When I set up our Michigan golf trip to Boyne I knew we were in for a treat. Other area golf writers have told me about it for years and their sentiments were always glowingly positive.
That said, BOYNE Golf over-delivered on every level.
From the resorts to the dining, lodging and golf, this is a big-time golf trip that is not talked about nearly enough.
The Boyne Golf destination
What and where is “Boyne,” anyway?
It’s not the Upper Peninsula (Sweetgrass, Sage Run, Greywalls and TimberStone) we hear so much about as the budget Mecca of Midwest golf, though you’ll likely drive through the UP on your way up and across to the picturesque Mackinac Bridge (the third longest suspension bridge in the country).
Boyne’s own Mecca of golf starts 40 minutes south of the Mackinac Bridge in Harbor Springs and continues south and southwest to the nearby towns of Petoskey and Boyne Falls.
Currently just behind Pinehurst, North Carolina, it is the second largest golf destination in the United States with an impressive 10 championship courses. The three towns are each 20- to 40-minute drives from one another but are home to multiple layouts at each location.
The Highlands has the most holes of the three, with 72 across its four courses including The Heather, The Moor, Donald Ross Memorial and Arthur Hills.
Boyne Mountain has 36 holes between The Alpine and The Monument and Bay Harbor Golf Club/Petoskey has a collective 45 across four courses that includes Crooked Tree Golf Club (18 holes) and the Links/Quarry, Quarry/Preserve and Preserve/Links at Bay Harbor Golf Club (27 total holes, which combine to create three championship layouts).
The only courses we did not play during our team trip were The Moor at The Highlands and The Preserve nine at Bay Harbor Golf Club. The 126 holes we did play were excellent.
The golf courses at Boyne are all well-designed and a lot of fun, but maybe the most impressive part of the entire experience was how incredibly well each course was maintained.
All of the properties at Boyne are held to the same, exacting standards for maintenance that results in country club-like conditions and quick, smooth greens.
Whether playing on the beautiful inland, hilly layouts at The Highlands or Boyne Mountain or along the spectacular Lake Michigan shoreline at Bay Harbor Golf Club, you can expect firm and fast turf and grounds that are held to exceptionally high standards.
This is not normal, and everyone in our group noticed and commented on it.
At most resorts, you can expect sublime conditions at their highest-end tracks (eg: The Links/Quarry at Bay Harbor Golf Club, which will set players back a few hundred dollars to play) and a slight digression at others. That was not the case at BOYNE Golf – they were all perfect.
Getting to Boyne
If coming from Milwaukee or north of it, the two fastest ways to get to Boyne’s properties will be by going around Lake Michigan to the north or taking the Lake Express ferry across it.
The two journeys take a similar amount of time, but the ferry would have cost around $900 for the four of us. We opted for the full route around Lake Michigan to the north.
The further south you get the more timing is equaled out between driving through Michigan’s UP versus along its western coastline. The break-even point for that is somewhere between Kenosha and Waukegan, Illinois.
Keep in mind that mainland Michigan is in the eastern time zone, so you’ll lose an hour on the way there but get it back on the way home. It also means sunrises and sunsets are significantly delayed when compared to Wisconsin’s.
Our late August trip’s sunrise photo shoots started at 6:30 am, for example, and sunsets wrapped around 9. This longer day time meant more time playing golf and enjoying the resort experiences.
The 2024 WiscoGolfAddict Boyne Trip
Along for our team trip were WiscoGolfAddict.com Contributing Writers Troy Giljohann, Brian Murphy and Rich Bauer.
In keeping with tradition from our 2023 team trip to Pinehurst, we played some competitive golf but this time kept it more friendly, including “gallery rules” and free mulligans at player’s discretion during non-competitive rounds.
Troy’s playing to a little better than scratch these days while Brian got eight strokes, I got nine and Rich 27.
While four of our seven rounds were enjoyed in the more relaxed format, the other three were contested for the coveted WiscoGolfAddict “Red Jacket.”
Troy took home the team championship from our first trip with ease, and with his improvement to a +0.6 since then was a heavy favorite this year again.
In the least competitively contested golf competition of all time, he ran away with the 2024 title via an 80 on the Ross Memorial Course, 70 at Crooked Tree and 76 on The Alpine at Boyne Mountain.
For good players like Troy, Boyne’s courses are challenging and set up ideally for competitive play. For guys like me, I highly recommend playing up a tee box or two and just enjoying the brilliant scenery, exciting course layouts and camaraderie of your group.
