Top Golf Travel Destinations: Michigan’s Beautiful Boyne Resort

It may be autumn, and the visitors to Michigan’s Boyne Resort will be toting skis and snowboards over the next few months rather than 6-irons and sand wedges, but spring and summer will be here before you know it, and there will be some special golf to be played in this glorious part of the Upper Midwest. 

The Resorts

The Boyne Golf Experience includes three stellar golf resorts that offer incredible accommodations, food and beverage to satisfy anyone’s dining preferences, and recreational activities to entertain your whole family.

• Exceptional waterfront property with golf, dinner theater and a zipline to get your blood flowing.

• In addition, enjoy bike trails, Segway tours, and various other activities to share with family and friends.

• Relax, play golf, eat, drink and enjoy.

• Have fun at the pool and water park, spa, bike trails, and golf, of course.

The Golf Courses

With three nine-hole layouts, you can play three distinct 18-hole rounds of golf to challenge yourself, enjoy the game, and experience some of the best views in the Upper Midwest.

The Links 9 is an Arthur Hills design that hugs Lake Michigan and presents many awesome lakefront views.

The Quarry, another spectacular Arthur Hills layout, is set in and around what’s left of a huge shale quarry. Nature’s beauty is on full display, as are many challenges, because you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Arthur Hills presents The Preserve – nine holes that take you through wildflowers, lush grass, and wildlife-filled native wetlands. 

Built to coexist with its environment, the course at Crooked Tree Golf Club in Bay Harbor takes you to bluffs that overlook Little Traverse Bay. Tree-lined fairways and undulating greens will test your skills and your patience, so when the going gets tough, take a look around you and just smile.

Four 18-hole championship golf courses provide challenges, enjoyment, excitement, and complete satisfaction, as you experience the genius of a few of golf’s most renowned architects.

The Heather is a Robert Trent Jones design that was the very first Boyne golf course and has certainly stood the test of time. In fact, it was the 2018 Michigan Golf Course of the Year and 2019 National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) Golf Course of the Year.

The Donald Ross Memorial course is a compilation of some of the legendary course designer’s greatest golf achievements.  

Arthur Hills is a signature course that pays homage to a golf architecture hero. The fairways are wide, but there are bunkers, narrowing approaches to the greens, and challenging putting surfaces that will leave you scratching your head, but still wanting more.

The Moor tips out at almost 7,000 yards but offers tees that conform to the skills of all golfers. With doglegs, marshes, and water, you’ll enjoy the challenges and struggles, while pursuing that one glorious shot that will bring you back tomorrow.

If you’re heading north to Michigan next summer, look for the opening of The Highlands Short Course. If you are new to the game, want to enjoy some time with the kids, or didn’t get enough golf on the larger layouts, grab your wedges and putter and settle the score on this nine-hole course that measures just under 1,000 yards.   

They’re also adding a Himalayan-style putting course to help you enjoy the simplicity and pure relaxation of the amazing game of golf.  

The first tee is at the summit of Boyne Mountain. Once you reach the top, you’ll experience 36 amazing holes of golf with views of the lake and natural challenges presented by the terrain itself. 

Spend four breathtaking hours at The Alpine, a playable golf course with downhill fairways and forgiving greens. You just might feel good about your game after tackling these links.

The Monument calls upon the philosophies of the greatest minds in golf architecture – Donald Ross, Dr. Alister Mackenzie, Robert Trent Jones, George Fazio, and Pete Dye. This is much more demanding than The Alpine, providing a well-rounded day of golf on two of the best courses you’ll ever play.

Highlighting a Boyne Golf Legend

Long-time Boyne Golf executive and PGA of America Golf Professional Bernie Friedrich once told me that “Formal education is important to ensure true, well-rounded growth as an individual, and can create a path to a high-level position in marketing and advertising positions as well. From our business’ perspective, thorough training means more qualified individuals greeting our guests, serving our golfers, and promoting our resorts. ”

Friedrich’s resume is virtually unparalleled in the PGA of America, as he’s won several Michigan PGA Section awards, is a Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member, and was named the PGA of America Golf Executive of the Year for 2023.

At Boyne, Friedrich has held positions as PGA Head Professional, Director of Golf, Merchandise Buyer, Retail Buyer for Ski and Golf Operations, Head of Ski Rentals, Sales and Marketing, Sales and Reservations, Agronomy, and Golf Shop Manager.

Don’t you want to visit a golf resort where they not only hire great people but train them to provide the most knowledgeable and exemplary level of service possible? That’s Boyne Golf in Michigan . . . offering “an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience.”