The Highlands at Harbor Springs

Perfect August day, course was great and greens were perfect.

This course is strikingly beautiful and very well maintained. It also has a huge grass driving range. I will definitely come back next Summer.

This is how golf was meant to be played.... in the woods, secluded, with a great variety of holes. Bravo Mr Hills, bravo.

As modern golf design tastes shift away from the boom-decades of the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, I find myself looking for examples of that era’s golf that remain relevant even today. I believe the Heather, the best of the three courses I played at Boyne Highlands, to be one.

My admiration starts with the course’s enjoyably walkable routing (an unfortunate rarity among its contemporaries) and extends to the mix of meadow, wetland and parkland settings it traverses before climbing up to the climactic elevated 18th tee overlooking the base of the resort’s ski hill and plunging toward the pond use to produce its snow. Along the way, par 5s at 5 and 9 and par 3s at 4 and 6 build momentum, while the inward half has its own enjoyable mix of holes.

The Heather plays out of its own, quaint clubhouse across from the resort’s main Lodge. Walking across the street to prepare for my round as the sun came up over Northern Michigan will remain a highlight of my golf year.

Tribute golf courses are tough to pull off. Transplanting the concept of a particular golf hole hundreds or even thousands of miles, to a totally different environment, can lead to an uncanny-valley feeling. On top of it all, taking inspiration from a dozen or more distinctly different golf courses complicates matters exponentially; such a course risks feeling like a hodgepodge rather than a coherent unit.

The Ross Memorial is a bit of a mixed bag. Its namesake architect’s work is world-renowned, so the impulse to pick the greatest holes from his oeuvre is understandable. In the end, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The course is currently undergoing a multi-stage renovation, and naturally, the holes that have received the most work are the most enjoyable – the par-4s 1st (Seminole) and 15th (Aronimink) holes are especially striking. But then there’s the par-3 8th (Charlotte Country Club), which has no discernible Ross character and just looks like a pleasant but mundane hole that could exist on thousands of other courses. None of the holes are offensive by any means and there are plenty of genuine highlights (in addition to the same pristine conditioning that Boyne Golf guests know and love), but I left wondering whether the best tribute to Ross here would have been more interpretive than 18 attempted straight-up replica holes.

They may not quite challenge the Bandons, Kohlers and Sand Valleys of the world for total supremacy, but the three Boyne Golf resorts of Northern Michigan represent some of the America’s pleasantest summertime destination golf at a relative bargain. The most scenic of the four golf courses at The Highlands, the Hills leans into its spread-out, thoroughly unwalkable routing by taking golfers on a meandering journey through deep woods, scenic wetlands and up to some impressive hilltops. The plunging tee shot on the mammoth par-5 13th is a highlight, but don’t overlook some of the quieter holes, like the long par-4 5th, which plays alongside dense rows of foreboding pines.

This was our first time up here for any of the Boyne Highlands courses.We played the Donald Ross Memorial course, and it was an excellent choice.. Everything exceeded our expectations . Layout, greens staff all were great.
Thanks for having me, I will be back again and again.

The Donald Ross used to be one of my favorites but apparently Boyne Management decided to ruin a really good thing. Taking out over 80 Michigan trees on Hole 1 to try to recreate FLORIDA!! OMG! The result is a Florida like junk sand pit and they’ve killed another 30 trees plus on 15 which is still closed.

When you imagine a course that commemorates a great Golf Course designer, you don’t try to retrofit environs that destroy your local environment and waste money. And only a year ago they had patted themselves on the back for Environmental Stewardship with the Heather. What a joke!

Donald Ross would roll over in his grave to see this abortion that they’ve done to this course. Play it if you like. For my money there are plenty other non-Boyne courses to enjoy at lower costs.

Go ahead and let the chain saws and bulldozers roll! I guess they’ve lost sight of the Environment and Golf in favor of Land Devastation. Fore!!

The course is under repair and actually had a hole closed. If you; are going to pay 600.00 for a group of 4 I would steer somewhere else.

You won’t find much of its namesake here as most holes are lined with trees, but it’s a fine course regardless. Course was in great shape, staff was nice and it was about 2 minutes from our stay n play condo.

Greens are tough on approach as bunkers excellently protect the greens and will also demand accuracy to avoid fairway bunkers. A tad unimpressed as The Heather is consistently ranked a top tier Michigan course, it’s very nice but Boyne, The Highlands, and Bay Harbor boast a couple better courses in my opinion. Worth the play for sure

I have no criticism of the golf course. However, there is not one sign indicating the Donald Ross Memorial golf course. Therefore, they got course was extremely hard to find. Not withstanding, the course was in excellent condition and since all of the holes were the best of Donald Ross design, there is not one bad hole on the course.

Course was in great condition, played later in the day and I was the only one on course. Only con I can think of is that after 4 it seems you can’t get any food on the course, but seems to be norm at any courses in up north MI.