Golf’s hard. Make it fun, especially when in a setting as brilliant as northern Michigan.
The Highlands Resort
As duel golf and ski locales, The Highlands and Boyne Mountain each have a different feel. The Highlands makes you feel like you are visiting the Scottish Highlands, while Boyne Mountain offers an European vibe, reminiscent of Austria or Bavaria.
Check-in at The Highlands is at the base of the Heather course in its own smaller building with all lodging toward the top of the hill, across the parking lot from The Heather Golf Course.
While there, be sure to grab a delicious fresh-baked cookie or two.
The Donald Ross Memorial, Moor and Arthur Hills courses have their own pro shop and practice facilities, which is a short three-mile drive from the lodge.
Both The Highlands and Boyne Mountain have very nice outdoor pools and hot tubs. The hot tubs, especially, were huge and we enjoyed soaking in them with a beer or two each night of the vacation.
We each had our own Glen King Standard room at The Highlands. The lodging was extremely clean, spacious and comfortable with sizable bathrooms, walk-in showers and a bed I absolutely melted into each night.
While there are a number of dining options available at The Highlands, we only had meals at the Slopeside Lounge (and on-course food, of course) as we were on the golf courses from dusk until dawn each day.
If returning, there are a number of restaurants I was hoping we’d have a chance to check out including Teddy Griffin’s Road House, the Zoo Bar Cantina and Champions Pizza.
If we had to choose one restaurant to eat at, though, the Slopeside Lounge was awesome and also had terrific cocktails.
The Heather Course at The Highlands
Arriving to The Highlands at Harbor Springs around 1:00 in the afternoon on Sunday, our introduction to BOYNE Golf was on the Heather Course.
A masterful parkland design by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., The Heather was opened in 1966 as the first course in Boyne’s portfolio.
Stretching to 7,143 yards from the back, brown tees with a slope/rating of 147/75.4, this is a stern test of golf that’s played host to a myriad of state and professional tournaments including the 113th Michigan Amateur in 2024, and was also named the Michigan Golf Course of the Year in 2018 and National Golf Course of the Year in 2019 by the National Golf Course Owners Association.
As the trip’s first round, we could not have been more enthused while and after playing The Heather for everything else to come. This is a big boy golf course with incredible challenge and aesthetics.
Maybe the biggest challenge of the round is found on the 18th hole, a 434-yard (482 from the tips!) downhill par four that plays to and around a large inland pond. While driver can be hit left of the water or potentially short of it, the approach is bound to be long and require significant carry (unless played up the left side).
I managed to hit driver left of the pond and had 190 in (against the wind), crushed a 5-iron to the green and two-putted for par. It was a memorable finish on a great golf course.
For more on The Heather, Check Out Brian’s Full Course Review:
The Heather: BOYNE Golf’s Original Smash Hit
As the first round on our recent WiscoGolfAddict BOYNE Golf trip, The Heather Course at The Highlands provided an excellent introduction to the golf we were about to experience – a beautiful, challenging and perfectly kept course basking in a dramatic northern Michigan landscape.
The Donald Ross Memorial Course at The Highlands
The Donald Ross Memorial Course at The Highlands was my second favorite golf experience of our trip, replete with brilliant replicas from 18 of the great architect’s most iconic hole designs including two apiece from Seminole, Pinehurst No. 2 and Oakland Hills.
Other stalwart hole designs are from Plainfield and Inverness (both drivable par fours with two of the smallest greens I’ve ever seen), Aronimink, Bob O’Link and Wannamoisett.
An interesting aspect of the Ross Memorial Course is the way its look and feel changes as you progress through its routing.
The first hole, for example, is a replica of the sixth at Seminole Golf Club in Juno, Florida. This design has incredibly clean lines and sharp edges, exposed sand borders, zero trees in or near the field of play and a long but narrow, raised greens complex with runoffs on all sides.
Other holes are significantly tree-lined, tightly encroached by greenside bunkers or played over or alongside water hazards.
While the course’s style continually morphs as the round progresses, it all has a uniform, synchronized feel that results in an extraordinarily impressive and high-end golf experience.
The Donald Ross Memorial Course cracked my top three played during our BOYNE Golf trip and was in the running with the Links/Quarry course at Bay Harbor Golf Club for number one.
For more on The Donald Ross Memorial Course, Check Out My Full Course Review:
The Donald Ross Memorial Course: A Brilliant Architect’s Greatest Hits
My 2nd favorite course in the BOYNE Golf portfolio, The Donald Ross Memorial Course at The Highlands Resort showcases 18 of the great architect’s most impressive hole designs from around the world.
