Mackinaw Club

Perched at the very tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Mackinaw Club occupies one of the most geographically dramatic settings in Midwest golf. Mackinaw City sits at the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan converge — a place where the water is almost always visible on the horizon and the wind rarely takes a day off. That kind of exposure shapes how golf is played here, turning a straightforward round into something more atmospheric and unpredictable depending on what the straits decide to send your way.

The area draws visitors making their way to Mackinac Island, just a ferry ride across the water, so the course serves a genuinely transient audience alongside whatever local membership it supports. Playing golf this far north in Michigan means the season is compressed but vivid — summers are cool and clear, and the light in July and August has a particular quality that makes northern Michigan feel like nowhere else.

For travelers combining a Mackinac Island trip with a round of golf, this is the obvious stop. It's a course shaped by its location as much as by its design.