Harbor Point Golf Course
Harbor Springs, Michigan
Grade: A+
Teacher’s Comments: It’s everything I love in a course.
Harbor Point was by far the best “new to me” golf course I have played in many years.
Indeed, I have been thinking about it on a regular basis over the long winter months. Harbor Point is everything I love in a course: an old school parklands design, rolling — but not severe — terrain, and a few quirky holes to make the place stand apart.
Harbor Point is a private course, but I was able to play on one of the days that they are open to the public in the fall. At just $60 to walk, it was an absolute steal.
As with a number of Northern Michigan courses, Harbor Point has its origins in a 19th century summer resort association. The Harbor Point Association was formed in 1878 by a group of Lansing businessmen who had enjoyed camping in the area.
Harbor Point was one of several resort associations in the Little Traverse Bay area, including nearby Presbyterian resort Wequetonsing, and (heading along the shores of the bay in order) Roaring Brook, Romana Park, Menonauga Beach, East Bay View, Bay View (founded by Methodists), and Petoskey.
While golf in some form apparently was played at Harbor Point as early as 1896, it was not until 1899 that a separate stock company was formed to purchase land and develop a course.
The Harbor Point golf course was originally designed by David Foulis, a Scottish-American from a family of St. Andrews golfers. His brothers Robert and James are credited with the design of nearby Wequetonsing golf club. James won the 1896 US Open.
The course was managed separately from the Harbor Point resort until 1941, when it was taken over by the Harbor Point Association.
In 1972, architect David Gill updated the course by adding three new holes and redesigning thirteen others. In 2008, a second renovation re-established some of the original routing while adding two new holes.
The renovations were skillfully done. I assumed that the course was more or less intact from its earliest days until I did some research on the course’s history.
Harbor Point is a parklands course routed in a “U” shape on the north side of M119 above Little Traverse Bay. Twelve of the holes are in the bottom half of the “U”, crossing back and forth across rolling terrain. The two upper arms of the “U” are north across Lake Street. Five through seven, and fourteen through sixteen play steeply up and then down a ridge line with some terrific views of Little Traverse Bay.
On the south twelve, the west side is meaningfully lower than the east. As the course generally plays east-west, this creates holes with interesting elevation changes such as the downhill par 3 fourth (is any Michigan course complete without a downhill par 3?) and the downhill tee shot off the tenth, as well as some nice uphill plays, as on the eighth.
Similarly, the north end (away from the Bay) of the south twelve is higher. As such, it creates two dramatic downhill shots on seventeen and eighteen.
The routing on those two, however, is less than ideal. From the sixteenth, players pass by the eighteenth tee to the seventeenth. The seventeenth is a sharply downhill par 3. After playing that, one must trudge back up the hill to play the sharply downhill eighteenth.
A solution is to hit a ball off the eighteenth, then play the seventeenth. Upon completing the par three, players can then walk over to the adjacent eighteenth fairway to complete that hole.
I think that likely only works, though, if the course is not crowded. Otherwise, a bottleneck could result.
Harbor Point is not particularly long, but is long enough. Angles into safe spots on the fairway and from there into the smallish, elevated greens matter more than distance off the tee.
As with many classic course designs, Harbor Point’s defense lies around the greens with fall-offs, tiers and the need to land the ball on the correct half for a chance to save par. The second green, raised ten or more feet above the fairway is particularly diabolical.
I think that a big hitter could mostly leave the driver in the bag and still find Harbor Point challenging from the steady pressure on the short and putting game. In that, it is more than a bit like my home course, Washtenaw Golf Club.
Visually, Harbor Point is a treat. Tree-lined fairways combine with swaths of tall fescue, craggy faced bunkers and shadows from the small hills to create an enticing blend of textures. With the exception of the seventh and sixteenth, the views off the tee are not dramatic. Nonetheless, in the morning autumn light, there was something magical about the entire course.
My favorite hole was the par five tenth, which runs adjacent to M119. The tee shot is dowhill into a corridor defined by three spaced fairway bunkers, and with ever-so slight rises on either side of the fairway.
The tenth finishes with a small green, raised slightly above the fairway, with bunkers on the sides threatening wayward shots. The front is open, inviting a variety of approach shots.
From the back tees, Harbor Point comes in at 5, 855 yards.
| Tee | Distance | Course Rating | Slope Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 5, 855 | M: 69.2 W: 74.0 |
M: 130 W: 136 |
| White | 5, 581 | M: 67.8 W: 73.3 |
M: 127 W: 132 |
| Green | 4, 777 | M: 64.2 W: 68.7 |
M: 118 W: 121 |
Conditions on the day I played were excellent. It was perhaps the best conditioned course I played in 2025.
Harbor Point is one of a handful of courses that I have thought I could play every day for the rest of my life. Some of the others are Washtenaw Golf Club, the Forest Dunes Weiskopf and Indian River Golf Club. What I think they have in common is that (from the appropriate tees) they are all about placement and angles, with a variety of ways to play each hole, especially around the greens. The are also all very walkable.
Becoming a member is no doubt far out of my reach, but I definitely plan to return more than once in future shoulder seasons.
The Harbor Point Golf Course review was first published March 29, 2026 from notes and photos on a round played in the fall of 2025. For all of GolfBlogger’s golf course reviews, follow the link.
A photo tour of Harbor Point follows:
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