The Arthur Hills Course at The Highlands
I had no idea what to expect at the Hills Course. In fact, I spent more time ahead of our trip perusing Ross content thinking there was no way the Hills could hold a candle. I was wrong and was completely floored by it!
The Hills Course has probably the most dramatic land of any of Boyne’s golf courses, featuring changes in elevation up to 352 feet (over a 10-story drop!) on the spectacular par five 13th.
This course is a thrill ride through the forests of The Highlands, throwing out one signature hole after another.
One of the most incredible holes in all of Boyne’s portfolio, the par five 13th on the Hills Course begins atop one of the property’s highest points before descending hundreds of feet through the woods via a wide, forgiving fairway.
This is one of the most dramatically elevated golf holes I’ve ever played – up there with the 17th at TimberStone, the fifth on The General at Eagle Ridge and sixth at Wild Rock.
For more on The Arthur Hills Course, Check Out Brian’s Full Course Review:
The Arthur Hills Course at The Highlands: A Roller Coaster Ride Through the Forest
The Arthur Hills Course stood out to me as one of BOYNE Golf’s best layouts, featuring bold and dramatic architecture paired with one of the most scenic inland golf settings I’ve experienced.
Arthur Hills as an Architect
One of the things I loved about our trip to Boyne was the ability to see and play Arthur Hills’ work in several very different styles than I’m used to.
Here in Wisconsin, I know Hills’ architecture best from Washington County and the course I learned the game at, Wanaki (which he worked on with Wisconsin golf legend Billy Sixty in the early 1970s).
Having designed over 200 courses during his storied career, Arthur Hills was a phenomenal golf course architect who was versatile in his approach and design repertoire having engineered links-style experiences like at Bay Harbor Golf Club, Washington County and Chicago Highlands but also wooded, parkland courses like at Wanaki, the Arthur Hills Course at The Highlands and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst.
My general appreciation for Hills’ legacy certainly grew as a result of our visit to Boyne.
Doon Brae at The Highlands (coming in 2025!)
Readying to debut in the spring of 2025, the new nine-hole Doon Brae par three course is an absolute stunner!
Designed by Holland, Michigan-based architect Ray Hearn, Doon Brae (“Doon” translates to going down into a valley and “Brae” hillside in Scottish) is replacing the former Cuff Links par three that once inhabited the base of the ski hill abutting The Highlands.
Complete with a massive Himalayan-style putting course that rivals The Flatstick at The Club at Lac La Belle or even The Baths at Blackwolf Run, the updated area behind The Highlands’ Main Lodge will soon be a destination for visitors to enjoy bonus time playing golf on-site without needing a tee time on one of its 18-hole championship courses.
The par three course features wonderful short holes from 57-150 yards inspired by Hearn’s favorites from time spent in the British Isles, including many templates like an Eden, Biarritz, Short, Punch Bowl and a Redan/Reverse Redan sequence between holes four and five.
The nine-hole golf experience plays up, across and down the hillside, starting beside the new putting green and finishing downhill to the 134-yard standout Biarritz (my personal favorite of all templates).
Ownership played the course for the first time while we enjoyed our initial dinner of the trip on the patio of the Slopeside Lounge, and limited “test play” was allowed this fall to improve the experience when it opens for play next summer.
We enjoyed that dining experience so much, by the way, that we returned to it the following night. I can personally recommend the Bangers & Mac, their outstanding old-fashioneds and bison burgers.
It would be hard to go wrong at a restaurant like that, and it would be really tough to beat its view!
Boyne Mountain Resort
A well-known and beloved ski destination in the winter, Boyne Mountain is also the perfect summer getaway with two 18-hole golf courses, an expansive Alpine village and plethora of dining options.
Looking to get away with your kids? Boyne Mountain is the place to go with its 88,000 square foot Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark, an arcade, Deer Lake Beach and activities galore.
The resort had kids programming on the lawns of the village each night we were there, volleyball and lawn games, a candy store, tons of shopping and great options for dining with children (and adults, especially at the Forty Acres Tavern, Everett’s, Beach House Restaurant, Stein Eriksen’s and The Eagle’s Nest that overlooks the slopes).
The Trophy Room Pizzeria and Pub is a very popular spot for families with children, as are the Snack Shack (in the Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark) and SkyBridge Food Truck, of course. I know my wife would appreciate the Das Cafe coffee shop, as well.
