When you create a list of America's best golf course architect, you start with Robert Trent Jones Sr. When you create a list of Jones' great championship courses, you must include the Heather at Boyne Highlands. It includes everything for which the great Jones is known.
When Everett Kircher brought Jones to Boyne Highlands, he was looking to create a summer golf experience to make a great ski resort a year round destination - mission accomplished. Jones carved 18 holes out of the Northern Michigan pines over an undulating landscape that presents golfers with a variety of tests on what would become the first of the Boyne family of courses.
The Heather features countless wetlands areas, blueberry bogs, and white sand bunkers just like you see on the PGA tour. One of the distinctive characteristics of the Heather at Boyne Highlands is the varying degrees of difficulty at the course dependant on the decision of tees you choose to play.
Go all the way back to the tips, and you'll meet the challenge of those who have qualified for the U.S. Amateur at the Heather, or those who battled it out at the Michigan Amateur tournaments there in 1998, 2006, and 2011.
But this isn't a course designed just for the long knockers. The Heather's fairness has earned it a spot on golf's list of the top 50 courses in the world for women! It's truly a course that's perfect for every caliber of golfer, which testifies to Jones' genius and the greatness of this layout.
So what's the Heather like? Pure Northern Michigan golf sums it up best...stay out of the trees off the tee early and try to forget that the first par 3 is up ahead at the 4th hole from the back tees, it's better than 200 yards over water, it always feels like it plays uphill so don't be afraid to use an extra club to hit the large green.
Next comes a great, dogleg left, par 5 which may tempt you to try to carry the water hazard and reach the green in two. You also get a great head on view of the Boyne Highlands ski hills in the background, leaving you thankful for Northern Michigan's typical moderate spring and summer weather no matter where your second shot landed.
The Heather gets its reputation, and its major tournament calls, for its variety as well. You'll need every shot in the bag. Uphill, downhill, sidehill, doglegs both ways, carries over water, and straightforward holes that require no more than your concentration and solid ball striking skills.
Be sure you work on your sand game before you play the Heather, because Robert Trent Jones defended his greens very well. But you'll love playing out of that tour sand which even allows us average players to spin the ball more easily.
As you play the back nine, keep an eye out for the local wildlife which calls the Heather, home. Aside from the variety of birds, you may see the deer wandering and even see a fox occasionally stroll across the fairway ahead of you. Oh, and be sure you ask the staff how to identify Morell mushrooms. You can find them growing around the pines which line the fairways while you're looking for that ball you spray into the woods.
Finally, enjoy the par 4 finishing hole at the Heather. A large lake lies straight ahead, about 250 yards away from the middle tees, but as usually, Robert Trent Jones Sr. offers a temptation to bomb away down the left side to a narrow landing area alongside the water.
There are many words to describe the Heather at Boyne Highlands, one of the best championship courses in the country. But the one word that sums it up best, and I think you'll agree once you've taken the challenge from the masterful Jones is this - TIMELESS!
