Forest Dunes (Loop)
Forest Dunes (Loop)
-
Course Type
Resort -
GOLF Top 100 Courses You Can Play Rank (2024-25)
30 -
Year
2016 -
Architect
Tom Doak -
Par
70 -
Yardage
6,805
Course Overview
Red is the new Black and the other way around at Tom Doak’s reversible course in Northern Michigan. The former plays counterclockwise and the latter plays clockwise, alternating from one day to the next, covering the same piece of ground but providing a distinctive challenge in each direction. Doak had contemplated the concept for decades, inspired by the Old Course in St. Andrews, the granddaddy of reversible layouts, before he got a chance to execute it, on relatively flat, wooded terrain. The time spent mulling paid off in a pair of brilliant designs. On both routings, landing areas are forgiving but approaches present a wonderful puzzle to greens that sit at different angles depending on the day you’re playing. Consider, for instead, the 12th hole on the Red. A driveable par 4, it plays to a long, skinny green that asks very different questions when it turns into the 6th on the Black, a par 5 with green now wide and narrow, a more compelling challenge for a lofted approach.
