The Loop at Forest Dunes

The verdict

The Loop is one of the most original pieces of golf architecture built this century, a course designed to be played in two directions. Tom Doak routed a single set of greens, fairways and bunkers that work whether you walk them clockwise as the Black Course or counter clockwise as the Red, and the two directions are genuinely different golf, with different angles, different hazards in play and different ways to attack each green. The idea sounds like a gimmick until you play it, and then it feels obvious and brilliant.

For the traveling golfer it is the headline curiosity that turns a Forest Dunes visit into a story, and it stands on its own merits as a fun, strategic and walkable course in open, sandy ground. Both routings play to a par of 70 with five par 3s on the card, and the smartest way to experience it is to play one direction one day and the other the next, then argue over which you preferred. There is nothing else like it in American golf.

The holes worth the trip

The genius of The Loop is that no green or fairway is wasted. A bunker that sits short and right on the Black Course guards a different line entirely on the Red, and a green you attack from the left one day you approach from the right the next, so a feature that helps you in one direction can punish you in the other. Playing both routings teaches you to read the ground in a way few courses ever ask.

The par 3s are the clearest illustration, each playing to a different length and over different trouble depending on the day's direction, and the wide, sandy corridors give you room to drive freely while the green complexes set the real puzzle. The land is gentle and open, so the interest comes from strategy rather than spectacle, and the more you study it the more you see. It is the kind of course architects talk about for years.

The conditioning is firm and the greens are large and contoured, which is what makes the reversible idea work, since the surfaces have to accept shots from two directions. The Loop is pure fun with real depth, and playing it both ways across two days is one of the most distinctive experiences in golf.

Where to stay nearby

The natural base is the lodging at Forest Dunes itself, which keeps you steps from The Loop and the Weiskopf course and makes the two day, two direction plan easy to arrange. Staying on property is how most golfers play the destination and is the simplest way to fit in both courses and both routings.

Beyond the resort, the towns of Roscommon and Grayling offer simpler accommodation within a short drive, and the wider Gaylord golf country sits close enough to fold into a longer northern Michigan tour. We can build the lodging and the routing around the rounds you want.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Roscommon and Gaylord.