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Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in Florida

Where to play golf of any kind in Florida? Check out these Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The No. 1 public-access course in Florida isn’t really a surprise, seeing how it has been broadcast worldwide into living rooms during each year’s Players Championship for decades. The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass ranks as one of legendary designer Pete Dye’s top five masterpieces, perplexing PGA Tour pros since it opened in 1980, and it ties for No. 15 on Golfweek’s Best list of all modern courses in the U.S.

And it isn’t the only course on the Ponte Vedra property to rank among Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Florida. Next door to the Players Stadium Course is Dye’s Valley, which clocks in at No. 18 among the Sunshine State’s best public layouts. Dye’s Valley doesn’t have the scale or fame of its neighbor, but it does have plenty of the features, challenges and visual tricks that made its designer and namesake famous.

Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass in Florida (Courtesy of TPC Sawgrass)

Looking for even more highly ranked public-access courses all at one property? In Florida, that would be Streamsong, home to Nos. 2, 3 and 4 on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts. The popular resort in Bowling Green, about an hour’s drive east of Tampa or 90 minutes southwest of Orlando, features courses by Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

Coore and Crenshaw’s Red Course tops the rankings for Streamsong’s courses, coming in at No. 2 among the state’s public-access layouts and tying for No. 37 among all modern courses in the U.S. Hanse’s Black Courses isn’t far behind, ranking No. 3 in the state and tying for 50^th among modern courses. Doak’s Blue Course is right there, too, ranking No. 4 in the state and No. 53 among modern courses.

Streamsong Resort — Streamsong’s Red Course (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)

How do you choose which layout at Streamsong to play? Take our advice: Play all three, then get back to us on your favorite. Every player to visit has plenty of opinions on which course they prefer and why, and none of them are really wrong. Combined, the three layouts make Streamsong one of only a handful of resorts in the U.S. to offer so many highly ranked courses, and the resort also has started construction of a new short course, the Chain, by Coore and Crenshaw that promises even more golf.

No. 5 in the state is no stranger to PGA Tour fans either, as Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando is home each year to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A statue of Palmer still stands guard near the first and 10th tees, reminding players of the decades in which the King lived at the resort while leaving his fingerprints on every aspect of the operation.

Florida is also home to a staggering array of private courses, many of which serve as winter retreats for well-heeled clientele and residents who chase the warmth south each year. Topping the list of private courses in the state is Seminole, a Donald Ross design in Juno Beach that is No. 12 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S. and one of the most exclusive clubs in the U.S.

Can’t get a tee time at Seminole? Get in line – almost all of us are waiting on that call. In the meantime, check out the rest of the best public-access and private clubs in Florida below.

Cabot buys Castle Stuart Golf Links in Scotland with plans for a new name and a new course by Tom Doak

Canadian-based developer Cabot plans to expand Castle Stuart with a new Tom Doak-designed layout.

Cabot, the developer that leaped into the world of golf with Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and has expanded beyond the Canadian border with projects in Florida and St. Lucia, has added to its portfolio, this time in the Scottish Highlands.

Cabot will announce this week that it has acquired Castle Stuart Golf Links and its accompanying resort amenities near Inverness, Scotland. The property will be rebranded Cabot Highlands.

Opened in 2009 with a design by Gil Hanse and the late Mark Parsinen, with holes that feature Moray Firth on one side of several fairways and bluffs to the other side, Castle Stuart Golf Links ranks No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

In 2024 that course will be joined by a second 18, Cabot said, this one to be built by Tom Doak. The property also is home to a new short course that is open now for preview play and officially will open in 2023.

Castle Stuart Cabot Highlands — Castle Stuart Golf Links in Scotland will be renamed Cabot Highlands. (Courtesy of Cabot)

“Castle Stuart has been considered a benchmark of exceptional Scottish golf since it first opened thirteen years ago,” Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of Cabot, said in a media release set for Tuesday that will announce the acquisition. “We are honored to be a steward of the land and carry the original vision for the property forward. Our goal is to create unforgettable memories in magical places, and there are few places in the world more awe-inspiring than the Scottish Highlands.”

