Located way off the beaten track, at a latitude further north than Toronto in Canada, the Tom Weiskopf-designed Forest Dunes Golf Club lies within a 1,200-acre estate in northern Michigan and it’s rated one of the top public golf courses in the USA.
Opened in 2002, the 18-holes run through pine forests and birch groves, skirting wetlands and waste areas as they weave their way over sandy terrain, attracting favourable comparisons from some golfers to Augusta National for the front nine and Pine Valley on the back nine.
Such similarities are flattering – if a little wide of the mark – but there’s no doubt the architect has crafted a wonderful set of holes here on top of a landscape rich in glacial sand deposits, framing many of the fairways with corridors of pine and bracken.
Last word to Tom Weiskopf, who says, “Forest Dunes replicates classic style and design and emulates a risk/reward involvement on most every hole. This is truly a spectacular piece of golf course property and I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to create a special golf experience”.