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Michigan’s best private golf courses: Ranking the top 15 for 2024

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Michigan’s best private golf courses: Ranking the top 15 for 2024

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Michigan has some of the most illustrious and historic private golf clubs in the country. But which are the best of the best?

Golfweek, part of the USA TODAY Network, has released its 2024 rankings of each state’s most highly rated private golf courses, including the top 15 in Michigan.

If you’ve read about some of the top private clubs around here, you won’t be surprised at the names.

Crystal Downs remains the No. 1 rated golf club in The Mitten, an acclaimed Alister MacKenzie/Perry Maxwell design that sits on Lake Michigan in Frankfort. Opened in 1932, it is now thought of as one of the top 50 golf courses in the world, public or private.

“A combination of strong breezes off Lake Michigan, thick fescue roughs, undulating terrain and fiendishly contoured greens make this one of the more difficult Top 100 courses relative to its par of 70,” Golf.com wrote in November.

TRENDING: Ranking Michigan’s top 20 public golf courses for 2024

Oakland Hills is the most famous club on this list, and it’s remade South Course comes in at No. 2 on Michigan’s top private clubs. The South or “Monster” was reopened in 2021 after a restoration from Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, and is also ranked among the 50 best layouts in the world. The club is set to host eight USGA championships from 2024 to 2051, beginning July 22 with the U.S. Junior Amateur.

Golfweek’s rankings come from a vetted rating panel of hundreds of everyday golfers, who evaluate courses from 1-10 based across 10 criteria, and file a single, overall rating on each course. Criteria include routing, greens, variety and memorability of par 3s, 4s and 5s and conditions. Those overall scores are averaged to produce Golfweek’s annual Best Courses rankings.

If you’re looking for Michigan’s best public golf course options — from the more than 650 dailies to choose from — here is Golfweek’s top 20 for 2024.

Find the complete list of Michigan’s top 15 private golf courses:

More: What makes the perfect golf trip? Book early, keep the peace and follow these tips.

15 best private golf courses in Michigan for 2024

1. Crystal Downs, Frankfort

2. Oakland Hills (South), Bloomfield Hills

REMADE MONSTER: I played the newly restored South Course at Oakland Hills in Michigan. Here’s my review.

3. Kingsley Club, Kingsley

4. The Dunes Club, New Buffalo

5. Franklin Hills, Franklin

6. Meadowbrook, Northville

T7. Lost Dunes, Bridgman

T7. Indianwood (Old), Lake Orion

9. Orchard Lake, Orchard Lake

10. Barton Hills, Ann Arbor

11. Wuskowhan Player’s Club, West Olive

12. Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Hills

13. Country Club of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms

14. Point O’Woods, Benton Harbor

15. True North, Harbor Springs

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