Forest Dunes — The Loop

Tom Doak has spent a career designing golf courses that defer to their natural terrain. The Loop, which opened in 2016 at Forest Dunes in Roscommon, takes that philosophy to its logical extreme. It is the world's first reversible golf course: 18 holes that play in one direction on odd calendar days (the Black Course) and in the opposite direction on even days (the Red Course). The greens are shared. The tees are shared. The routing simply reverses, and the result is two distinct experiences on the same piece of land.

The concept is not a gimmick, though it would be easy to dismiss it as one without playing it. Doak designed the greens with enough contour and enough acreage that they read differently depending on the direction of approach. A green that rewards a draw on the Black Course may demand a fade on the Red. A bunker that protects the front on one routing guards the back on the other. The strategic calculus shifts entirely between the two versions, and returning to play the opposite routing the following day reveals how much of golf course architecture depends on angle and perspective.

At 6,704 yards from the back tees with a par of 70, The Loop is not long by modern standards. The challenge is positional rather than physical. The fairways are wide and the rough is natural sand and native grass, maintained in a way that recalls the original links courses of Scotland where the boundary between fairway and hazard was a matter of degree rather than a sharp line. Balls that miss fairways do not always find penalty; they find lies that demand creativity. This is a course that rewards the golfer who can manufacture shots over the one who relies on a single ball flight.

The walking-only policy is non-negotiable, and it is the right call. The routing was designed to be walked, and the transitions between holes are short and natural. There are no cart paths, no crossing roads, no interruptions to the rhythm of the round. The pace is dictated by the course itself, which has a meditative quality that carts would compromise. Forecaddies are available and helpful, particularly for first-time visitors who may not immediately see the intended lines.

Forest Dunes is located in Roscommon, roughly 90 minutes southeast of Traverse City. The drive passes through the interior of Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula, a landscape of pine forests and sandy soil that explains why this particular property was suited to Doak's minimalist design approach. The natural sand that underpins the course is the same sand that defines much of this region, and Doak moved very little earth to create The Loop. The course looks as though it has been there for decades, which is the highest compliment available in modern golf architecture.

The ratings tell a particular story. The Black Course carries a rating of approximately 72.3 and a slope of 126; the Red Course is rated at 71.5 with a slope of 125. Both numbers are moderate by design rather than by accident. Doak built a course that challenges through strategy and variety rather than through punitive difficulty. The wide fairways and the absence of deep rough mean that the penalty for a missed shot is positional rather than penal. The golfer who drives into a waste area has a playable lie but a compromised angle. The golfer who finds the correct side of the fairway has options. This is a course that speaks in gradations of advantage rather than in the binary language of fairway or rough.

The conditioning of the playing surfaces deserves mention. The sandy subsoil provides natural drainage, and the turf remains firm and fast through the season. The ball interacts with the ground in ways that most inland American courses do not permit, and the ground game is a genuine part of the strategic toolkit at The Loop. Running a 7-iron onto a green through a gap in the bunkering is a valid play here, and on certain holes, it is the preferred one.

Green fees of $119 to $160 are remarkably accessible for a course of this caliber and reputation. The value proposition is strengthened by the walking-only format, which eliminates the cart fee that inflates the cost at most resort courses. A two-day visit that includes both the Black and Red routings is the ideal way to experience The Loop, and at roughly $300 for two rounds of walking golf on a course that has no equivalent anywhere else in the world, the cost compares favourably to a single round at many marquee courses.

The Loop has received extensive recognition from golf publications and architecture circles since its opening, but the recognition that matters most is the reaction of golfers who play it. The course provokes conversation about what golf architecture can be, and it rewards repeat visits in a way that few courses do. Each routing reveals something the other concealed.