Greywalls at Marquette

The verdict

Greywalls is the course that put Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the national golf map. Mike DeVries, a Marquette native, was handed a rugged site of granite outcrops, hardwood forest and sweeping elevation above Lake Superior, and he built a par 71 of 6,828 yards that plays like nothing else in the Midwest. It opened in 2005 as the third course at Marquette Golf Club and was immediately named to the major top-ten best new course lists.

The land does the talking. Holes are draped over rock, fairways tumble through natural folds, and the big lake appears from the high points like a reward for the climb. It is bold, occasionally wild, and unapologetically a product of its terrain, the kind of course that thrills adventurous golfers and is worth the drive to the far north of Michigan. For a traveling golfer chasing originality over polish, it is a bucket-list round.

The holes worth the trip

DeVries built Greywalls into the rock rather than around it, and the granite outcrops that give the course its name frame tee shots, guard greens and frame the views. The elevation changes are severe, with holes that climb and plunge, and the smart play is often to take the line the land suggests rather than the most direct route to the flag.

The greens are bold and full of movement, set into the natural contours so that the wrong angle leaves an awkward, breaking putt or a delicate recovery off a rocky slope. The holes along the high ground deliver the postcard views of Lake Superior, and the descent back through the forest brings a change of mood, more sheltered and intimate.

It is a course that demands imagination and a good short game, and it rewards the player willing to embrace its wildness rather than fight it. No two holes feel alike, and the combination of raw terrain and big-lake scenery makes it a round that sticks in the memory long after the scorecard is forgotten.

Where to stay nearby

Marquette is the largest town in the Upper Peninsula, a lively college and lakefront community with hotels, inns and good restaurants, all within a short drive of the course. It makes a comfortable base for a golf-and-outdoors trip, with Lake Superior beaches, waterfalls and hiking trails on the doorstep.

For a wider Michigan golf trip, Greywalls is the dramatic far-north anchor, and keen travelers pair it with the destination courses further south such as Arcadia Bluffs on Lake Michigan, a long but rewarding drive away.

Looking for a base in Marquette? See our recommended hotels and resorts.