The property will feature boutique accommodations, and Cabot said real estate will be a major part of the expansion with sales expected to begin in 2023. The property will feature upscale cabins that homeowners can rent to resort guests when the owners are not in residence. Featured activities for guests and property owners will include hiking, cycling, fishing, falconry, horseback riding and more. The property’s features include views of Kessock Bridge and Chanonry Lighthouse

“I couldn’t think of a better partner than Cabot to lead our next chapter,” said Stuart McColm, general manager of Castle Stuart and the forthcoming Cabot Highlands. “The work that’s been done at Cabot Cape Breton on the courses and within the community speaks for itself, and I know our beloved founder, Mark Parsinen, would be proud of the plans ahead to fulfill his original vision for the destination. Not only is this significant golf news, it is also a major boost for the regional economy of the Highlands.”

Cabot has been busy announcing expansions in the past couple years. The company took off in 2012 in Nova Scotia with Cabot Links, a Rod Whitman design that ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern Canadian courses. That course was joined in 2015 by Cabot Cliffs, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design that ranks No. 1 on that modern Canadian list.

In the Caribbean, the Coore and Crenshaw design at Cabot St. Lucia is slated to open in early 2023. In Canada, the company announced last year the development of Cabot Revelstoke in British Columbia, which will feature a course designed by Whitman that is scheduled to open in 2024. And in Florida, Cabot has purchased the former World Woods, rebranded it Citrus Farms and is having its two courses renovated by Kyle Franz and the team of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns with a planned reopening in 2023.

The new layout at Cabot Highlands will be the first by Doak for the company. That course will play around the property’s namesake 400-year-old castle and across expansive land with several holes along the water, Cabot said. Doak plans to start construction in 2023.

“I’m thrilled to partner with Ben Cowan-Dewar and the Cabot team,” said Doak, who has built courses around the world, including The Renaissance Club in Scotland. “We have been searching for the perfect destination for years. Our goal is to create a distinctly Scottish golf experience that appeals to players at all levels with an authentic links-style course that puts the golf holes front and center.”

Watch: Streamsong surprisingly different than anything else in Florida

Red, Blue or Black? When it comes to Streamsong in Florida, why choose?

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BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – What’s my favorite course at Streamsong? Red, Blue or Black?

Golfers at the popular resort, which turns 10 this year, are constantly reviewing that very question about the three courses that all rank among the top 20 resort courses in the United States. My stock answer: The next one. And I’ll defend that simplified response on the basis that I’ll gladly take a day at any of the three courses built by Gil Hanse, Tom Doak or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

There are noticeable differences between the layouts, but they are so tightly packed in the Golfweek’s Best rankings as to inevitably invite debate – that’s a big part of the fun. Ask me which you should play, and I’ll tell you to sample all three and get back to me.

Until you get that chance to visit the first time, or whether you’re a Streamsong veteran wanting to return, check out this video for a taste of golf that is different than anything else in the Sunshine State.

Golf architecture: The ‘Great Hazard’ undergoes a renaissance, with modern designers rethinking, restoring classical cross bunkers

Modern designers are restoring and often rethinking Great Hazards, those giant cross bunkers with oversized impact on strategy.

One of early American golf architecture’s most dramatic design features is being reinvigorated for the modern game.

Inner-circle Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast pioneered the “Great Hazard,” a massive expanse of wasteland usually set in the middle of a par 5. He often coupled this with a smaller but still gnarly bunker complex at the front of the green. In combination, this system demands a series of great shots, whether the player is going for the green in two, three or even four strokes.

The smallest imprecision off the tee forces the player to recalculate the odds all along the way. Four shots, including a punch-out and back-to-back layups, may be required to hopscotch up to the green. The overconfident player who mismanages the percentages could be in for a huge number.

But over the past century, players and equipment have evolved to the point that many of the original Great Hazards no longer threaten the tactical headlocks their creator intended. Longer hitters simply blast over the wasteland to set up an approach with a lofted club over the greenside bunker complex.

That’s why architect Gil Hanse, who has restored about a half-dozen Tillinghast designs in New York and New Jersey, made major changes to No. 17 on Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Hanse moved the network of fairway-interrupting bunkers and tall-grass islands downrange some 40 yards,  with the leftmost portion potentially gobbling drives and the rightmost path offering the most aggressive line to the green. Either way, it’s a big carry out of or over the hazard.

