Every day at precisely 13:00 — 1:00 p.m. — all activity at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich., ceases for a for a rendition of “Taps,” the bugle call that is played in tribute at military funerals and memorial services. For a few brief moments, everyone on property faces the course’s prominent American flag with reverence and respect.
The daily moment of silent reflection isn’t American Dunes’ only unique offering in the golf world. The course, which sits on the former site of Grand Haven Golf Club, is the result of a special partnership between Jack Nicklaus and Lt. Col. Dan Rooney.
While American Dunes officially opened in 2021, the course’s story began more than a decade earlier, when Rooney, a USAFR fighter pilot, hosted the inaugural Patriot Golf Day in 2006, then founded Folds of Honor in 2007, an organization that provides college scholarships to families of America’s fallen or disabled military and first responders.
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Grand Haven Golf Club was the site of Rooney’s first Patriot Golf Day fundraiser, but by 2018, the course was closed. In a bid to save the Folds of Honor foundation’s birthplace, Rooney partnered with Nicklaus, who donated his design fee, and the course reopened as American Dunes, thanks to funding from both individuals and private investors.
The entire course experience is designed to be a sobering reminder of the cost of freedom. Upon arrival, guests walk through the Folds of Honor memorial, which displays photos and bios of our country’s fallen heroes. All of the course’s profits are donated to the Folds of Honor Foundation, resulting in more than $4.9 million in donated funds thus far. In all, the foundation has raised more than $50 million.
“It is golf’s most heroic round because it’s not about you on that day,” Rooney said. “It’s about all those who serve and us together being able to take care of those families, giving them the gift of an education so they can chase an American dream that their loved one fought so hard for.”
The Folds of Honor Collegiate tournament is another way the course and foundation honor the legacy of fallen service members. The annual three-day, 54-hole stroke play event showcases U.S. service academies among the 15 men’s and 12 women’s teams that compete each year. The men’s individual champion receives an exemption into the following year’s Rocket Classic, and the tournament action is broadcast on Golf Channel.
“What we do at Folds of Honor is award college scholarships,” Rooney said. “And so to bring this all together, at American Dunes, the birthplace of Folds of Honor — if there was ever a 360 moment where, wow, it all makes sense if you look back, it’s the Folds of Honor Collegiate.
“In a sport that’s all about you, this is the one tournament that you play that’s bigger than you,” Rooney continued. “Because you’re playing on behalf of the hundreds of Folds of Honor recipients that are represented by the schools who compete in the Folds Collegiate.”
