Buggies and Caddies in Michigan

The short answer

If a walking or caddie round is the point of your Michigan trip, build it around two stops. Arcadia Bluffs, on its spectacular bluff above Lake Michigan, welcomes walking at all times, whether you carry, push or take a caddie from its seasonal program, with GPS equipped carts there for those who want them. And at Forest Dunes, in the pines near Roscommon, The Loop is walking only, full stop: a reversible course that plays one direction one day and the opposite the next, supported by a caddie program, while the resort's original Tom Weiskopf course offers carts in the normal way.

Almost everywhere else that traveling golfers go in Michigan, expect to ride. The big northern resort clusters around Boyne, Gaylord and Traverse City were laid out in the cart era, across hilly, forested ground with long green to tee transfers, and the buggy is the default, often baked into the package rate. That is no hardship in a state this scenic, but it means the walking experiences are the ones to plan deliberately: lock in Arcadia Bluffs and The Loop, request caddies ahead, and let the rest of the trip ride.

The walking strongholds

Arcadia Bluffs is the headline act. Walking is welcome at any time on the Bluffs Course, and the ground, open, firm and wind brushed above a 200 foot drop to Lake Michigan, makes the walk part of the spectacle. The seasonal caddie program is the way to do it properly: indicative 2026 figures put a walking caddie at around 75 dollars per bag as a base fee, with gratuity on top, and a good caddie earns it on the lake winds and the big, bold greens. The South Course, a Dana Fry and Jason Straka design two miles inland, is a gentler walk in the classic style. Request caddies when you book rather than on arrival, especially for prime summer weekends.

The Loop at Forest Dunes is the purist's stop. Tom Doak's reversible course plays clockwise one day and counterclockwise the next, and it is walking only, with a caddie program to support golfers who want a bag carried. It is the rare American public course where the walking policy is the design statement, and the second lap in the opposite direction is the reason to stay the night. The original Weiskopf course at the same resort offers carts, so a 36 hole day there can mix one walked round and one ridden.

Riding up north

The rest of the famous Michigan golf trail mostly rides. The resort clusters around Boyne in the northwest, Gaylord in the middle and Traverse City on the bay were built in the cart era, with big elevation change and long distances between greens and tees, and the buggy is the default, commonly folded into stay and play rates. Treat the posted cart rule as law, whether path only or 90 degrees, particularly in spring when the turf is soft, and expect frost delays at either end of the season; the northern Michigan golf year runs roughly May to October, and mornings can start crisp even in July.

Etiquette and how to plan around it

The courtesies are the usual ones: keep pace, repair pitch marks, replace or sand divots, rake bunkers, and keep carts well away from greens and tees. Where you take a caddie, tip on top of the base fee and use the local knowledge, especially on Arcadia's exposed bluff, where the wind off the lake can be worth two clubs and a caddie's read is the difference between holding a green and chasing a ball down a slope. The smart Michigan trip plans its walking deliberately: book Arcadia Bluffs and The Loop with caddies arranged ahead, ride the resort legs without guilt, and time the whole thing for June to September when the weather is at its most settled.