Leading up to our trip, I heard from a number of friends who’ve been going to Boyne Mountain since they were kids with their families – it’s one of the top (if not the top) ski destinations in the Midwest and certainly one I’d love to get back to with the family someday.
While at Boyne Mountain, be sure to check out the new SkyBridge Michigan.
At 1,203 feet in length and 118 feet of height, this is the longest timber-towered suspension bridge in the world and is deemed “Michigan’s other bridge,” in deference, of course, to the Mackinac trespassed on the way in if traveling through the U.P.
While we stayed in Edelweiss King rooms in the newly updated Chalet Edelweiss guest haus, I was floored by how many options Boyne Mountain has for lodging including the Mountain Grand Lodge and Spa, the Clock Tower Lodge, Boynehof Lodge and a variety of villas and cabins for ski-in/ski-out accessibility and access to Deer Lake.
For the first 18 of our day at Boyne Mountain I was coming off a very poorly played round at Crooked Tree the day before and was nervous about my driving game following our photo session. These courses looked pretty tight and a guy at the Gypsy Distillery the night before warned us they were challenging.
Both the Alpine and Monument courses are beyond beautiful, exquisitely conditioned and yes, no pushovers.
Both begin atop the Boyne Mountain ski hill, then play downhill from the same general area as the SkyBridge. This ended up being a great bonus as we were able to get more shots of it prior to our morning round.
Pro Tip: Boyne Mountain Tee Times
When playing at Boyne Mountain, keep in mind that tee times begin at the pro shop. The first hole for both layouts is then a scenic one-mile / 10-minute cart ride up and around the mountain to the first tees.
The Alpine Course at Boyne Mountain
The Alpine is clean and tidy with tight fairway corridors and beautiful greens complexes. It’s a wonderful parkland design that we were all really impressed with.
Humongous hills come into play often on the inward nine, especially, and wild green-side bunkering is displayed throughout the course.
There wasn’t a single course we played during this trip that didn’t at least meet our lofty expectations, and they were all fun, beautiful and challenging. Maybe the pinnacle of that was the Alpine – it was one of the biggest, most pleasant surprises on our itinerary.
The Alpine and Monument courses cross over multiple times and it would be fairly easy to mistakenly play the wrong hole. If in question, note that the Memorial Course has darker, more ruggedly designed sand traps and MASSIVE boulders placed near its tees and marking 150-yard distances from the greens.
Alpine’s bunkers shimmer with perfect white sand and are edged meticulously. Run-offs are mowed to fairway height, providing a clean, communal aesthetic where anything errant can run amok and potentially into greenside bunkers.
I love the looks of the Alpine Course’s greens complexes. They’re very clean and extremely classy.
For more on The Alpine Course, Check Out Troy’s Full Course Review:
The Alpine: The Hills are Alive at Boyne Mountain
Whether drawn by its scenic beauty and strategic design, or the allure of conquering one of Boyne Mountain’s signature challenges, The Alpine delivers a uniquely mountainous Midwest experience where, just maybe, Julie Andrews’ spirit still twirls through the mist.
The Monument Course at Boyne Mountain
The Monument is a brute!
An impressive championship golf venue with a fun mix of parkland holes and incredible shot values, we were constantly in awe of this course’s monumental challenge and natural splendor.
A mix of the Alpine, Heather and Hills courses, the Monument has it all from a features perspective including architectural nods on 13 of the 18 holes to some of the game’s most legendary players including Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Byron Nelson.
Maybe the most challenging golf hole of our entire trip was on 18 at The Monument, which forces a carry from its elevated tee boxes and plays to a medium-wide fairway that leads to a pond and oversized island greens complex.
With 150+ yards in, this approach shot is all carry over water and with pond on all sides. Our group donated a couple balls to the golf gods on this one.
For more on Thee Monument Course, check out Rich’s article, linked below:
The Monument Course at Boyne Mountain: A Humbling Tribute to the Legends of the Game
A witty, humbling review of the Monument Course at Boyne Mountain – a beautifully designed tribute to golf’s legends, and a stern test for high-handicappers like me.
The Bay Harbor Golf Club (Petoskey, MI)
The company has wonderful lodging at The Highlands and Boyne Mountain, but its flagship property is the 125-room Inn at Bay Harbor, a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel, located on the shores of Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay.