“When you have big hazards, they ask big questions,” Hanse said. “They ask you to make big decisions. In this day and age, accomplished golfers were able to drive it into the (Great Hazard). That’s why the shift occurred. If you get out of position, now the positioning of the hazard is you have to hit a monumentally good shot to get over.”

Indeed, be anywhere but perfect and you’re blocked out and hitting sideways, setting up a third shot with a long iron or wood, uphill to a raised, multi-tiered green with intimidating bunkers in front and left. Throw in three bunkers that protect the second layup area, and it makes a hole the pros might not often birdie when the PGA Championship returns to Baltusrol in 2029.

Hanse said the original hazard at Baltusrol had become smaller over time. He used Tillinghast’s plans and photos from the early years to reestablish the scale and dimensions of the original work, but he moved it to the new, more strategically demanding position.

The Great Hazard on. No. 17 on Baltusrol’s Lower Course (Courtesy of Baltusrol/Evan Schiller)

“Moving the Great Hazard exemplified Gil Hanse’s statement of a ‘sympathetic restoration,’ ” said Baltusrol club president Matt Wirths, who worked closely with Hanse on the exacting details of the project. “It restored a signature design element of a Tillinghast course, but in a way that recognizes the changes that have taken place since the original hole was built.”

And it’s not just Baltusrol. Great Hazard holes are being rediscovered, reinvented and stiffened at courses around the country.

Golfweek’s Best 30 under 30: The top golf courses opened since 1992 in the U.S.

Count down the top 30 courses of the past three decades, as judged by Golfweek’s panel of raters.

It’s been a crazy string of decades in golf design, with construction going gangbusters through the 1990s and early 2000s before grinding nearly to a complete halt after the financial crisis of 2007 and ’08. Things have picked up a bit in recent years, especially when considering high-end destinations scattered in far-flung locales around the U.S.

Through it all, these are the best 30 courses opened in the past 30 years in the U.S., as voted by Golfweek’s Best panel of raters.

The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final, cumulative rating.

This ranking is compiled from data included in the 2021 Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list, and it focuses on the golf courses themselves, not on resorts or private clubs as a whole or other amenities. Each golf course included is listed with its average rating from 1 to 10, its location, architect(s), the year it opened and its status as a private club (p), a resort (r), a daily-fee operation (d) or a real estate development (re).

Other Golfweek’s Best lists include:

Which golf course is best at Streamsong in Florida: Red, Blue or Black?

Streamsong celebrates its 10th anniversary with three highly ranked courses in Florida, but how do you choose the best of the lot?

The question comes all the time from players who have frequented top golf resorts in the U.S. and want to verify their opinions, as well as from golfers who have never played a certain top destination but dream of a trip.

“Which course at the resort is your favorite?”

Normally there’s a simple response, based on the evaluation of Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list.

Going to Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina? There are several courses available, but you must experience the Ocean Course. Destination Kohler in Wisconsin? Sure, Blackwolf Run offers two strong layouts, but Whistling Straits is the clear favorite among the resort’s four full-size tracks. Pinehurst in North Carolina? As much admiration as the recently renovated No. 4 has received among an impressive roster that includes four of the top 200 resort courses in the U.S., Donald Ross’s No. 2 is a classic masterpiece and repeat U.S. Open site that clearly shines brightest among the resort’s offerings in the rankings. Pebble Beach Golf Links is part of a larger California resort that stuns, but the classic seaside track is a can’t-miss for golfers.

But the answer to which is best isn’t always so cut-and-dried.

Which is your favorite of the five 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon? There’s plenty of debate around the fireplace outside McKee’s Pub, and all five courses rank in the top 11 on the 2022 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list. There really isn’t a wrong answer when all the options are that strong.

How about the best of the two current courses at Sand Valley in Wisconsin? The resort is operated by Michael and Chris Keiser, sons of Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, and as at Bandon Dunes the Golfweek’s Best list doesn’t necessarily establish a definitive winner between the eponymous Sand Valley layout and the resort’s Mammoth Dunes, both top-15 resort courses. Grab an Adirondack chair behind the clubhouse and let the “Which is better?” discussions begin.

