BOYNE Golf Awarded USA Today 10BEST By Brian Weis

BOYNE Golf Awarded USA Today 10BEST

One of North America's most prominent golf destinations earns high praise from golfers.

By Brian Weis

BOYNE Golf, one of North America's largest golf resort destinations, has been recognized by USA Today among its 10BEST Golf Resorts category. The resort, comprising three hotel properties and 11 golf courses, ranked 3rd on a list that included some of the top golf resorts in the country.

"It's an honor to be recognized once again by USA Today 10BEST, alongside some of the best destination golf properties in the country," said . "Following last year's No. 1 ranking in the destination category and 2nd among resorts for The Highlands, this consistency of excellence is a testament to our BOYNE Golf teams from golf professionals, agronomy, lodging, and food and beverage who ensure that our guests have the best golf experience when visiting BOYNE Golf."

For almost 60 years, BOYNE Golf has been a leader in destination golf, with three unique, scenic resort hotels and award-winning championship golf courses. Leading the way among the resort hotels is the Inn at Bay Harbor, located directly along the scenic shores of Lake Michigan on an old limestone quarry and cement factory site. This grand Victorian-inspired hotel is a benchmark for American coastal resort architecture. The beautiful Mountain Grand Lodge and Chalet Edelweiss, set at the base of Boyne Mountain, is the perfect setting for mountain golf, while the Main Lodge at The Highlands has been recently transformed into a high-end boutique hotel reminiscent of an English country estate with Scottish Highlands charm.

BOYNE Golf's flagship golf property, situated along a five-mile stretch of Lake Michigan's shoreline, is the nationally recognized Bay Harbor Golf Club, a high-end luxury golf experience. Designed by Arthur Hills, Bay Harbor offers 27 holes with the award-winning Links, Quarry, and Preserve courses. It features a unique combination of open links along the Lake Michigan bluffs, holes flowing in and out of a rock quarry, and through the area's hardwoods. Nearby Crooked Tree Golf Club is carved through stands of centuries-old hardwoods perched on bluffs overlooking Little Traverse Bay.

Now with five courses, The Highlands offers the perfect buddy-trip golf experience. Groups can check into the lodge and never return to their cars during their stay. The latest golf attraction is the Doon Brae short course and Back Yaird Himalaya-style putting course, both located on the backside of The Highlands Main Lodge. The name Doon Brae, which means going down into a valley and steep bank or hillside in Scottish, is fitting, as the course routing is set along the hillside that doubles as a ski slope during the winter months. Other courses at The Highlands include The Heather, Arthur Hills, The Moor, and the Donald Ross Memorial, which continues its ongoing renovations to pay homage to the original Ross designs.

The third BOYNE Golf property, Boyne Mountain, is located 30 minutes south of The Highlands. The Mountain features two fantastic 18-hole layouts - the Monument and Alpine courses - which meander down from the top of the mountain, offering an outstanding mountainside golf experience with scenic views of Deer Lake and some of the most spectacular panoramas in the state.

"BOYNE Golf being recognized alongside the nation's premier golf resorts speaks to the strength of our full experience-from refined accommodations and championship-caliber golf to exceptional service," said Mike Chumbler, President and General Manager at The Highlands. "The continued investment across our golf courses has meaningfully enhanced the overall guest experience and played a key role in BOYNE Golf earning this ranking."

Everett Kircher, who founded Boyne Resorts in 1947 by acquiring 40 acres of land with a modest ski hill for $1, has since become North America's largest family-owned golf and ski company. A former Michigan state senator said as he accepted $1 from Kircher for the land - "Anybody damn fool enough to want to build a ski hill, well ... I'll give you this property."

The USA Today 10BEST Golf Destinations and Resorts were carefully curated by a panel of subject matter experts and USA TODAY 10 Best editors before being voted on by the public.

According to USA Today, about the top resorts: "Golf resorts provide the perfect blend of luxury, relaxation, and sport - all wrapped up in one stunning and convenient spot. These 10 resorts - nominated by an expert panel and voted by readers as the best in the U.S. - have at least one standout 18-hole course, provide top-notch accommodations and amenities, and offer delicious dining options. They also offer a range of other activities so that the non-golfers along for the getaway have plenty to enjoy as well."

Revised: 04/09/2026 - Article Viewed 39 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.