The Loon Golf Resort has grown to include a second location in Gaylord: The Ridge, formerly the Marsh Ridge Golf Resort. The Loon offers a townhome village with four-bedroom/four-bathroom units with full kitchens just steps from the clubhouse restaurant and the course. The Ridge is more versatile with hotel-style rooms, suites and free-standing…
Pine Cone Vacations is a series of rental homes, condos and chalets spread through the Michaywe community. Guests will have access to the community's outdoor pools and the restaurants Inn The Woods at the golf clubhouse. Michaywe Pines offers a classic layout that's fun to play for all ages and skill levels. It's much flatter than most of…
The Otsego Club, which started out as Michigan's first private ski club, is made up of four different lodges, totaling 68 rooms, and chalets. The Bavarian-themed resort offers 36 holes at The Classic and The Tribute, designed by Rick Robbins and Gary Koch. At the heart of the resort is the award-winning Duck Blind Grille, which overlooks the…
With 81 holes, Treetops Resort in Gaylord is one of the world's largest resorts and one of the Midwest's finest getaways. Treetops offers 226 guest rooms and suites among five separate locations on property. There's also a spa and 25,000 square feet of meeting space. The six different dining options range from buffets to casual dining serving 17…
Hawk's Eye, a very good John Robinson design across the street from Shanty Creek Resorts, was purchased by Shanty Creek in 2021 and brought into the fold, bringing the resort to 90 holes. Its accommodations are a collection of houses and condos surrounding the course and rooms above clubhouse.
The 5,000 acres of Shanty Creek Resorts are spread among three villages - Cedar River, Schuss and Summit, each with at least one golf course, restaurant and accommodations galore. The Summit is arguably home base with the Lakeview Lodge housing the Lakeview Restaurant, the spa and the Legend and Summit golf courses. The resort added the Hawk's Eye…
The Chief is one of three golf resorts within close proximity of one another in Bellaire - Hawk's Eye Golf Resort and Shanty Creek Resorts the others. It offers several accommodation choices. The golf cottages along the fifth fairway are executive quality with upper and lower units. Each one sleeps eight (four double beds total) with a kitchen and…
The 36-hole Boyne Mountain Resort is the most family-friendly of the three Boyne Resorts properties in northern Michigan. The Avalanche Bay waterpark and beach at Deer Lake are perfect for children and families. There's also an events lawn with a putting course, tennis courts, villas and tiki bar adjacent to the beach. The Grand Mountain Lodge is…
Forest Dunes had a rocky start two decades ago, but under owner Lew Thompson has shot to the top of the heap among Michigan's golf resorts. The construction of the Lake AuSable Lodge and The Loop, the ground-breaking reversible course by Tom Doak, has added a stay-and-play component that was never available in the past beyond Tom Weiskopf's…
Ron Otto was the driving force behind the rise of the Garland Lodge & Golf Resort in Lewiston. The former owned built the resort into a golfer's paradise designing all four courses from 1987-1995. Garland, a rare resort where all four courses operate out of one clubhouse, is home to more than 400 beds on property from hotel rooms to three- and…
The A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort (pronounced Ah-Ga-Ming) in tiny Kewadin north of Traverse City has blossomed into one of Michigan's largest and most impressive golf resorts. Its original Torch course overlooks the popular Torch Lake, redesigned by major champion Chick Harbert in 1986. Since then, guest lodging, real estate developments and three courses…
The Cottages at Dunmaglas reside in two buildings lining the 18th green near the range. These eight spacious three-room condos feature two bedrooms with full baths and individual balconies separated by a kitchen, living room, third full bath and laundry. Separate front entrances to each room offer ease of access and privacy. The 6,897-yard course…
Gaylord is situated at the center of the northern Lower Peninsula, putting the city in the heart of northern Michigan and its scenic beauty. The area's shimmering lakes and flowing rivers were sculpted by glaciers millions of years ago and are now surrounded by beautiful, mature forests and lush valleys.
Golf in Michigan is arguably the best in the nation. If you're making your way to the Gaylord Golf Mecca for the first time, here are six (and a half) must-plays to get you acclimated.
