There are exactly two ways to play 18 holes designed by Donald Ross. One involves a lot of frequent flyer miles, a few unanswered emails to membership chairs at Seminole and Oakland Hills, and a level of patience most golfers do not possess. The other involves driving to Harbor Springs, Michigan, pulling into The Highlands, and teeing it up at the Donald Ross Memorial Course.
I know which one I picked.
The Donald Ross Memorial is not a Donald Ross course in the literal sense. Ross died in 1948. The course opened in 1989, designed by Michigan architect William Newcomb under the vision of Boyne founder Everett Kircher, who decided that if his northern Michigan resort could not import the man himself, it would import his greatest hits. Eighteen of them. Each hole on the property is a re-creation of one of Ross’s most celebrated holes from courses scattered across the country, most of them private, most of them places you and I are never getting onto without a hefty initiation check and a member’s blessing.
The Greatest Hits Compilation
The course opens with the par 3 sixth from Seminole, which sets the tone immediately. Clean lines, exposed sand, raised green, runoffs that will eat a soft approach for breakfast. You are not easing into anything. From there, the round travels the country: Plainfield, Aronimink, Pinehurst No. 2, Bob O’Link, Charlotte Country Club, Scioto, Wannamoisett, Inverness, Detroit Golf Club, Oak Hill, Royal Dornoch, and Oakland Hills. The finishing hole is a replica of Oakland Hills South No. 16, a long par 4 that will test whether you actually deserved that par on 17.
Speaking of 17. The third hole here is a replica of Oakland Hills No. 17, and it has chewed up plenty of good rounds over the years. If you can scratch out a par there, you have earned bragging rights for the entire ride home. Good news for golfers playing in 2026: the resort is moving the tee box to the left and shortening and flattening the hole. Whether you consider that a mercy or a tragedy probably depends on how many balls you have donated to it in the past.
The Renovation That Matters
Here is where the story gets interesting. Starting in 2020, Boyne brought in Michigan-based architect Ray Hearn, a Ross expert, to take the course from a 1989 interpretation of Ross to something far closer to the real thing. The original course was built before Google Earth, before CAD modeling, before the kind of historical archive access that now lets a design team get within an inch of an original Ross green contour.
That changed everything. Hearn and the Boyne team have gone hole by hole, working from original plans and high-resolution imagery to rebuild greens, reshape fairways, and reposition bunkers. Hole 1 (Seminole No. 6) got a complete green expansion and new waste areas. Hole 2 now echoes Plainfield No. 4 the way it was meant to. Hole 13 is a faithful Seminole No. 15. Hole 15 (Aronimink No. 11) was rebuilt with multi-level green tiers and an entirely new look. Hole 16 captures Pinehurst No. 2’s No. 10. Hole 10, the Royal Dornoch No. 14 replica, was rebuilt as a tribute to the very course where Ross learned the game from Old Tom Morris.
The result is a course that feels more like Ross every year. The greens are firmer and more contoured. The angles into them matter more. The bunkers actually look like Ross bunkers. If you played the Memorial ten years ago and thought it was fine, you owe yourself another visit. It is a different golf course now.
Where to Play the Rest of the Trip
You do not come to The Highlands to play one course. The property has four 18-hole layouts and a new par-3 short course, and pairing the Ross with the others is what makes this trip work.
The Heather, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1966, is the original Boyne course and still the standard bearer. It has been one of Michigan’s best for a long time and was named National Course of the Year in 2019. Bring your A game.
The Arthur Hills Course is the longest on property at over 7,300 yards, but also one of the most fun. Wide fairways, dramatic elevation, and the 13th tee shot from the top of a ski slope that makes you feel like a touring pro for about four seconds.
The Moor, designed by Bill Newcomb in 1974, is the locals’ favorite. Less expensive, less crowded, and a legitimate test of golf with recent updates that improved playability without dumbing it down.
Then there is Doon Brae, the new nine-hole par-3 short course designed by Ray Hearn that opened in 2025. Hearn recreated nine of his favorite green complexes from Scotland, Ireland, and England. There are no formal tees, so you drop a ball wherever you want, hit shots from different angles, and basically have the best wind-down round of your trip with a cocktail in your other hand.
Where to Stay and What to Do When You Are Not Playing
The Main Lodge is the move. The ivy-covered building looks like an English country estate dropped into northern Michigan, and the recently renovated rooms have it dialed in. Heather Highlands Inn is the family-friendly option with condos and lofts. For groups, the cottages sleep up to eight and put you right next to the golf.
For dining, the Main Dining Room handles breakfast with the kind of buffet you need before 36 holes. The Slopeside Lounge runs lunch and dinner with a full bar. The Seminole Pub at the Donald Ross clubhouse is where you go for post-round appetizers and to lie about your score on 17. The Country Club of Boyne offers the upscale option when you have someone to impress.
Off the course, you are minutes from downtown Harbor Springs and Petoskey, which means waterfront restaurants, shopping, and the kind of Little Traverse Bay sunsets that almost make you forget the double you took on the par 3 third. Mountain biking and the resort spa fill the gaps for non-golfers in the group.
Why It Belongs on the List
Bucket list courses earn the title in different ways. Some are ranked. Some are major championship venues. Some are designed by names that carry weight. The Donald Ross Memorial does something none of them do: it gives you 18 holes by the most prolific architect in American golf history on a single property in a single afternoon. The Hearn renovations have turned what was already a smart concept into a genuinely faithful tribute. Pair it with the Heather and the Hills, drop your stuff at the Main Lodge, and you have one of the most underrated golf trips in the Midwest.
Just save a little game for the third hole. The new tee box might be friendlier, but the green still does not care.
