Black Forest Golf Course

Gaylord has quietly become one of Michigan's most serious golf destinations — the region draws players from across the Midwest who come specifically to work through its concentration of quality courses, many of them routed through the Northern Lower Peninsula's rolling glacial terrain and stands of hardwood and pine. Black Forest GC sits within that tradition, where the landscape does a great deal of the design work simply by being what it is.

The name alone suggests what a round here delivers: dense tree coverage, elevation change, and the kind of wooded corridor golf that rewards accuracy over raw power. Northern Michigan's courses tend to play firm and fast in the summer heat, then dramatically shift character as the maples turn in September and October — fall golf up here is genuinely special, with colored canopies framing nearly every hole.

Par 73 is a small but telling detail, suggesting the layout carries at least one extra par 5 beyond the standard configuration — often a sign of a course that leans into its terrain rather than conforming to convention.