I grew up in Northern Michigan, so I'll admit I'm biased. But after years planning trips up here and watching people from all over the country see it for the first time, the reaction is almost always the same. They didn't expect it to be this good.
This page is the map. Five regions, what's in each one, what they run, and which one fits your group. Every region below has a full guide behind it, so start here and go deep where it matters.
Why Northern Michigan is worth the trip
The variety is the thing. You can play a links-style course on the bluffs above Lake Michigan in the morning and a course carved through hardwood hills that afternoon. Most destinations give you one style repeated across different properties. This one gives you something different every time you tee it up.
What surprises first-timers is the value. Against an equivalent trip to Bandon or Scottsdale you're playing at the same level for a fraction of the price, and that's before flights. The weather's the other one nobody expects. You're not fighting 95 degrees and humidity. You're playing cool enough in the morning to play your best and warm enough by afternoon to enjoy it, and by evening you're around a fire in a sweatshirt.
The five regions, and who each one fits
Northern Michigan isn't one destination. It's five, and picking the wrong one for your group is the most expensive mistake available to you, because it's the one you can't fix once you're there.
Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs
The marquee north, and the one most big annual trips point at. Bay Harbor is the anchor, 27 holes of cliff-top golf above Lake Michigan. Belvedere in Charlevoix is a 1925 William Watson design and the round serious golfers remember. Past those, Charlevoix Country Club and Crooked Tree in Petoskey give you variety, and The Highlands in Harbor Springs is a 4-course resort with the Arthur Hills course as the one I'd slot in.
Charlevoix is where I'd base, because it's a real summer town and the evenings end up being half of why the trip's good. This is the longest haul from either metro and the top of the price ladder, and it earns both. Full walk on the Charlevoix golf trip guide.
Traverse City and Torch Lake
Traverse City is the strongest central base up north for lodging and reach, and it's the answer for a group that wants a real town with everything in it. Grand Traverse Resort has 3 courses. The Bear is the Jack Nicklaus design and the one with the reputation, and it can be brutally hard. The Wolverine is Gary Player's first signature course in Michigan, and Spruce Run rounds it out. All 3 are good, and The Bear and The Wolverine are my two favorites. There's cheaper golf in the area that's worth getting off property for, which is the kind of call I make per group.
Just southwest, A-Ga-Ming in Kewadin sits between Torch Lake and Grand Traverse Bay, 72 holes with lodging and dining on property. Sundance is one of my favorite resort courses anywhere, and the two attached 10-person houses on the Sundance 4 fairway are the best group lodging I've stayed in up here.
About 3 hours 45 from Detroit. This region is the answer when the group wants everyone under one roof and nobody living in the car. Full walk on the A-Ga-Ming guide.
Arcadia and the Lake Michigan lakeshore
One course decides this region. Arcadia Bluffs is the most expensive public round most Michigan groups will ever book, and for the right group it's worth every dollar. Three courses on the property at three different price points, and the smart play is one marquee round rather than two. Base on property if the golf's the whole point, or in Frankfort about 25 minutes north if the evenings matter.
About 4 hours 30 from Chicago, and closer to 5 hours 30 on the clock once you cross into Eastern time. This region is a centerpiece, not a circuit. Full walk on the Arcadia Bluffs guide.
The Sunrise Side, on Lake Huron
The best-value region in the state and the one I know best. The stretch around Tawas, Oscoda and Au Gres holds a run of legitimate courses at a fraction of the west-coast price. Lakewood Shores in Oscoda is the resort anchor with three courses, and The Gailes is a true links replica that Golf Digest named the number 1 best new resort course in the US in 1993. Red Hawk in East Tawas is an Arthur Hills design that plays like a $125 to $150 course downstate and runs just over $90 with a cart. White Pine National in Spruce is worth the drive.
About 3 hours from Detroit. This is the region for a group with mixed budgets that needs everyone to say yes. Full walk on the Sunrise Side guide.
The I-75 corridor
The most golf per mile in the state and the easiest arrival day you'll get. The Dream and The Nightmare sit on the same road in West Branch right off the highway, about 2 hours 15 from Detroit, so you can be playing the day you leave home. Further up, Roscommon at about 2 hours 35 has Forest Dunes and The Loop, which carry a national reputation and draw golfers from well outside the state. I haven't played either one, so I won't hand you a verdict on the golf, only the tradeoff, which is remoteness. Gaylord at about 3 hours is where the resort golf concentrates, and Treetops is the property that carries it. There are 5 courses there, and the Robert Trent Jones Sr. Masterpiece is the nicest golf in Gaylord. Threetops, the Rick Smith par 3 course on the same property, is famous in its own right and it's the kind of add-on that makes an evening. Resort logistics like that suit a bigger group on a short clock.
This corridor is golf-first. There's no nightlife scene in West Branch and no town to speak of near Roscommon, so pick it on purpose for what it is and it overdelivers. Full walk on the West Branch guide.
A note on Southeast Michigan. It isn't up north and it isn't on this list, and that's a geography call, not a quality one. A group basing near the city doesn't drive at all, which buys back a half day on a short trip. That's a real trip, not a consolation prize.
One to know about, not to plan around. True North in Harbor Springs is a terrific Jim Engh design and it's private and invitation-only. I mention it so you're not chasing a tee time you can't get.
When to go
Playable golf runs from about late April into late October, and the whole call comes down to whether you're optimizing for conditions or for value. June is the best window and the most crowded. Late September gets you close to peak conditions without the peak rates. April and October are gambles.
That's the short version. The month-by-month, the bug window, and why the lakeshore plays colder than inland in the shoulder seasons are all on the best time to play Northern Michigan golf guide.
Where to base your group
Let the courses decide, then pick the lodging that keeps the daily driving short. A great house in the wrong spot adds friction to every day of the trip, and there's no recovering from it once you're there.
Past that, the house-versus-resort question doesn't have one answer, and I'd distrust anyone who tells you it does. A rental house wins when the group wants space, privacy, and a place to be together at the end of the day, which is most groups most of the time. A resort wins when the logistics are the hard part, which is what happens with a bigger group on a short clock, or when the property is good enough that never moving the car is the point. A-Ga-Ming is the case that made me stop giving a blanket answer. The lodging there was the best part of the trip.
The order to book in
There's no single right booking order, and which one you're on depends on whether your trip is about the courses or about the place. If it exists because you want to play a specific marquee course, the tee sheet is the scarce thing and it goes first. If you want a Charlevoix trip and the courses are the reason to be there rather than the reason to go, the house is the scarce thing.
Either way, decide in the fall and book over the winter. By spring you're choosing from what's left on peak weekends. The full breakdown, including the one date I can give you flat, is on the when to book a Michigan golf trip guide.
If this is your first trip up north
Here's what I'd do. Pick the Sunrise Side or the I-75 corridor, go for 3 nights, play 4 rounds, and spend the money you saved on coming back next year with a bigger group and a marquee round on the schedule. The groups that start on the value side almost always come back. The groups that start with the most expensive trip available to them sometimes decide Michigan golf is expensive, which isn't the lesson the state has to teach.
Ready to plan your trip?
I plan trips like this for groups all the time. I only do Michigan, I charge one flat fee, and I book nothing, so the advice stays clean. Picking the right region for your group is most of the job, and it's the part that's hardest to undo. Tell me about your group through the lead form and I'll build it.
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