TRAVEL: Forest Dunes Golf Club, Home to 3 of America’s Top 50 Public Courses

In the event you’ve already visited the tropical-themed Horseshoe Bay Resort (TX) or the infamous Pinehurst Resort, allow me to suggest a destination that’s recently been blessed by golf course architect Tom Doak in an incredible unique way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Forest Dunes Golf Club (@forestdunes) on Jun 7, 2020 at 6:52am PDT

Located in Northern Michigan, Forest Dunes Golf Club is home to 54-holes of golf that are quickly making themselves out to be one of the country’s top destinations for golf aficionados and buddies’ trips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Forest Dunes Golf Club (@forestdunes) on May 18, 2020 at 8:55am PDT

Tucked in 500 acres of heavily wooded land within the Huron National Forest, Tom Weiskopf’s Forest Dunes course features a course with two identities—while the front nine features parkland-style holes meandering through corridors of red and jack pines, with elaborate bunkering and sandy waste areas on the sides, the back brings to mind Pine Valley with more open and exposed rugged native sand areas and scruffy underbrush crossing and bordering fairways and greens.

“Forest Dunes replicates classic style and emulates a risk/reward involvement on most every hole,” Weiskopf said. “I consider this golf course to be in the top three which I have ever been involved in the United States.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Forest Dunes Golf Club (@forestdunes) on Nov 20, 2019 at 11:48am PST

However, it’s The Loop that’s been garnering lots of attention recently because, as crazy as this might sound, The Loop is two courses in one. To explain, The Loop is the only reversible course of its kind using 18 green complexes, which are the heart and soul of the unique design. On even-numbered days, the Black Course is played clockwise, but every other day the Red Course is played counter-clockwise down the 18th fairway to the 17th green, and all the way around until the last hole plays back up the first fairway to the 18th green. As Erik Anders lang discussed during an episode of Adventures In Golf (Season 4), The Loop is a concept Tom Doak has doodled around with for nearly 20 years, and a dream come true to put it into practice.

And if playing the only reversible golf course wasn’t convincing enough on its own, it’s worth mentioning that Forest Dunes is home to three of the nation’s top 50 ranked public courses—Forest Dunes (#28), The Loop – Black (#45) and The Loop – Red (#47)—which all can be played together for less than the cost to play top-ranked Pebble Beach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Forest Dunes Golf Club (@forestdunes) on Nov 8, 2019 at 10:29am PST

But Forest Dunes isn’t done providing golfers with unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Brand new for 2020, Forest Dunes will be the unveiling of the new 10-hole short course opening this summer along with two new lake cottages.

Both cottages feature six-bedrooms sleeping groups of eight, walkout lower level to Lake AuSable, gas grill, fire pit and billiards table.

On that note, Forest Dunes offers a variety of stay-and-play packages. And with 4th of July approaching, Forest Dunes is offering a special holiday package pricing including lodging from Thursday, July 2nd through Sunday July 5th. Pricing starts at $199 for one-night/18-holes ($60 savings) and goes up to $638 for two-nights/72-holes ($200 savings). To book a special holiday package during the July 4th weekend, call at 989-275-0700 or visit Forest Dunes’ website here.

And in the event you can’t make it to Forest Dunes this summer, a new 2020 custom digital magazine is being launched that designed especially for Forest Dunes enthusiasts, called The Loop.

The digital publication looks to provide golfers with a deeper connection and stories about the award-winning resort, with highlighted stories including:

The new short course being built in a blisteringly swift 81 days, Owner Lew Thompson engaging Tom Doak in an idea that had been percolating in the architect’s brain for decades—a reversible course, and the land at Forest Dunes once housed the Detroit Mafia/Detroit Partnership at the height of prohibition, who were a central component in Martin Scorsese’s film The Irishman.

To read these stories, simply click here to check out The Loop.

Cover Image Via Instagram