Treetops (Masterpiece)

The Treetops has a Premier course and a Signature course, so the only way to one-up that must be a Masterpiece course. Granted the now-named Masterpiece was actually the first 18 laid out at the resort. Just as Robert Trent Jones kicked off Northern Michigan’s golf resort craze with the Heather at Boyne Highlands, he planned the first course at Treetops.

Jones demonstrated various styles across his career, but one theme in play at Masterpiece is thin greens, requiring pinpoint accuracy when approaching. The most dramatic example is No. 8, a 450-yard dogleg right that plays to a peninsular green. Although most of the slim greens will result in third-shot wedges for a green missed, this hole features a lake around the left, back and right of the green.

Ponds aren’t the most frequent hazard at Masterpiece, however, as a number of ravines will create playable, if unpleasant, lies. Although it’s the first course at Treetops, Masterpiece is also the longest, stretching past 7,000 yards.