Streamsong Red and Blue are intertwined. (Courtesy of Streamsong)

It’s the same story at Streamsong in Bowling Green, Florida, home to three courses ranked inside the top 20 on the 2022 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses List. Red? Blue? Black? “If you had to play just one,” I am frequently asked, “which would it be?”

My stock answer: The next one. And I’ll defend that simplified response on the basis that I’ll gladly take a day at any of the three courses built by Gil Hanse, Tom Doak or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. There are noticeable differences between the layouts, but they are so tightly packed in the Golfweek’s Best rankings as to inevitably invite debate – that’s a big part of the fun. Ask me which you should play, and I’ll tell you to sample all three and get back to me.

Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley and Streamsong combine to include 10 of the top 20 resort courses in the country. Apologies in advance for my dalliance into cliché, but asking to choose the best layout at any of them is like being asked which of your kids is your favorite. Only in this case, golfers often are more than willing to loudly announce their personal preferences.

Me? Not so much. Returning to Streamsong as a case study, there’s nuance to be considered. And the skill of the golfer. Putting prowess. The wind on any given day. Dozens of considerations, many of which change in time and with repeat rounds. Feel free to pick a favorite, but don’t be surprised to change your mind on another visit.

The Lodge at Streamsong in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong)

Streamsong celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, inviting reinspection of its leap into the course rankings. Much has changed since the two original courses, the Red and the Blue, opened in 2012 on a former phosphate mining site that offered plenty of sand and a raw, rollicking landscape unlike anything else in Florida. A luxurious 228-room hotel and spa opened in 2014, auxiliary sports such as shooting and bass fishing were introduced, and most importantly the Black course came online in 2017.

The resort and courses continue to evolve, recently with the introduction of new putting surfaces on the Red and Blue and with new restaurant themes and names that include the rebranding of the Black course’s Bone Valley Tavern into a seafood restaurant – the staff might suggest the salt and pepper fritto misto, and you can’t go wrong with the lobster mac and cheese.

Despite the changes, the focus remains on the golf, perhaps more sharply than ever.

The three layouts share many similarities: strikingly open vistas and easy walks with few trees in play, mostly firm and bouncy turf, beautiful bunkers that appear as simple sand scrapes and great mixes of memorable holes routed in natural fashions upon what in actuality are completely unnatural sites left over from mining operations. A common refrain is that Streamsong, full of jagged dunes and rugged boundaries in middle-of-nowhere inner Florida, feels like playing golf on the surface of the moon – in the case of these three courses, that is a compliment.

But there are differences.

Lusk: Five new golf courses I can’t wait to see in 2022, from Nebraska to New Zealand

Landmand, Te Arai, among others have golf architecture fans champing at the bit for 2022 to arrive.

After a decade of course closings dominating the headlines starting with the economic downturn in 2008, architects have been busier moving earth over the past several years. Coast to coast as well as abroad, several top-tier layouts have come online from noted architects – think Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, even Tiger Woods.

This new year promises more of the same, with the following five new courses being among those I can’t wait to see in 2022.

In keeping with recent development trends, these courses aren’t necessarily close to major population centers. Only one of them – the East Course at PGA Frisco – is near a big city, situated as it is on the northern outskirts of Dallas. The other four on this list? You’ll need planes, trains, automobiles or maybe a boat, and definitely a passport.

Doesn’t matter. Great golf is worth any travel. So in no particular order, here are five new courses I want to sink my nubby spikes into during 2022.

How do PGA Tour players feel about another ‘loud’ stadium hole (this one in Houston)? Mostly unfazed.

Welcome to golf after the pandemic break, where fans are eager to make up for lost time.

HOUSTON — With the sun setting behind him, Roger Sloan lined up a birdie putt on the 15th green during Thursday’s opening round of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, hoping to get one back after dropping a shot on the previous hole.

Sloan wasn’t born in Texas, but as the trite saying goes, “he got here as fast as he could.” The Canadian product has called Houston home for more than a decade, and although he’s certainly not a major local celebrity, you’d expect fans on hand at this week’s PGA Tour stop to be rooting for him.

