommon.
Michigan hides some of the best public golf in America at the top of the Lower Peninsula and across the Upper. The northwest coast holds the heart of it — Arcadia Bluffs' links-style Bluffs course on the cliffs above Lake Michigan and its Macdonald-inspired South, the Weiskopf and reversible Doak layouts at Forest Dunes, and Arthur Hills' Bay Harbor along Little Traverse Bay. Inland and beyond lie Jim Engh's Tullymore, Jack Nicklaus's reclaimed Harbor Shores and his veteran-honoring American Dunes on the lakeshore, the granite drama of Mike DeVries's Greywalls above Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, and William Watson's 1927 classic at Belvedere, where the Michigan Amateur was contested for decades. Ten ways into a state that golfers from everywhere underestimate — until they go.
#1 on trail
Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs Course)Arcadia, Michigan
Clifftop public layout by Warren Henderson and Rick Smith, perched above Lake Michigan with forced carries and wind-exposed holes that demand shot-shaping throughout.
#2 on trail
Forest Dunes (Weiskopf Course)Roscommon, Michigan
Tom Weiskopf routing through northern Michigan's forests, opened 2002. Generous fairways give way to firm, contoured greens. Public access resort play in Roscommon.
#3 on trail
Arcadia Bluffs (South Course)Arcadia, Michigan
Dana Fry and Jason Straka's 2018 design plays on open, flat former orchard land set back from Lake Michigan, with persistent wind and a geometric, strategic layout inspired by C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. Public access. A younger companion to the original course.
#5 on trail
Forest Dunes (The Loop)Roscommon, Michigan
Tom Doak's reversible design plays 18 holes in two directions—Red and Black—on the same land. One of only a small number of reversible courses in the U.S., it remains a rare and celebrated format. Public access in northern Michigan.
#6 on trail
Belvedere Golf ClubCharlevoix, Michigan
William Watson's 1925 design winds through northern Michigan's rolling woodland terrain above Lake Charlevoix. Hepner's restoration preserved the classic character of its tree-lined fairways and subtle, contoured greens.
Six of western Michigan's most celebrated public and resort courses, anchored by Arcadia Bluffs' dramatic clifftop Bluffs Course and its inland South Course designed by Dana Fry & Jason Straka in 2018. The trail spans from American Dunes in Grand Haven — Jack Nicklaus's 2021 redesign honoring Folds of Honor — north through Bay Harbor's three-nine Arthur Hills routing on Little Traverse Bay, with Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor and Belvedere in the broader Petoskey-area resort corridor rounding out the list. Every course is open to visitor play, though Belvedere — a private club that welcomes outside guests with advance booking — requires more lead time than the rest. Summer tee times at the marquee courses move fast; planning ahead matters.
#1 on trail
Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs Course)Arcadia, Michigan
Clifftop public layout by Warren Henderson and Rick Smith, perched above Lake Michigan with forced carries and wind-exposed holes that demand shot-shaping throughout.
#2 on trail
Arcadia Bluffs (South Course)Arcadia, Michigan
Dana Fry and Jason Straka's 2018 design plays on open, flat former orchard land set back from Lake Michigan, with persistent wind and a geometric, strategic layout inspired by C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. Public access. A younger companion to the original course.
#3 on trail
Bay Harbor Golf Club (Links/Quarry)Petoskey, Michigan
Carved from a former shale quarry along Lake Michigan's Little Traverse Bay, this public-access layout combines dramatic elevation changes with coastal exposure. One of northern Michigan's most visually striking tracks.
#4 on trail
American Dunes Golf ClubGrand Haven, Michigan
Jack Nicklaus–designed public course built on the site of the former Grand Haven Golf Club in Grand Haven, opening in 2021. Proceeds benefit Folds of Honor scholarships for military families.
#5 on trail
Harbor ShoresBenton Harbor, Michigan
Jack Nicklaus-designed public track along Lake Michigan's shoreline in Benton Harbor. Host of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, with water and wetlands shaping many of the course's holes.
#6 on trail
Belvedere Golf ClubCharlevoix, Michigan
William Watson's 1925 design winds through northern Michigan's rolling woodland terrain above Lake Charlevoix. Hepner's restoration preserved the classic character of its tree-lined fairways and subtle, contoured greens.
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