BOYNE Golf - Fall Golf at its Finest

At BOYNE Golf, every fall round unfolds against a spectacular backdrop of color.

There is a stretch of days in Northern Michigan, somewhere between summer's last warmth and the first honest chill, when the whole region seems to hold its breath. The maples along the ridgelines flare into crimson, yellow, and orange. The light falls low and long across the fairways. And for golfers who know when to visit, this is when the game here reaches its finest hour.

For more than half a century, BOYNE Golf has called this corner of the country home. What began as a modest run of holes shaped by founder Everett Kircher, with little more than his father's farm tractor and a belief in year-round hospitality, has grown into something rare: Michigan's Magnificent 11, a collection of iconic courses set across three resort properties in the heart of America's Summer Golf Capital. Come fall, that title feels almost too modest.

The appeal of fall golf here is not complicated. The crowds of high season have thinned. The air turns crisp enough to give every drive a satisfying carry. And the surrounding hardwoods, tens of thousands of acres of them, put on a color show no manicured landscape could hope to match. A round in October at BOYNE is as much a color tour as a golf outing, and it is difficult to say which leaves the deeper impression.

At The Highlands in Harbor Springs, five distinct courses trace the rolling terrain. The Heather, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design, was the first course BOYNE ever built and is widely credited with sparking the golf boom that remade the entire region. Beside it sit the breathtaking Arthur Hills, the classic charm of The Moor, and the Donald Ross Memorial, a singular tribute course that recreates some of the most storied holes the legendary architect ever drew. For pure, unhurried fun, there is Doon Brae, the slopeside par-3 short course that has quickly won the hearts of families and golfers of every skill level.

A short drive south, Boyne Mountain brings a different kind of fall golf experience, with two championship courses winding through the rolling landscape. The Alpine delivers sweeping elevation changes and panoramic views, while The Monument challenges players with dramatic terrain and holes inspired by legends of the game. After your round, settle in at the Beach House on Deer Lake and take in the vibrant fall colors reflected across the water as the sun sets over the mountains.

And then there is Bay Harbor. Perched on the bluffs above Little Traverse Bay, the flagship Bay Harbor Golf Club stretches 27 holes across three remarkable nines: Links, hugging the Lake Michigan shoreline; Quarry, cut through dramatic stone; and Preserve, threading quietly through the woods. Nearby, Crooked Tree Golf Club climbs through stands of centuries-old hardwood high above the bay, a course that seems less designed than discovered.

It is no surprise that BOYNE Golf was recently named the third best golf resort in the country by USA Today's 10Best. Yet accolades tell only part of the story. What the rankings cannot capture is the feeling of a late-season morning here, when frost still clings to the rough, a wedge of geese passes overhead, and you have a legendary golf course surrounded by a landscape ablaze with color.

Summer may be the season BOYNE is known for. Autumn is the season that reveals a different side of it. The fairways run firm and fast, the packages are at their most generous, and the whole of the north woods is dressed in brilliant shades of red, yellow, and orange. For the golfer willing to trade a warm afternoon for a crisp, colorful one, there may be no better place to spend the last good rounds of the year.

The season is short. The memory is not. This fall, come see Northern Michigan’s golf courses in full color. Learn more and book your trip today by visiting www.boynegolf.com.