Wawashkamo Golf Course

Few golf experiences in America compare to a round at Wawashkamo, where the game is played much as it was in the late 19th century. The course is one of the oldest continuously operating golf clubs in the United States, established in the 1890s, and it has deliberately preserved its historic character — the layout remains a Scottish-links-style ground game played on natural turf without the manicured conditioning modern golfers take for granted. Croquet-style wickets serve as hole markers, and the rustic simplicity is entirely the point.

Mackinac Island itself is unlike any place you'll tee it up. Motor vehicles are banned on the island, so you arrive by ferry and travel by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. The landscape is Great Lakes limestone, wild wildflowers, and sweeping views of the straits where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan converge. The golf fits the island perfectly — unhurried, unpretentious, and genuinely transporting.

For golfers who want to understand where the game came from, Wawashkamo offers something no modern facility can replicate: a living artifact.