Best Golf Courses in Michigan: The Dunes, Forest, and Lake Trips Actually Worth Planning

Michigan is one of those golf states that sneaks up on people.

Everybody talks about Bandon, Pinehurst, Scottsdale, and Myrtle. Fair enough. Those places rule.

But if you want a trip with real variety, stupidly good summer weather, and enough high-end public golf to keep a foursome happy for four days straight, Michigan deserves way more respect than it usually gets.

This place has dunes golf, forest golf, lake-view golf, rugged Upper Peninsula golf, and the kind of long-weekend road-trip routing that makes you start checking tee times before you have fully closed the browser.

If you are planning a Michigan golf trip, these are the courses I would build around.

1. Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs Course), Arcadia

If you only know one Michigan golf course, it is probably this one.

And honestly, that is fair.

Arcadia Bluffs is the postcard course, the flex course, the one with the giant Lake Michigan views and the dramatic dune-edge visuals that make every golfer immediately start acting like a cinematographer.

It earns the hype.

The whole experience feels bigger than most Midwest golf. Fescue, wind, elevation changes, wide visuals, and a setting that looks way more coastal-links than inland-American.

Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it is heavily photographed. Yes, that can attract a little too much bucket-list energy.

Still worth it.

2. Forest Dunes, Roscommon

If Arcadia is the scenic celebrity, Forest Dunes is the smarter golf-trip answer for groups that want depth.

Why? Because it gives you multiple excellent options in one stop.

You get:

• Forest Dunes, the original Tom Weiskopf layout
• The Loop, Tom Doak’s reversible course that literally changes direction on different days
• a setting in the Huron National Forest that feels quiet, remote, and golf-nerdy in the best possible way

This is one of the most complete destination properties in the Midwest. If you have a group that likes architecture talk, replay value, and doing 36 in a day without feeling like you are grinding through filler golf, this place is a hell of a move.

3. Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, Marquette

Greywalls is not for everybody.

That is part of why it is awesome.

Located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it is wild, rocky, dramatic, and at times a little unhinged in the way only memorable golf can be. The visuals are nuts. The routing moves over granite outcroppings and huge elevation shifts. The whole thing feels like somebody decided to build a golf course on terrain that did not especially want one there.

And yet it works.

If your group likes quirky, intense, visually unforgettable golf, Greywalls needs to be on the list. If your buddies whine every time a course gets a little weird, maybe spare yourself the group-text therapy and go elsewhere.

4. Arcadia Bluffs South Course, Arcadia

The South Course gets overshadowed because the Bluffs Course is the loud one.

That is dumb.

Arcadia South is flatter, firmer, more strategic, and more subtle. Less visual screaming, more actual shot-value golf. If the original course feels like a dramatic concert, this one feels like a really smart album that gets better the second time through.

In a lot of destinations, this would be the main event.

At Arcadia, it is the incredibly spoiled second option.

5. Bay Harbor Golf Club, Bay Harbor

If Arcadia is all dunes and drama, Bay Harbor is polished resort golf with a lot of visual juice.

The big draw here is the mix of holes routed along Lake Michigan and through old quarry land, especially on the Links/Quarry combinations that most people recommend first. The setting is gorgeous. The conditioning is strong. The whole thing feels like a proper upscale summer-golf trip stop.

It is not the same kind of architecture catnip as Forest Dunes or Greywalls, but it is absolutely the kind of place people finish and say, yeah, I’d play that again tomorrow.

6. Stoatin Brae, Augusta

If you want a course that serious golfers keep mentioning while casual golfers blink and ask what the hell you are talking about, this is one.

Stoatin Brae sits on a beautiful, rolling piece of land and has become one of Michigan’s most respected public-access layouts. It is not trying to overwhelm you with spectacle. It is just really, really good golf.

This is the kind of place that makes smart players happy because it asks decent questions all day without needing gimmicks to do it.

7. Treetops Resort (Jones Masterpiece / Fazio Premier / Threetops), Gaylord

Treetops is less about one single course and more about trip flexibility.

If your group wants choices, replay options, and a full-on golf-weekend vibe, Gaylord is one of Michigan’s best answers.

The big names here are the Jones Masterpiece and Fazio Premier, plus Threetops if your group wants a wildly fun par-3 detour instead of pretending every golf trip needs to be serious all the time.

That is the appeal. You can build a trip for architecture nerds, resort golfers, or a bunch of degenerates who just want to eat, gamble on closest-to-the-pin, and stay on property.

8. Harbor Shores, Benton Harbor

Harbor Shores deserves more trip love than it gets.

Jack Nicklaus designed it, the routing moves through multiple environments, and it has been proven in a serious-event context thanks to hosting the Senior PGA Championship. You get lake-adjacent scenery, parkland stretches, and a layout that feels like a proper championship test without becoming joyless.

It is not as famous nationally as Arcadia or Forest Dunes, but if you are building a southwest Michigan itinerary, it absolutely belongs in the conversation.

9. Boyne Highlands / Boyne Golf, Northern Michigan

Boyne is a little different from the one-course hero destinations because it is more of a trip ecosystem.

That is useful.

Across the broader Boyne collection, you can build a trip with plenty of quality golf, lodging, and off-course convenience without overcomplicating logistics. Depending on what you want, courses like The Heather, Arthur Hills, Donald Ross Memorial, and the broader Bay Harbor/Boyne network can give you a really efficient northern-Michigan trip.

For a lot of foursomes, easy logistics plus lots of solid golf is more valuable than one ultra-pure architecture flex.

That matters.

10. American Dunes, Grand Haven

This one has a different energy.

American Dunes, redesigned by Jack Nicklaus, carries a military-support mission and has become a very popular stop for golfers who want a meaningful story wrapped around a strong public course. It is playable, memorable, and easy to fit into a west-side Michigan trip.

It may not be the first course architecture diehards mention, but it is absolutely one of the more useful and appealing public options in the state.

Best Michigan Golf Trip Styles

Michigan works best when you stop thinking about it as one giant list and start thinking in trip types.

If you want the bucket-list trip

Play:

• Arcadia Bluffs
• Arcadia South
• Forest Dunes
• The Loop

That is a monster lineup.

If you want the northern-resort trip

Play:

• Bay Harbor
• Boyne Highlands courses
• Treetops options
• add Shanty Creek or a bonus round if your crew has juice left

If you want the golf-nerd trip

Play:

• Forest Dunes
• The Loop
• Greywalls
• Stoatin Brae

That trip has opinions built into it. I mean that as a compliment.

Best Time to Go

Michigan golf is best when the weather stops messing around.

The sweet spot is usually:

• late June through mid-September for the most reliable conditions
• September into early October if you want cooler air, fewer crowds, and peak this-is-why-we-play-here energy

Summer gives you the full resort scene. Early fall gives you the better golf-trip vibe.

My Take

Michigan is one of the best public-golf trip states in the country, full stop.

Maybe it does not have the nonstop brand power of Scottsdale or the year-round convenience of Myrtle Beach. Fine.

But when the weather is good, Michigan gives you a ridiculous mix of elite public golf, great scenery, and trip variety without feeling repetitive. You can do dunes. You can do forest. You can do lake views. You can do rugged weird stuff in the Upper Peninsula. Most states cannot touch that spread.

If you have not done a Michigan golf trip yet, fix that.

For more golf-trip ideas, check out the best golf courses in Wisconsin, the best golf courses in Minnesota, the best golf courses in Pinehurst, and the best golf courses in Colorado.