Holiday Day Gift Guide 2025: Golf Experiences
When it comes down to it, you don’t really need more stuff. Memories are better than things. Here are a few golf adventures that The GolfBlogger has enjoyed:
Boyne Golf: Northern Michigan’s Magnificent Eleven
For a golf trip that lets you squeeze every possible hole out of a day, head to Boyne golf resorts in Northern Michigan. In peak summer, daylight can stretch close to fifteen hours, so it is entirely feasible to be putting out after 9 p.m. and still have light in the sky. That kind of schedule makes two rounds a day, with a relaxed meal in between, entirely possible.
Boyne Golf has three Northern Michigan resorts and a total of eleven courses, including a short course. Collectively they offer more golf holes than almost any destination outside Pinehurst, and the long summer evenings give you more time to play them, making Boyne an ideal place to truly binge on golf.
Every Boyne course delivers something memorable, and playing through the full lineup is pure fun rather than a slog. Bay Harbor consistently appears on lists of top public courses in the United States, while The Heather, a Robert Trent Jones design which opened in 1966, remains a favorite.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: My favorite Boyne course is the last one I played. This year, that was The Heather, which I played as part of the pro-am for the Great Lakes Championship.
If you have not been to Boyne, you can get a sense of the courses by reading The Golfblogger’s Reviews on Boyne’s Bay Harbor, Arthur Hills, Crooked Tree, Heather, Alpine, Moor, Monument and Donald Ross Memorial
Boyne offers some great golf travel deals with custom packages that can include not only unlimited golf and lodging, but meals and non-golf entertainment. There is nothing quite like golf in Northern Michigan.
Cragun’s Legacy Resort: Midwest Nice For Everyone
Here’s how to treat the family to a fun resort vacation, while simultaneously binging on golf: Visit Cragun’s Resort and Hotel on Gull Lake near Brainerd, Minnesota.
Let the non-golfers in your family enjoy the mile-long beach (salt and shark free!), tennis, pickleball, yoga classes, volleyball, basketball, biking, boats, water skiing, wake surfing, tubing, kayaking, swimming, fishing, wagon rides, foot golf (I also think I saw disc golf) and restaurants.
Then, while they are distracted, sneak off to play Cragun’s 45 holes of top tier golf.
Mrs. GolfBlogger and I visited as their guests a couple of summers ago and I would love to return for another week. I say a week because there is so much to do there.
Visit Craguns.Com for more information.
Forest Dunes: Three Top 100 Courses
Three Top 100 courses in one small town? You’ll find it at Forest Dunes Golf Resort in Northern Michigan.
The original Forest Dunes golf course by Tom Weiskopf is in my estimation the best public course in Michigan. It’s ranked #32 in Golf Digest’s list. Tom Doak’s “The Loop” is an unique and intriguing reversible course that is ranked #58 in its clockwise routing and #69 in its counterclockwise routing.
Forest Dunes also has a short course called The Bootlegger, after the property’s Prohibition gangster past, and a putting course.
Forest Dunes has a lodge, villas and cottages for overnight stays.
You’ll need to stay at least two days at Forest Dunes because The Loop reverses on alternate days. Play The Black one day, and The Red on another. Schedule the must-play Forest Dunes on a third day.
Pinehurst Resort: Bucket List Golf
In 2021, I was able to check off a bucket list experience with a trip to Pinehurst Resort.
To get the the best Pinehurst experience, you’ll want to stay at the resort. The one that always catches my eye is the “Donald Ross Package,” which right now offers three nights and three rounds, with breakfast and dinner for $2, 139 at the Carolina Hotel. You can pay less at one of the other lodging options.
The breakfast is terrific and held me through two walking rounds in a single day, with only a brief stop for a snack between. For dinners, be sure to make reservations early; I didn’t and missed the chance to eat at a couple of the resort’s better options.
Also, make sure to sign up for a caddy if you’re playing No. 2.
There are the usual restrictions and details to pay attention to, so visit www.pinehurst.com for more information.
Gull Lake View: 108 Holes of Golf
Gull Lake View Golf Resort, located just outside Battle Creek, Michigan, boasts six quality courses, headlined by Stoatin Brae, which regularly lands on top 100 lists. With 108 holes, it trails only a handful of U.S. destinations in sheer quantity of golf, sitting behind Pinehurst, Boyne, and Reynolds Lake Oconee in total holes.
Living close by means skipping the on‑site lodging, but visiting players have a range of stay‑and‑play options, including villas and package deals designed for golf groups. Those accommodations and bundled packages make it easy to match your preferred budget, schedule, and group size.