That didn’t slow the buzz from the neighboring grandstands, however, even though Sloan probably could have used complete silence as he lined up the 37-footer. It was a putt that could have helped the former UTEP star as he looked to make just his third cut in a half-dozen starts this season.

But as he crouched to the ball, lubed up patrons continued conversations and laughter at a considerable volume. Sloan missed and made par. He went on to miss the cut in what was essentially a home game.

Welcome to golf after the pandemic break, where fans are eager to make up for lost time and PGA Tour venues are more than happy to oblige with stadium-style surroundings, especially on tight par 3s. While the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale was once an anomaly, courses recently added to the Tour schedule are working mightily to create similar experiences.

The gallery on the 15th green is seen during the third round of the Houston Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

For example, the 17th hole at TPC Craig Ranch — the new venue for the AT&T Byron Nelson outside Dallas — built an enclosure that allows patrons to drink, eat, play blackjack and watch Tour action, all in one spot.

And while Memorial Park, which housed the Houston Open from 1947 to 1963, had just a trickle of fans last year, a new setup on No. 15 follows in the suit of loud, stadium-style surroundings.

Doak, who redesigned the course with PGA Tour consultant Brooks Koepka, loved this par-3 so much that he believes it could make the difference in determining the outcome of one of the tournaments.

“Yeah, 15 is a really dangerous hole. That’s one of the ones. Brooks said when we started we’d be heroes if we just make par 3s short and not make them all 210 yards, because that’s what they usually do for Tour courses these days,” Doak said at last year’s course debut. “Especially that one, it’s the shortest one and it’s the nastiest one.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHS4DvnnjwP/

Crowds were not massive on Thursday or Friday, but they were substantial on both days and will likely become louder this weekend.

And while you’d think Tour players might bristle over the loud buzz created in these stadium-style holes, they don’t let on that the boisterous patrons are a distraction.

“It’s good. I think I hit a pitching wedge in there (Thursday) to a back pin, so
it’s not the hardest hole in the world if you hit a good shot, but obviously, it punishes bad shots. I think what this whole golf course does is it rewards good shots and punishes bad shots,” Marc Leishman said. “It’s great having the fans out here. We had a lot of last year where there wasn’t fans and I definitely missed having that atmosphere. I enjoy playing under those conditions, so I hope the crowds are big and loud and we can make some
birdies for them.”

The 15th hole at Houston’s Memorial Park includes an elevated green with enclosed stadium-style seating. (Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

Russell Henley called the hole “cool,” but admitted it’s a scary proposition for those who miss ever so slightly — something a slight distraction might assist with.

“I think you’ve got to be careful with that hole. If it gets into the wind and you play the back tee, I feel like it can be borderline questionable of, you know, fair in my opinion, depending on where you put the pin location,” Henley said. “I just think that’s just a tough hole. You know, it is a short par 3. Like I birdied it (Thursday), but you can be not very far off and be looking, trying to make a 4. It’s a tough hole.”

Undoubtedly, the strategy of creating a party-like atmosphere helps to draw in fans, even if it may detract from the product on the course. The more, the merrier, some have insisted, in the emerging era of raucous galleries.

“I think those last four holes are all kind of unique challenges. You have a short par 3, sometimes 16 is reachable with water, 17’s kind of a birdie hole and 18’s a tough one,” Jason Dufner said. “So I think what they’ve done with those last four holes trying to bring as many fans as they can into that area of the golf course, I think will be really nice on the weekend.

“I think they’ll have big crowds. A lot of things can happen on 15. You can see guys make a double or a triple.”

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Check the yardage book: Memorial Park for the PGA Tour’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open

See the hole maps for the site of the PGA Tour’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, where Tom Doak recently completed a renovation.

Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, site of this week’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open on the PGA Tour, was recently renovated by architect Tom Doak. The municipal course ranks No. 20 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in Texas.

The original John Bredemus layout opened in 1936 and hosted the PGA Tour at various times in the 1940s through the 1960s, but it had become overgrown and shaggy while hosting 60,000 rounds a year. Doak in 2019 completed his $34-million renovation funded through a foundation headed by Houston Astros’ owner Jim Crane, and the Tour returned in 2020.

