Top Metro Detroit Courses, County by County
As chosen by Free Press golf writer Carlos Monarez
Excerpts of Carlos’ picks in summer of 2025, used with permission:
Livingston County, Moose Ridge:
There are many wonderful and beautiful public courses in metro Detroit, but few deserve the distinction of being compared to an Up North feel.
Moose Ridge Golf Course in South Lyon is among the few courses that deserve that high honor, which helped it earn our pick as the Free Press’ Top Public Course in Livingston County.
Walking into the Montana lodge-style clubhouse sets the tone for the bucolic experience of playing Moose Ridge, which expertly pairs seclusion, scenery, elevation, length and challenge a mere three miles from a major freeway.
The owners and developers of Moose Ridge…didn’t just build a golf course. They somehow built golf’s version of C.S. Lewis’ wardrobe to Narnia, creating a portal to Petoskey, Traverse City, Grayling and Gaylord within a densely populated suburb.
Macomb County, The Orchards:
We’re always in such a rush. And that’s often true of our experiences at golf courses we play regularly. No need to soak in the ambiance. Drive in, grab your clubs and shoes, slam the trunk, pay the greens fee and get to the first tee with five minutes to spare — and that’s on a good day.
But the Orchards deserves a second look, and a lingering one at that. While the beautiful, challenging and varied Robert Trent Jones Jr. course in Washington Township could easily stand on its own without any accompaniment, it’s all the little touches that truly elevate the experience and make it the Free Press’ Top Public Course in Macomb County.
The entire experience feels upscale, even urbane, but without any hint of stuffiness. That’s a hard trick to pull off in the public-golf sphere. The Orchards likes to tout its motto of being “Your club for the day,” and it has stayed faithful to that principle since it opened in 1993.
As for the course, there are prettier ones and nicer settings. But the exceptional layout makes it feel more like a tournament-caliber course than any other public track in metro Detroit. That’s probably why it regularly hosts the Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic.
Monroe County, The Legacy:
The best part of The Legacy by Arthur Hills is that it doesn’t try to be something it’s not. You won’t find gimmicky rock walls, out-of-place water features or elevation changes that appear out of nowhere.
No, the Legacy knows what it is: A farmland course in Ottawa Lake that takes its pastoral cues from surrounding pastures and imbues it with some of that same unadorned, windswept beauty.
There’s an earthy charm to all of it, but mostly The Legacy earns its spot as the Free Press’ Top Public Course in Monroe County by virtue of its challenge, variety of design and playability from five sets of tees that top out at just over 6,800 yards.
Oakland County, Shepherd’s Hollow:
There’s simply no getting around the massive advantage Shepherd’s Hollow Golf Club enjoys. It sits on 350 acres of undulating, wooded terrain in Clarkston that sits next to a park-like retreat for Jesuits priests and brothers.
There isn’t a more beautiful and serene setting for a golf course in metro Detroit, if not the entire state, and that's why we're picking it as the Free Press’ Top Public Golf Course in Oakland County.
A round here is a holistic, luxe experience that starts from the winding drive through the tall pines onto the property. It lasts until the final bite of seared scallops grenobloise and truffle fries paired with Moet and Chandon champagne during a post-round meal in the handsome white clubhouse reminiscent of South Carolina's Low Country estates.
Between your arrival and departure, you get an exquisite taste of some of the prettiest 27 holes of golf anywhere in Michigan. Like very few other courses in metro Detroit, the scenery, undulating topography and secluded nature of the entire property make Shepherd’s Hollow feel like a true facsimile of playing Up North.
Wayne County, The Cardinal:
It’s a rare thing when a high-end course opens, and it’s even rarer when that course opens to the acclaim The Cardinal at St. John’s earned shortly after its 2024 debut.
Architect Ray Hearn did a masterful job reworking and pretty much reinventing St. John’s uninspiring 27-hole resort course from the 1980s and transforming it into an upscale track in Plymouth that’s both challenging, pretty and playable.
Because it’s attached to a beautiful red-brick resort, playing The Cardinal feels like an entire luxury experience. The course is immaculate and feels like a nice throwback – you know, like way back in the 1990s – with a fairly straightforward design that doesn’t try to trick you into thinking you’re in Scotland. Hearn resisted the urge of most his peers who show up and immediately proclaim: “We’ve got to get rid of 30,000 trees!”
It’s American parkland golf at its bucolic best: big greens that are subtle without being devious, boulder-lined ponds, perfect sand in manageable bunkers that are outlined by normal rough. No pot bunkers or fescue and native grasses that catch, trap and steal your ball, if not your chance of saving par or bogey.
Washtenaw County, University of Michigan Golf Course:
The University of Michigan Golf Course is the Free Press’ Top Public Golf Course in Washtenaw County. When it comes to the reason, only two words are truly necessary: Alister MacKenzie.
He’s the architect who designed Augusta National Golf Club. So, yeah. ’Nuff said.
I’ve played this course enough times, dreamed about it more than I care to admit and thought about it so much over the past quarter-century that I could bore most golf nuts with scores of minutia.
So let me keep it simple. The U-M course is a beautiful piece of property that takes advantage of its natural topography and surprising amounts of elevation. It could be renamed Ann Arbor Hills.
And let’s be real. It’s amazing that the course sits across the street from Michigan Stadium and offers a spectacular view of downtown Ann Arbor from the 18th tee box, which makes it one of the best finishing holes in the state.
