Sports Publications

May the forest be with you: left for dead, a wonderful Weiskopf design is rescued by one of its lenders

Golf Digest, August, 2003 by Ron Whitten

Four years ago we heard talk of an intriguing new Tom Weiskopf design in mid-Michigan called Forest Dunes. But when we called, the phone had been disconnected. Turns out the course near Grayling, 212 hours north of Detroit, had been completed in 1999, but then lenders foreclosed on the original developers before the course even opened. It sat essentially unplayed for two years. In late 2001, the Detroit Carpenters Pension Trust Fund, one of the original lenders, took charge of the project.

Washed-out bent-grass fairways were repaired. Overgrown bunkers were reclaimed. Inch and a half layers of thatch were removed from the bentgrass greens. In July 2002 Forest Dunes finally opened, with 56 members and plenty of tee times for daily-fee golfers.

It has been worth the wait. Built atop old glacial deposits covered with trees, Forest Dunes is a delightful combination of Augusta National and Pine Valley. Its front nine winds through a dense forest of red pines and oaks, with lots of green grass and gleaming white-sand bunkers. The back nine is among exposed dunes, with rugged holes edged by roughs of native sand and scruffy underbrush.

Weiskopf's design includes some of his trademarks. The sixth is a great drive-and-pitch par 4, with bunkers scattered all about and a carry bunker challenging any tee shot aimed directly at the green. The par-4 10th has two fairways separated by dunes and deep sand pits. The 17th is a drivable par 4 at just 302 yards from the tips, a genuine gamble with knobs of sand and pot bunkers squeezing the squiggly fairway and narrow green. Following the short par-5 18th, Weiskopf provided a bye hole to finish all bets. It's just 117 yards but tricky, with a bunker in the center of its rolling green. Lose the farm on this hole and you'll wish they'd left that bunker overgrown.