How to Get Tee Times in Michigan
Michigan packs more destination worthy public golf than any state in the Midwest into a season that barely runs six months. That math is why the good times disappear: Arcadia Bluffs opens its tee sheet the prior fall, Forest Dunes quietly favors its overnight guests, and Greywalls sells its short Superior summer fast. Here is how the booking actually works in 2026.
Photograph: Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club, via Google
The one rule of Michigan booking
Book the anchor round first, in winter. Every good Michigan trip is built around one or two tee times that are genuinely hard to get in July and August, and a supporting cast that is easy. The mistake visitors make is booking flights and hotels in spring, then discovering Arcadia Bluffs weekends went in January. Work the order: anchor tee time, then lodging, then everything else. The state rewards planners with some of the best public golf value in America.
For what the rounds cost, see green fees in Michigan; for the calendar itself, when to play Michigan covers the season month by month.
Course by course: how the tee sheets work
Arcadia Bluffs, Arcadia
The state's marquee public round, with the original Bluffs course from 1999 by Rick Smith and Warren Henderson running along a two mile stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline, and the inland South course added in 2018. The tee sheet for each season opens the previous fall, and the club announced its 2026 sheet was open before the prior season ended. Book online, take the earliest or latest times for the light on the bluffs, and treat summer Saturdays as sold unless you planned in winter.
Forest Dunes, Roscommon
Two of the best modern courses in the Midwest on one remote property in the Huron National Forest: the Tom Weiskopf course and The Loop, Tom Doak's reversible 18 that plays clockwise one day and counterclockwise the next. The Loop's direction alternates daily, which makes the practical play obvious: stay on site, where lodging guests get tee sheet priority, and play both directions across two days. Day visitors can book, but the drive is long enough that the stay and play is the real product.
American Dunes, Grand Haven
Jack Nicklaus rebuilt Grand Haven Golf Club into American Dunes, opened in 2021, with proceeds supporting the Folds of Honor foundation. The headline booking quirk: the course sells its Patriot 18 day rate, about 205 dollars for the bulk of the 2026 season, indicative, with reduced rates for active military, veterans and first responders. Public tee times release online; it is the easiest of the anchors to get, but summer weekend mornings still go early. Always confirm directly before booking.
Greywalls, Marquette
Mike DeVries' 2005 course at Marquette Golf Club tumbles over granite outcrops with Lake Superior filling the horizon, and the Upper Peninsula calendar compresses the demand: in 2026 the regular season runs May 22 to September 13 at 235 dollars, with spring rates of 145 dollars and fall rates of 155 dollars either side. The window is short and the course is the only one of its kind up there, so book the moment your UP dates are fixed.
Boyne and Treetops: the package resorts
Northern Michigan's volume golf lives at the resorts: the Boyne properties around Petoskey, including Bay Harbor on the bluffs above Little Traverse Bay, and Treetops in Gaylord with 81 holes above the Pigeon River Valley. Here tee times come bundled: stay and play packages go on sale in winter and carry the prime morning blocks. Booking golf separately from lodging at these resorts is doing it on hard mode; buy the package and the tee sheet problem disappears.
Booking windows and 2026 rates
| Course | When to book | Indicative 2026 rate |
|---|---|---|
| Arcadia Bluffs | Tee sheet opens the prior fall; winter for summer weekends | Premium dynamic; check date |
| Forest Dunes | Stay and play packages, winter onward; guests get priority | Resort package pricing |
| American Dunes | Online release; weeks ahead for summer mornings | About 205 dollars Patriot 18 day rate |
| Greywalls | As soon as UP dates are fixed; season is short | 235 dollars regular, 145 spring, 155 fall |
| Boyne / Treetops | Winter package sales for prime blocks | Bundled in stay and play |
Rates from published course rate cards, June 2026. Check tee time availability or browse northern Michigan golf resorts.
Plan your Michigan golf trip
Tell us your dates, group size and which anchors matter, Arcadia, Forest Dunes or the UP. One concierge sequences the tee sheets, books the lodging that unlocks them and costs the trip to the head. No obligation.
Michigan tee time questions
How far ahead should I book Michigan tee times?
For the marquee public courses, months. Arcadia Bluffs opens its tee sheet for the following season in the prior fall, and prime June to August weekend times go quickly through winter. Resort golf at Forest Dunes, Boyne and Treetops is best locked when winter package sales open. Ordinary daily fee courses around Detroit, Grand Rapids and Traverse City book like anywhere else, a few days to two weeks out.
Do I need to stay at a resort to play in Michigan?
Mostly no, but staying helps. Arcadia Bluffs, American Dunes and Greywalls are fully public. Forest Dunes is public too, but its remote location and guest priority on the tee sheet mean staying on site is the practical way to play the Weiskopf course and The Loop in one visit. At Boyne and Treetops, packages bundle the tee times you actually want.
When is the Michigan golf season?
Roughly late April to late October in the Lower Peninsula, shorter in the Upper Peninsula, where Greywalls' regular season ran May 22 to September 13 in 2026 with spring and fall shoulder rates either side. July and August are peak; September is the connoisseur's month, with firm turf, fall color arriving and easier tee sheets.
Is the Upper Peninsula worth the drive for Greywalls?
Yes, if you treat it as its own trip. Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, the Mike DeVries design from 2005 across granite outcrops above Lake Superior, is one of the most dramatic courses in the Midwest, and the 2026 regular season fee of 235 dollars undercuts comparable drama anywhere. Marquette is about three hours beyond the Mackinac Bridge, so pair it with Sweetgrass or the Island Resort courses rather than tacking it onto a Lower Peninsula loop.
Related
The Tee Sheet
Course access changes, openings and the trips worth taking. Every other week.
Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Booking windows and indicative fees verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026.