A recent Golf Digest ranking of states with the best public golf courses lists Wisconsin as No. 1 with Michigan tied for second place with California.
Even with Whistling Straits, Erin Hills, Sand Valley, Sentryworld and Lawsonia, Wisconsin is not a runaway winner in this golfing sweepstakes. The Whistling Straits course is just one of the four outstanding courses at this Wisconsin resort, plus the American Club which offers five-star accommodations for discerning golfers. The courses at Kohler have hosted, Ryder Cups, U.S. Women’s Opens and three PGA Championships.
Erin Hills hosted the 2017 U.S. Open, won by Brooks Koepka and is a course to be remembered. Sand Valley is a Mike Keiser property that rests on a huge sand belt in the middle of the state. Three championship courses, plus the ever-popular par 3 Sandbox, assure that every visitor to Sand Valley leaves with their golf appetite completely sated.
Everyone agrees after playing Lawsonia, it is one of the most underrated public golf courses in the country.
California has top-ranked public golf including Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Pasatiempo, Torrey Pines, Cordevalle, Spanish Bay, PGA West and Poppy Hills. That little water hazard called the Pacific Ocean provides unbelievable views and an idyllic setting for golf courses.
Pebble Beach is considered by many to be the best public golf course in the world and has hosted U.S. Opens, as well as the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Torrey Pines also hosts one of the more lucrative events on the PGA Tour every year and was the site of one of the most memorable major championships, the 2008 U.S. Open, when Tiger Woods prevailed over Rocco Mediate on a broken leg.
Michigan public courses haven’t hosted as many major PGA Tour events as Wisconsin, or California, but their quantity and quality of top-ranked public courses place them squarely in the same league as the other two states.
Michigan’s top-ranked public courses include, Arcadia Bluffs, with two exceptional courses, BOYNE Golf features ten public courses, Forest Dunes’ Weiskopf course and The LOOP offer golfers three very different golfing experiences. The combination of Tullymore and St. Ives, Harbor Shores, the DeVries masterpiece, Greywalls, in Michigan’s U.P. and Gaylord Golf Mecca’s 16 courses assure that any golf getaway to the Mitten State will be memorable.
Oregon follows Michigan at No. 4. With Bandon Dunes, Pronghorn, Sun Valley, Pumpkin Ridge, as well as Silvies Valley, the state also provides a plethora of great public golfing opportunities.
Michigan should be proud of its place among the leaders in public golf offerings in the country.