Other than missing a handful of big-timers, northern Michigan features a list of golf course designers as good as any destination in the country. All the usual suspects who dominate top 100 lists are well represented. But what are the best of the best? Jason Scott Deegan offers up northern Michigan's 10 best "designer" golf courses.
With 17 courses in the Gaylord Golf Mecca, getting a good deal is never a concern. There are price points in all ranges. In fact, a three-day golf trip spending $200 or less on green fees can be done even in high season.
For sheer convenience and depth of quality courses, no summer vacation destination beats the Gaylord Golf Mecca in northern Michigan, a golf hub unlike any other in the Midwest. Native son Jason Scott Deegan offers his list of the 10 best golf courses in Gaylord. Drum roll, please ...
Summer golf is grand in Michigan, but fall might be the best time to tee it up. The courses are more affordable with fall rates kicking in. You can play some top 100-type courses for half the price you'd pay in summer. The courses are less crowded, too.
The signs of recession still linger in this tiny outpost in northern Michigan. So how does Bellaire state such a strong case as one of the area's best golf destinations? The recipe starts with Shanty Creek Resorts.
Golf in northern Michigan can be incredibly picturesque as well as challenging. You'll find lots of great par 5s at courses such as the top-ranked Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course or Bay Harbor Golf Club, both of which grace the bluffs over Lake Michigan. We've narrowed it down to five par 5s that won't disappoint.
The Threetops Course at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich. is once again primed to host a national event. Treetops has launched a new two-person team event called the National Par 3 Team Championship. Qualifying runs until Sept. 11.
Boyne Resorts is one of Michigan's premier stay-and-play destinations. If you're a buddy trip captain, you're invited on an exclusive scouting trip for your group!
Matt Adams experienced Tom Doak's new reversible golf course in Michigan, The Loop at Forest Dunes, and ponders what effect it could have on modern golf design.
Senior Writer Mike Bailey finds The Loop at Forest Dunes in Michigan intriguing while old favorites like Bay Harbor, Boyne Highlands and Grand Traverse never disappoint.
Tom Doak, the cerebral savant of sand and dirt, continues to build an eclectic portfolio. His latest effort is a reversible course at Forest Dunes in Michigan slated to open in 2017.
Tom Doak's Loop at Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon, Michigan -- a unique 18-hole routing that's played forward one day, and backward the next -- debuts June 27.
Now that the Lake AuSable Lodge has opened on site, you can add northern Michigan's Forest Dunes G.C. to the short, elite list of quintessential "golf destinations." Kiel Christianson has more from Roscommon.
Is "reversible golf" the new way forward? Bradley S. Klein traces the concept, which is gaining steam among modern resort developers, back to the very beginning.
The Black Forest Course at Wilderness Valley in Gaylord is set on 400 acres of native Michigan evergreen and hardwood forests and cuts through the land naturally. The Tom Doak design gets golfers on the greens and in the bunkering (there are more than 100 bunkers here, and no two look alike). The greens have that classic look, like they were crafted by hand. The bunkers, meanwhile, are true hazards, so they are to be avoided at almost any cost.
The Tribute Course at the Otsego Club in Gaylord, Mich. runs up and down and around the Sturgeon River Valley, with plenty of panoramic views off the tees and natural forest framing the holes. With four to six tee boxes on every hole, the Tribute plays to all levels, but is a stiff test from the tips. Nearly every tee is elevated, and some offer views of more than 30 miles.
Cedar River is the newest -- and many would say best -- of the four golf courses at Shanty Creek Resorts in Bellaire, Mich. Opened in 1999, this dreamy Tom Weiskopf design roams through a magical northern Michigan hardwood forest, where deep bunkering, streams, ponds and elevation drops and climbs challenge players of all abilities.
The hillside of flowers spelling out "The Legend" and the gorgeous downhill opening tee shot on a risk-reward par 5 provide a fantastic first impression on The Legend at Shanty Creek Resorts. Once golfers survive the tricky second hole, The Legend unveils golf as good as northern Michigan gets.
Forest Dunes Golf Club is a relatively new northern Michigan golf course opened in 2002. The course, a Tom Weiskopf design, is the centerpiece of a large new real estate community near Roscommon in north central Michigan about an hour south of Gaylord.