The course will be set up at 7,412 yards with a par of 70 for this week’s event. It normally tops out at 7,292 yards with a par of 72.

Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.

Golfweek’s Best: Where to play golf in Michigan, from Forest Dunes to Arcadia Bluffs, Boyne to Greywalls

Michigan offers miles of great golf at Arcadia Bluffs, Forest Dunes, Greywalls, Boyne, Belvedere, Island Resort & Casino and Eagle Eye.

Red barns and cows. Narrow two-line highways and trees – so many trees. Grand lake views stretched to the horizon. Blue jean jackets and gas stations attached to liquor stores. Tall cornfields and billboards advertising only the finest marijuana edibles.

And incredible golf.

Michigan is more rural than an outsider might expect, full of farms and small-town crossroads. Outside Detroit and a few midsize cities, the Great Lakes State is the embodiment of Midwestern agrarian living, this despite it being the 10th-most populous state among the 50.

And thanks to a boom of golf course developments over the past 25 years mixed with a handful of exceptional classic tracks, Michigan offers what could be considered a surprisingly inspiring spread of public-access layouts. Outsiders might expect states such as California, Arizona and Florida to be packed with solid golf, but a recent study of Golfweek’s Best ranked courses revealed that Michigan offers the seventh-best sampling of elite public-access layouts in the country, ahead of such golf-heavy destinations as Hawaii and Virginia. Not bad for a state where the golf season doesn’t stretch much past seven months before the snow falls in many locales.

The Links nine at Boyne’s Bay Harbor Golf Club in Michigan (Courtesy of Boyne Golf/Evan Schiller)

I was there to see as many courses as I could fit into 11 days. Landing in Detroit and cruising west toward Lake Michigan, I would tee it up at 15 layouts – including a new par-3 course – and put some 1,400 miles on my rental car’s odometer before dropping it off in Milwaukee, the easiest major airport for me to reach after sliding my carry bag back into its travel case at the end of the trip.

This trip started with an airport arrival in Detroit and meandered all the way north into the Upper Peninsula along the shores of Lake Superior with samples of everything from daily-fee options with one course to a winter-season ski destination with 10 tracks. The only rule was the courses had to offer spots on their tee sheets to non-members. I started my planning with the goal of playing the top five Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in the state and added plenty more, including four days in the Upper Peninsula hosting a tournament for Golfweek’s Best raters. My golf route, in order:

Eagle Eye, No. 5 in Michigan on the 2021 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts
Arcadia Bluffs’ Bluffs Course in Arcadia, No. 1 in Michigan
Arcadia Bluffs’ South Course, No. 6 in Michigan
Forest Dunes’ Bootlegger par-3 course
Forest Dunes’ The Loop, No. 3 in Michigan
Forest Dunes, No. 4 in Michigan
Belvedere, No. 9 in Michigan
Boyne Golf’s Arthur Hills course, No. 19 in Michigan
Boyne Golf’s Donald Ross Memorial
Boyne Golf’s The Heather
Boyne Golf’s Bay Harbor (Links/Quarry nines), No. 8 in Michigan
Island Resort & Casino’s Sage Run
Timberstone
Marquette Greywalls, No. 2 in Michigan
Island Resort & Casino’s Sweetgrass, tied for No. 15 in Michigan

One of the best parts: The end of summer in Michigan offers some of the best-rolling greens found in the country. Bent grass thrives at this latitude, and the putting surfaces I sampled were, without exception, pure. Perfect greens frequently are an imperfect goal – there’s a lot more to great golf than smooth and fast greens – but seeing ball after ball roll across Michigan’s putting surfaces with hardly a bump or wiggle was a highlight of my trip.

It was an unforgettable and sometimes exhausting romp, with nine rounds played on foot and six in carts. There were cliffside holes overlooking one of the Great Lakes followed by secluded, forested layouts – even a fast and firm track that plays in one direction one day, the other direction the next. Hills, valleys, bluffs – a few birdies to keep things rolling, and so many bogeys. Too much golf and never enough, always waking before sunrise to squeeze in more holes, trying to finish before dark with enough time to find an open restaurant while avoiding the roadside deer that flashed through my high beams en route to that night’s bed.

Simply put, a wandering golfer’s dream.