Boyne’s Heather Course Standing the Test of Time
By Tom Lang
It’s called a pond – but for many golfers the body of water fronting the 18th green at The Heather at The Highlands, it feels more like a small lake to cross to reach the green.
And that pond has drawn a ton of attention over the years, 60 years in 2026 to be exact, as a calling card at BOYNE Golf ever since the venerable Robert Trent Jones Sr., designed the course under the direction of Boyne Resorts founder Everett Kircher.
Kircher needed a water source for making snow for the ski hill right near 18, as well as a basin to catch water from that same melting snow every springtime. What came to be is the now-formidable ‘pond’ that catches thousands of golf balls each season.
The story goes that Jones didn’t want it, and especially not a pond that large. So, Kircher made a plan to keep golf more fun, that there would be a special local rule for any golfer’s tee shot that goes in the water. You will find that local rule posted on the underside of the bench at the tee box.
The Heather provides a lot of drama and great golf before anyone gets to the 18th hole. Fair warning, we hope you like doglegs, because The Heather has plenty of them. The first hole starts out with a medium-length dogleg that tuns hard right. The second and third holes are also doglegs that turn slightly right. After navigating the par 3 fourth hole over a pond to a very large green, more doglegs loom ahead.
Holes 5, 7, 8 and 9 are all doglegs, which happen to turn left. Holes 5 and 9 are the most demanding of the quad, both being long par 5s with hard turns, and both have water on the left. The 9th is a very dramatic hole with a highly-elevated green to hold.
On the back nine, my favorite stretch of holes is 11-13.
The 11th is a moderately long par 5 with a well-bunkered green complex, followed by a par 3 over water that always seems to play longer than the scorecard yardage claims. The 13th is a dogleg left that wraps around trees all along the left side, to a tricky and slightly elevated green. This three-hole stretch is in a nutshell a review of the entire course. More fun holes connect these three to the venerable 18th.
Bearing all the markings of its legendary designer, The Heather has earned its reputation as one of the best championship courses in the entire United States.
The Heather has tested the finest in the game since 1966, playing host to five Michigan Amateur Championships, the GAM Mid-Am multiple times, AJGA Championships, the Michigan State Pro-Am, and The Celebrity Tour. The Heather additionally hosted the inaugural 2025 Great Lakes Championship on the LPGA’s EPSON Tour and will again in 2026.
The Heather was named the 2018 Golf Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA) and awarded the 2019 National Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA), and was rated a America's Top 100 Greatest Public Courses as recently as 2021.
Proving its broad appeal, the course is consistently recognized as one of the friendliest for women and senior golfers. It’s many awards and rankings include being listed among "The Top 100 Courses You Can Play” by Golf Magazine, and "50 Best Courses for Women" by Golf for Women magazine.
“Every golf course we have built since has been measured against The Heather, as in, is this as good as The Heather?” said Josh Richter, Sr. VP of Golf at Boyne. “Frankly, they might not be. As for 18 and the pond… Everett wanted to do something dramatic. Now it’s the signature of the course, and really a signature of Boyne Golf. On almost all of the courses we have, the last hole has a pond in front of it, and The Moor and The Alpine have two each.”