Because I live relatively close to Gull Lake View, I haven’t tried any of their stay-and-play options. I am have heard good things, though.
Bandon Dunes: Dream Golf
A few years back, Stephen Goodwin wrote a book called Dream Golf, chronicling the creation of Bandon Dunes (read my Dream Golf review here).
Having visited the resort a couple of years ago, I can testify that it is indeed Dream Golf.
Bandon Dunes golf resort currently has seen highly ranked golf courses. Currently, the resort’s Pacific Dunes is ranked #2 by Golf Digest among public courses, Bandon Dunes is #7, Old MacDonald is #12 and Bandon Trails is #13. The relatively new Sheep Ranch is #15.
I played Bandon before the Sheep Ranch was built, but you can read accounts of my Bandon Dunes adventures, Bandon Dunes course reviews and photos at the link.
I hope to return to Bandon soon to play the Sheep Ranch.
Bandon offers a variety of lodging options from single bed to cottages for larger groups. Located as it is on the Oregon Coast, Bandon Dunes golf resort is open for play year-round. January temperatures average in the low fifties. July temperatures are in the mid sixties.
Morocco: An Exotic Golf Adventure
In 2016, I went play golf in Morocco in what was absolutely the trip of a lifetime. The golf is spectacular, the culture is exotic, the people are friendly, and the dollar goes a long, long way. I can’t recommend it enough.
On my trip to Morocco, I played Royal Dar Es Salam (a Robert Trent Jones design) in Rabat, at the Mazagan Golf Resort, and at the Royal Palm golf resort in Marrakech. And, of course, I soaked in the local culture and food. I want to spend so much more time exploring that amazing country. Read about my Adventures in Morocco.
Gaylord Golf Mecca: Seventeen Courses
Seventeen courses and a two dozen lodging options within a short drive of downtown Gaylord, Michigan, make up the The Gaylord Golf Mecca. The consortium has a group of area golf travel experts who can help you put together a great golf vacation in Northern Michigan.
Among the courses are Black Lake, which I think is in the conversation for best course in Michigan, Gaylord Golf Club, Indian River Golf Club, The Loon Golf Resort, Michaywe Pines, Otsego Resort, The Natural At Beaver Creek, and the courses Treetops: Premier, Signature, Masterpiece, Tradition and Threetops. Reviews at the links.
Island Resort: Get Away From Everything
If getting away from it all is your thing, Island Resort Casino in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is your place. [resort website]
The resort, just west of Escanaba, has two absolutely outstanding courses in Sweetgrass and Sage Run. Sweetgrass is a prairie-links style course that has perhaps the best conditioning I have ever seen. Sage Run is routed through woods and across a large drumlin — a hill created by glacial ice.
Nearby, you’ll also find the highly acclaimed Greywalls and Timberstone.
Island Resort’s Perfect 4-Some package combines Island Resort & Casino’s Sweetgrass and Sage Run courses, together with the acclaimed Greywalls course in Marquette and TimberStone course in Iron Mountain make the region a top golf destination. The Resort can help you arrange golf packages that you’ll love.
Tullymore Golf Resort: Two Distinct Courses
Tullymore Golf Resort in Canadian Lakes, Michigan features two fun golf courses. [resort website]
Tullymore is a fabulous Jim Engh design: imaginative and spacious. St. Ives, from well-known Michigan golf course designer Jerry Matthews, is a more traditional mitten state layout, with tree-lined fairways and significant elevation changes.
The resort has a hotel, condos, and cottages that sleep up to ten. The fabulous Lodge at Tullymore has ten bedrooms, each with two queen beds and a private bathroom.
Eagle Ridge: Great Midwestern Golf
Eagle Ridge, in Galena, Illinois boasts three-and-a-half courses: The General, The North, The South and the nine hole East.
For the non-golfer, the resort also has a spa, pools, horseback riding, bicycling, boating and fishing. Nearby downtown Galena is also a really neat place.
For lodging, Eagle Ridge has hotel rooms, villas and houses. Eagle Ridge is a neat midwestern resort.
Turning Stone: Golf, Gambling and Entertainment
Turning Stone is a vast casino and entertainment complex in Western New York that features five outstanding courses: Atunyote, Kaluhyat, Shenendoah, Pleasant Knolls and the par three Sandstone Hollow. [resort website]
Atunyote is a Tom Fazio design that once hosted PGA TOUR events. Kalhuyat, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design, is as challenging as you might expect.
Because Turning Stone is a casino resort, lodging ranges from adequate to extravagant. You can get in a lot of activity at Turning Stone. It is another one of those resorts where even a non-golfer can have a good time.
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