Heathlands

Onekama sits at the northern end of Portage Lake, where it opens through a narrow channel into Lake Michigan — one of those small Michigan towns that feels genuinely apart from the summer tourist circuits even as it quietly draws people back year after year. This stretch of northwest lower Michigan is serious golf country, with the sandy, glacially sculpted terrain that gave rise to some of the Midwest's most celebrated layouts. That same well-drained, links-friendly soil runs beneath much of this corner of Manistee County.

Heathlands, as the name suggests, aims for a feel rooted in open, rugged ground rather than manicured resort softness. Par-72 layouts in this region tend to reward local knowledge — wind off the lake reshapes the challenge on any given day, and courses that lean into the natural contours of the land here can play very differently from morning to afternoon.

For visitors, Onekama itself is an honest, unhurried base. The lake access, the quiet roads, and the scale of the place make a round here feel like a genuine local find rather than a packaged golf getaway.