5 public golf courses in Michigan I can’t wait to play for first time in 2025

5 public golf courses in Michigan I can't wait to play for first time in 2025

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We are lucky in golf-rich Michigan.
The variety, the style, the landscape, the price points — we have so many quality options to choose from.
That makes it so fun, because each year, there's a golf course either you've never heard of or one you've marked down for years that you finally get a chance to traverse.
I have lived in Michigan for more than a decade now, with a robust list filled with dozens of places I want to check out all over the state.
My mission this year: Go play five Michigan public golf courses for the first time. Shouldn't be too hard, right? (Well, try working on a sports desk in one of the best sports cities in the country with four major pro teams, two major colleges, a gazillion high schools and more. And keeping your wife happy!) But yes, yes, it is possible.
So, with my mission in mind, here are five golf courses I intend to experience in 2025 for the first time. Check back in the fall for my report.
The Orchards, Washington Township
The Orchards in Macomb County has long been rated as one of the best public-access courses in Michigan: We ranked it No. 2 in the most recent edition of the Free Press' Top 10 metro Detroit Public Golf Courses.
The history runs deep here: It's the course where the 1997 Detroit Red Wings celebrated six days after winning the Stanley Cup. And it is the only course in the state from Robert Trent Jones Jr., who was given more than 500 acres of a former apple orchard to build a subtle masterpiece that opened in 1993.
"A Jones course I’ve played countless times but that I've never tired of because of its unique layout, its variety and playability," Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez wrote in 2022. "It’s never too hard or too easy and provides the perfect blend of challenge and fun."
Timber Trace, Pinckney

Timber Trace has been renovated and rejuvenated. New ownership in March 2022 took over a beloved track built in 1998 that had fallen into disrepair. It's now much improved and in great shape, a trusted colleague told me.
The club cut down around 40 trees to better open sightlines, though it still lives up to its name, and it's an easier driving course, owner Clif McLellan said. (We'll see about that.) The greens are challenging but fair, and Timber Trace claims the coveted "Up North" feel at points during the round.
The new look was featured in 2023 on Bill Hobson's Michigan Golf Live show.
Eagle Eye, Bath Township
This place is home to one of the coolest holes in the state and it resides near Lansing.
The par-3 17th hole at Eagle Eye is an island green replica of the short 17th at TPC Sawgrass, Pete Dye's masterpiece used annually for The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
I've enjoyed a few rounds at the forested Hawk Hollow, the sister course across the road, but Eagle Eye is even more highly regarded, and is the closest of Golfweek's top-10 ranked Michigan public-access courses to Detroit.
Forest Dunes, Roscommon

Forest Dunes is among the best destinations for golf not just in our state but in the Midwest. The resort is all golf, featuring two courses within the top-75 publics in America, The Bootlegger 10-hole short course and a new 18-hole layout named SkyFall on the way.
Tom Weiskopf is the architect of the original course, Forest Dunes, which plays to its name: Through secluded lush forest on the front nine, then opening to an expansive back-nine traversing sand-swept terrain.
The Loop is a one-of-a-kind reversible course that plays firm and fast from the renowned Tom Doak. The Loop plays clockwise one day and counter-clockwise the next using the same 18 greens yet featuring two totally different layouts.
Add it up and it's easy to see why Forest Dunes is deemed a must-visit.
Greystone, Washington Township

Greystone is another course in Macomb County built in the early 1990s with a meaty reputation.
It is known for one of the best finishing three-hole stretches in the state, wrapping around a 35-acre lake at an old quarry.
"It's as tough a finish as you’ll find, but also gorgeous, which makes the holes equally fetching, fearsome and frustrating," Monarrez wrote in 2022.
Let's hope my expired GroupGolfer coupon helps me out.
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