The Petoskey leg of the BOYNE Golf destination features two golf properties that technically comprise four 18-hole courses between three nines: Links/Quarry, Links/Preserve and Quarry/Preserve. Crooked Tree Golf Club, Boyne’s only course developed outside the company, adds another 18 holes.
A charming northern beach community with so much more to experience beyond world-class golf, Petoskey is an incredible destination on its own.
Highlights from our time in Petoskey included an afternoon following Crooked Tree at Gypsy Distillery, lunches at Bay Harbor Golf Club and The Back Lot.
The Links/Quarry Course at Bay Harbor Golf Club
Our final round of the 2024 Boyne golf trip was on the Links/Quarry course at Bay Harbor Golf Club.
This was the round we were all most excited about when planning the visit. An annual inhabitant of the big publications’ Top 100 Public Courses lists from 1998-2022 when it was ranked 67th best by Golf Digest (it’s a shame it’s not significantly higher – this is a SERIOUSLY underrated golf experience!), Bay Harbor Golf Club provides an epic setting for golf with beautiful views and terrific Arthur Hills architecture.
Originally opened in 1998, Links/Quarry is colloquially referred to as “The Pebble Beach of the Midwest” with its mixture of dramatic lakeside holes akin to the Straits at Whistling Straits and incredible wooded ones, mostly on the Quarry nine.
Debuted the same year as Whistling Straits and Bandon Dunes, it almost feels to me like it was somehow lost in the shuffle, and for a top 100 course that’s saying a lot. Hills’ creative design and thoughtful use of the lake are ingenious, featuring seven holes that play to or along Lake Michigan and some spectacular hole designs within the property’s Quarry layout.
The golf at Bay Harbor Golf Club is sensational, in general, and the overall experience is fun and upscale.
I definitely spent a bit too much at the pro shop, by the way, which was huge and very well appointed with tons of great brands including Straight Down (I even grabbed a pullover for myself), Kjus, Peter Millar and many others.
I expected a lot out of Bay Harbor Golf Club and it blew my expectations out of the water in every way.
Leading the charge for beating expectations was The Quarry nine. I did not honestly know what to expect from The Quarry part of the course, kind of thinking we’d be awed by the Links and then play average golf for the back nine. Far from it.
The Quarry nine is replete with memorable golf holes, playing over and around an inland quarry with steep faces and thrilling use of elevation.
The Links/Quarry combination at Bay Harbor Golf Club is a bucket list-worthy golf experience and one I cannot imagine passing up on any trip to northern Michigan.
For more on the Links/Quarry Course at Bay Harbor Golf Club, Check Out My Course Review:
The Links/Quarry Course at Bay Harbor Golf Club: Underrated and Unforgettable
The crown jewel of the BOYNE Golf portfolio, the Links/Quarry Course at Bay Harbor Golf Club beautifully blends coastal links and inland quarry golf course architecture.
The Back Lot (Petoskey, MI)
The Back Lot is a must-visit spot for any craving you have in the area. Originally started by Boyne’s owner’s son, the taco truck out of a shipping container has grown over the years into a community of eight food trucks including Happy’s (now open year-round),
I had bacon mac and cheese from Cheese & Co, boneless wings from Phoxy’s and a margarita from Happy’s Tacos.
Brian and Rich both got tacos from Happy’s and raved about them. Troy got a wrap that he loved, and the drinkers in our group all enjoyed wonderfully made craft margaritas.
This property reminded me a lot of the Grateful Shed my family and I have come to love in Wisconsin Dells – it’s the perfect way for everybody to find something they’re sure to enjoy in a fun, communal setting in a great Midwestern small town.
The Gypsy Distillery (Petoskey, MI)
We were also blown away by the Gypsy Distillery.
Across the street from the front nine of the Links/Quarry Course at Bay Harbor Golf Club, the Gypsy Distillery is a beautiful, massive building filled with great spirits. They are most famous for their vodka, and especially their “Mulligans” – knowing my wife will enjoy them, as well, I wound up bringing a dozen home with me afterwards.
Crooked Tree Golf Club
Crooked Tree Golf Club is the only course in the BOYNE Golf portfolio that was not developed in-house as Boyne acquired the 1991 Harry Bowers design and subsequently renovated it with Arthur Hills in 2014 and Ray Hearn in 2022.
We played Crooked Tree on day three of our trip, and on every long golf trip I’ve been on there’s come a time when my hands start to deteriorate.
On this day the outside of my right hand was in a ton of pain and several fingers were starting to chafe… I was having a hard time completing my swing and my golf game went to the wayside. This is not a great course to be going through those types of issues on and I was a little surprised to even break 100 after blocking and pull-hooking tee shots all morning.
