No northern state runs deeper with great, affordable golf than Michigan. The mitten doubles as a nationally coveted destination thanks to the great resorts around Traverse City and Harbor Springs, but also has loads of great semi-private and daily-fee courses from Grand Rapids to metro Detroit.
Michigan's Top 25 is one of our toughest state lists to make. In fact, a course needed well over a 4.5 overall rating to be eligible, compared to many other states whose scores needed closer to 4.2 or 4.3. There is also a tremendous amount of turnover compared to the 2015 state ranking. What's great about receiving so many reviews from golfers at Golf Advisor is that there are many great experiences that often go unnoticed by other national publications because they aren't part of a resort or have a "name" architect attached to them. The result is that the Golf Advisor list features some bucket list resort courses as well as top local courses in the southern part of the state. A course in the remote Upper Peninsula also made the list.
To compile our state lists, we used a similar method to that of our our national Top 50 ranking. A course's score is based on their overall (50%) rating and subcategory average (50%). Reviews are weighted based on how prolific that reviewer is on Golf Advisor, and a course receives a bump in their rating if their score is better than that reviewer's average score.
Don't see your favorite Michigan golf course? You can make your voice heard by writing a review here.
Top courses by subcategory in Michigan in 2016
Course layout: Eagle Eye Golf Club
Course conditions: Eagle Eye Golf Club
Value: Gladstone Golf Course
Off-course amenities: Forest Dunes Golf Club
Pace of play: Charlevoix Country Club
Staff friendliness: Eagle Eye Golf Club
Top 25 golf courses in Michigan in 2016
Ypsilanti
Onaway
Paw Paw
Augusta
Saugatuck
Bellaire
Casco Township
Gaylord
Augusta
Ypsilanti
Harbor Springs
Lewiston
Bellaire
New Era
Cedar Springs
Bellaire
Bath
Stanwood
Brutus
Gladstone
Oxford
4. Eldorado
Cadillac
Arcadia
Roscommon
Bath
No. 5 in the U.S. in 2016
Eagle Eye is no doubt a very nice course but to put it over Arcadia Bluff is ridiculous. And to not even list Harbor Shores is just plain silliness.