Forest Lake - Michigan - USA

Bloomfield Hills, a wealthy area north of Detroit, features many noteworthy golf courses and if one refuses to count Forest Lake Country Club among them, their bias against short-distance routes is showing. Forest Lake is a 1920s William Diddel design that continues to play to just 6,200 yards, much like on its opening day.

That’s not to say the course hasn’t put effort into keeping up to date, however, as it hired Arthur Hills to come in and redesign several holes membership believed were holding the property’s potential back. Still, as with many classic courses of short distance, there are several holes that have maintained their teeth even as technology advances.

For Forest Lake, that hole is its signature par three, No. 17. Although far from being a true Redan, the 205-yard hole calls for players to play a longer shot into the bank of a fairway slope to the left of the green, guiding its roll into play for a late-round birdie, and perhaps a clinched match.