Michigan’s Top 100 Golf Courses:

Michigan Golf Architecture Society

By Dan Kollros

When I think about what I want in a golf course, I think I’m not alone when I say that most of us are just looking for new places to play fun, compelling, and (hopefully) affordable golf.  

As golf course rankings have turned into an industry of their own, sometimes it feels like this point gets forgotten.  If you look at National or State level lists, there is a general consensus as to which courses qualify at the top.  These courses tend to check most of the boxes for everyone.  

In Michigan, you can nitpick as to which order these courses fall, but the vast majority of the people who play Oakland Hills, Kingsley or Crystal Downs think very highly of them.  As you move down the list, differences start to appear based on what the panel prioritizes.  

The trend that we noticed is that heavily marketed, top-conditioned high-end resort courses or well-known private clubs seem to be disproportionately represented higher over more architecturally compelling courses. Whether this is due to exposure or preference, it is unclear. 

In creating our rankings, the goal was to produce a list based solely on the architectural merits of the course.  

While we did not specify what criteria our panelists should use in rating these courses, we established a panel with exposure to a wide swath of Michigan’s courses, who have a basic understanding and appreciation for architectural principles.  While there is no consensus on a specific set of principles for what makes for good golf architecture, some of the criteria I find most important are playability, variety, strategy, and routing.  

Playability is an attribute that seemed to have been forgotten at one point but has made a comeback in the last 20 years.  Courses that are overly penal quickly lose their appeal for the vast majority of golfers. Courses that have adequate playing corridors and where wayward shots have appropriate recovery options provide a much more interesting and enjoyable golf experience.  

Variety is another feature that keeps courses interesting and enjoyable.  Is the course testing different parts of your game or asking the same question repeatedly?  By incorporating variety in a course, it provides the golfer a few chances at extremely challenging or heroic shots without beating them up past the point of enjoyment.  

My favorite example of this comes from golfing with my wife while playing at Kapalua in Hawaii.  The course is very playable, without any true forced carries except for the par 3 8th hole which traverses an unplayable ravine.  Being an occasional golfer, she put two balls into the ravine (insisting she could get it over) before finally accomplishing it on the third shot.  This put a big smile on her face and was one of her favorite shots of the round.  If she had faced that type of shot repeatedly throughout the round, she would have quickly disliked it – yet that one heroic shot provided a challenging and exciting contrast to the rest of the course.  

Strategy is another way to make a golf course compelling.  Does a hole provide multiple options off the tee, allowing you different ways to play the hole effectively?  A long narrow hole only provides one option for play and would soon become repetitive.  Short par 4’s which provide the option to push up close to or onto the green versus lay back for a full shot are an obvious example of this. However, more refined methods like using diagonal hazards to provide different driving targets or kicker slopes that allow different ways to attack the green are more subtle ways that still provide these strategic options.  

Everyone will have their own lists of important criteria.  A cohesive walkable route is one that I think is very important, but others might not prioritize as highly.  In combining the rankings of each of our panelists, the most important principles to the majority of our panelists should be inherent in the rankings. That was our goal.  

However, golf course rankings seem to always provide a healthy amount of debate.  Even as one of the panelists, I have some large disagreements with various course positions on our list.  Lists by committee will only get you so far.  At a minimum, we hope this list identifies a course or two in Michigan you hadn’t considered playing, or maybe even sparks your own personal exploration into all the fantastic golf this state has to offer.

Note: The Michigan Golf Architecture Society is a group of golf enthusiasts who are committed to exploring and appreciating the best golf that the state of Michigan has to offer.

Their Top 100 in Michigan:

1            Kingsley

2            Crystal Downs

3            Oakland Hills (S)

4            Franklin Hills

T5          Bloomfield Hills

T5          Greywalls 

7            Orchard Lake

8            Belvedere

9            Arcadia (South)

10         Barton Hills

11         Arcadia (Bluffs)

12         Meadowbrook

T13       CC of Detroit

T13       Loop Black

15         Forest Dunes

16         Loop Red 

17         Point O Woods 

18         Muskegon

19         Grosse Ile

20         Univ. of Michigan

T21       Sage Run 

T21       Blythefield

23         Indianwood (Old)

24         True North

T25       Lost Dunes  

T25       Oakland Hills (N)

27         Plum Hollow 

28         Wuskowhan 

29         American Dunes

30         Battle Creek CC

31         Stoatin Brae 

T32       Bay Harbor (L & Q)

T32       Pilgrims Run

34         Sweetgrass 

35         Red Run

T36       Diamond Springs

T36       Pine Lake

38         Timberstone 

39         Birmingham

40         Detroit GC (N)

41         Boyne (Heather)

42         Radrick Farms

43         Tullymore

44         Otsego Club (Tribute)

45         Kent CC

T46       CC of Jackson

T46       Knollwood

48         The Mines

49         Cedar River  

50         Kaufmann

51         Detroit GC (S)

52         Champion Hills 

53         Flint GC

T54       Eagle Eye  

T54       Lochenheath

56         Boyne (Hills)

57         Spring Lake 

58         Marquette  (Heritage)

59         Washtenaw

60         Pinecroft

61         Western

62         Red Hawk

63         Oakland Univ. (Sharf)

64         Hawk's Eye

65         Bahle Farms

T66       CC of Lansing

T66       Harbour Pointe

68         Gull Lake CC

T69       Boyne (Ross)

T69       Hidden River

71         Port Huron  

T72       St. Ives

T72       The Orchards

T74       Hawk Hollow

T74       Oakland Univ. (Katke)

76         Boyne (Alpine)

T77       Buck's Run

T77       Warwick Hills

T79       The Cardinal

T79       Grand Traverse (Bear)

T79       Stonehedge South

82         TreeTops (Jones)

83         Hemlock

84         Egypt Valley (Ridge)

T85       Treetops (Smith)

T85       TreeTops (Fazio)

87         TPC Michigan

88         Harbor Shores

89         Walnut Creek

90         Petoskey Bay View

T91       Egypt Valley (Valley)

T91       Tam O’ Shanter

93         Thousand Oaks

94         The Fortress

T95       Thornapple Pointe

T95       Dunmaglas

T95       Lakelands

98         Shepard's Hollow

99         Dearborn CC

100       Crystal Mt.  (Mtn)