Northern Michigan's Forest Dunes announces plans for fourth golf course

Northern Michigan’s Forest Dunes announces plans for fourth golf course

Posted by author January 30, 2025 Golf

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One of Michigan’s most popular golf resorts is set to expand.

Forest Dunes in Roscommon is planning to add a new 18-hole championship golf course, with construction to begin late in 2025, officials for the golf resort announced Thursday. The new course, which will be private, is to be called SkyFall, and will be built by acclaimed golf-course designers Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner.

SkyFall will be the first new-course project in Michigan for Hanse and Wagner, whose company is widely known for restorations, including the recent one of the South Course at Oakland Hills Country Club.

“The opportunity to have Gil and Jim craft their first original design in Michigan on what is the most compelling property at Forest Dunes is really exciting,” Rich Mack, co-owner of Forest Dunes, said in a statement Thursday.

“Gil and Jim are two of the most influential golf course architects of our era, and are entrusted to advance projects of golf significance across the globe,” co-owner Tom Sunnarborg added in the statement. “We know they will find the best of the land to work with and turn it into something unforgettable that members and guests are going to thoroughly enjoy, hopefully many times.”

SkyFall will be the fourth course at Forest Dunes, along with the original resort course, which was designed by Tom Weiskopf, and The Loop, the innovative reversible course that was designed by Tom Doak. Both regularly are listed among the top 100 public courses in the country. Forest Dunes also is home to a short course, called The Bootlegger.

SkyFall will be private and is accepting applications for founding memberships, but Forest Dunes officials said limited tee times will be made available for golfers who are staying on the property.

The new course will feature elevation changes of up to 70 feet, and run through 300 acres of current forest land.

“This design is focused on the key landforms on the property,” Hanse said in a statement. “When you look at some of the great old courses by (A.W.) Tillinghast or (Donald) Ross, there tends to be a landform they go away from and return to. That’s also the case at SkyFall, and it is those features that are the key to creating a truly compelling design. Jim and I also really look forward to working with Rich and Tom again.

“They have high standards and expectations for this project, and so do we.”

This is the second project on which Hanse and Wagner have teamed up with Mack and Sunnarborg. Hanse and Wagner also designed the Black Course at Streamsong Resort in Florida.

“We loved working with Rich and Tom and our relationship will benefit SkyFall and will certainly allow the team to get the most out of a spectacular property full of rolling hills and sandy expanses.,” Wagner said.

Hanse said SkyFall in Roscommon, in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, will feature characteristics from several of his recent projects, including Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia, Castle Stuart in Scotland, and Les Bordes in France.

Forest Dunes opened with the resort course in 2002, before The Loop arrived in 2016; the original resort course is ranked 32nd on Golf Digest’s latest list of the top 100 public courses in the United States, while The Loop is listed twice at 58th and 69th (because it’s two courses, depending on which way it’s played). Mack and Sunnarborg purchased Forest Dunes in 2021. The resort features a variety of lodging options, too, with cottages, villas and lodges.

The new course planned at Forest Dunes is the latest indicator that the golf business in Michigan remains scorching. In 2024, The Cardinal in Plymouth Township became the first new course to open in Metro Detroit since the early 2000s, and several Michigan golf resorts have announced plans to build new short courses, including ones set to open at Boyne and Arcadia Bluffs in 2025. Dozens of courses across the state, public and private, are undergoing significant renovations.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984