Four nights, four courses, and a road trip across the two properties that have placed Northern Michigan on the national golf map.
4 Days
Bucket List Trip
$2500–$4000/person
4
Moderate
This itinerary collects the four courses that have elevated Northern Michigan from a regional golf market to a destination with national standing. Arcadia Bluffs and Forest Dunes represent different architectural philosophies operating on different terrain, and the contrast between them is one of the most instructive experiences available to any serious golfer. The trip is structured as a road trip with two bases, moving from the Lake Michigan coast to the inland forests of Roscommon.
Fly into Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City and pick up a rental car. Rather than heading directly to the first course, drive 30 minutes west to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for an afternoon at one of the most visually dramatic landscapes in the Midwest.
Drive 45 minutes southwest to Arcadia Bluffs for a morning round on The Bluffs, the Warren Henderson and Rick Smith links-style layout that sits on 200-foot bluffs above Lake Michigan. This is the course that most visitors associate with Northern Michigan golf, and the reason is apparent from the first tee: the lake is visible on nearly every hole, the wind is a constant factor, and the sandy turf plays firm and fast in a way that rewards ground-game creativity.
Return to Arcadia Bluffs for a morning round on the South Course, Dana Fry's 2018 inland design that provides the architectural counterpoint to The Bluffs. The South Course references golden-age design with square tees and greens, and it plays walking-only through terrain that could not be more different from the lakeside bluffs of its sibling.
Morning round on The Loop, Tom Doak's reversible design that plays as the Black Course on odd calendar days and the Red Course on even days. Walking is the only option, and the pace of a walking round is essential to understanding what Doak has accomplished: a single set of fairways, greens, and hazards that produces two fundamentally different 18-hole experiences depending on the direction of play.
Drive approximately 90 minutes northwest to Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City for departure. The drive passes through the center of the lower peninsula, a landscape of forest and farmland that provides a quiet conclusion to the trip.
The two-base structure, with the first two nights near Traverse City and the final two nights near Gaylord or Grayling, minimizes driving on course days. The longest single drive is the Day 3 transfer from Arcadia to the Forest Dunes corridor, approximately two hours. A rental car is essential throughout. The Arcadia Bluffs courses encourage walking with caddies. Forest Dunes is walking-only on The Loop and walking-encouraged on the Forest Dunes course.
$2500–$4000
per person
4 Days
3 nights
4
courses included