Best golf courses near Grand Haven, MI

American Dunes opened in 2021 and is a total reinvention of an existing course. In this case, Nicklaus took a wooded, decades-old design and nearly cleansed it of trees, opening up views across a lunar surface of heaving sandscapes that separate the holes. Extreme topographical variety has replaced a succession of narrow, repetitive golf holes with circular greens, and players now face enticing tee shots that must skirt sand barrens and putting surfaces shaped in all manner of size and pitch. Created by Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, whose family owns the property, much of the course’s proceeds are donated to Folds of Honor, a charitable foundation that supports injured veterans, their families, and awards scholarships to children of wounded or killed military men and women.

Donald Ross told the founding members of this new club that you have the “most wonderful piece of property I have ever seen,” while executing a redesign of their Tom Bendelow course. Subsequently, three generations of the Michigan-born Matthews family architects have worked on the course. There isn’t much Ross left, but what is there is very good, and the course is one of the most enjoyable walks in Michigan, built on gently rolling sand dunes just a mile from Lake Michigan. While not long, the greens have serious movement and require good shot-making, and several short par fours prove to be highlights. Tall fescue along some holes gives it an old-world feel.

Designed by Rick Smith and Warren Henderson, the duo responsible for the design of Arcadia Bluffs two hours north, this low-key private club outside Grand Rapids near Lake Michigan caters to summer residents. The course spreads in two relatively flat counter-clockwise loops over a beautifully marshy tree-lined site, and while there are 22 forced carries, the fairways are generous and provide room to play. The lack of homes on the course gives the player a sense of solitude, and the sandy terrain allows for some firm and fast fairways and greens.