That said, Crooked Tree was yet another beautiful and tremendously challenging golf course with large, undulating greens and – especially on the back nine – unexpectedly major changes in elevation!
Crooked Tree’s signature hole, the par four 16th, was especially dramatic falling theatrically from tee to green and playing to a small putting surface just left of a pond.
This was also my favorite hole to photograph that morning with the bay and intense morning colors lingering beyond it.
Perched on a hillside above Highway 31 and Little Traverse Bay, Crooked Tree is just a few minutes down the road from Bay Harbor Golf Club and a really nice complement to its 27-hole experience if looking to build out a really nice 45-hole day.
The longer holes at Crooked Tree are especially impressive, including the sixth (532 yards from the gold tees we played), ninth (a shorter 470), 13th (516) and the 17th (474).
The sixth may have been my favorite of this bunch with a right-to-left tee shot that plays to a small creek and green on the opposite side.
The hole before, the fifth, was another of my favorites at Crooked Tree and highlighted a strong group of par threes.
The fifth, which stretches to 189 yards from the tips, plays uphill over a marshland to a greens complex that reminded me a lot of Hills’ work at Washington County.
FOr more on Crooked Tree Golf Club, check out Troy’s full course review:
Crooked Tree Golf Club: Petoskey’s Cliffside Playground
Just down the street from Bay Harbor Golf Club and across from The Inn at Bay Harbor, Crooked Tree Golf Club is a perfect complement to The Links/Quarry Course for an ideal 36- or 45-hole day while experiencing BOYNE Golf.
Where should Boyne Golf be ranked among the country’s top destinations?
BOYNE Golf as a destination is criminally underrated.
Every BOYNE Golf course is really good, and that visitors will even debate which is their favorite (when there’s a headliner as strong as Links/Quarry) tells that story well. I never hear “‘this’ is the best course at BOYNE Golf,” for example, but rather “‘this’ is my favorite.”
When it comes to favorites, Bay Harbor Golf Club does come up most frequently, but I’ve also heard the Donald Ross Memorial Course, Arthur Hills, Alpine and others. There are no wrong answers – only different architectural styles that speak to different players.
While I haven’t played at every major golf destination in the country I’ve played at quite a few and feel like I have a pretty good handle on where others would come in. That said, I think Boyne is easily a top 5 golf destination in the Midwest – that’s saying a lot, considering the strength of the region’s golf!
To me, Sand Valley Golf Resort (WI) takes the top spot in terms of top Midwest golf destinations with Kohler (WI) and French Lick (IN) following close in tow. Just behind these three juggernauts, to me, are BOYNE Golf, The Prairie Club (NE) and the Brainerd (MN) and Lake Geneva (WI) areas, in general.
How does Bay Harbor compare to Whistling Straits?
Whistling Straits vs. Bay Harbor Golf Club: A Great Lakes Golf Showdown
Whistling Straits vs Bay Harbor Golf Club – two of the Midwest’s most scenic public courses go head-to-head in this Great Lakes golf showdown.
Wisconsin Dells (WI), Eagle Ridge (IL) and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan all fall slightly beneath that tier but are fantastic golf destinations, as well.
I would put Boyne ahead of Brainerd and Lake Geneva, and probably a little ahead of The Prairie Club though the Sand Hills region of Nebraska may collectively be my favorite golf destination in the world when including Dismal River and everything else.
I have not had a chance to visit Big Cedar Lodge (MO), Firestone (OH), Gull Lake View (MI), TreeTops (MI) or Arcadia Bluffs (MI) yet, but also expect them all to rank highly. They’d have to really blow me away to unseat Boyne, though.
Given all that, and considering the incredible diversity and quality of golf to be played there, I’d personally put Boyne at number four in the Midwest.
How would you rank it? Please let us know in the comments section and vote on your favorite course at BOYNE Golf in the poll!
Looking to set up your own BOYNE Golf trip? Give them a call at (888) 316-3268 or visit their booth at the Milwaukee Golf Show!
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Excellent article, Paul, you really captured the overall BOYNE experience perfectly! This was a golf trip for the ages, and for me it ranks right up there with recent Pinehurst, Bandon, Sand Valley and Kohler experiences. It’s that good!
Thanks Brian, and I agree it was a phenomenal trip! It’s crazy we don’t hear more about it as a golf destination by us – BOYNE Golf is WELL worth talking about for so many reasons!