Forest Dunes Announcement

BG5 · July 20, 2014

Gents,

It's official that Forest Dunes will be adding another course which should make Michign a top 10 golf destination in the world. The crazy thing about the new course is you will be able to play it back words :) yes, Tom Doak is planning on using reverse routing which will allow golfers to stay the night and play the same course in 2 different directions so Forest Dunes will have a 54 hole setup. See the quote below from Doak.

"I signed a contract on Friday to build the second course at Forest Dunes, and was there to announce it to their members at the annual member-guest tournament.

We are supposed to work on a press release this week to try and describe the project. We hope to start a bit of shaping in September or October, after the first few holes are cleaned up from clearing, and after our other work is finished at St. George's in Toronto and in New Zealand.

Yes, it's a course that can be played in either direction. But it probably won't look too much like the map, so I don't want people trying to analyze it and tell me that such-and-such hole won't work. It's a complicated concept and it will require a lot of field work to make it work equally well from both directions.

duffer987 · July 20, 2014

Great news!

I found Forest Dunes (Old) to be a fantastic layout and one of my favorite inland courses. Adding another 18 with that pedigree will definitely have me returning.

Openwater22 · July 21, 2014

OK, eating crow now.

SilverBullets · July 21, 2014

This is awesome news. I was disappointed a while ago when it looked like adding 18 more holes was not going to happen (I believe it was confirmed, then was put on hold). I figured this project was just never going to happen. Forest Dunes, as it sits now, is one of my favorite courses to play. It's a great, very fun to play, layout. Can't wait for this project to complete (I assume they are shooting for 2016?).

bppry · July 21, 2014

So every hole will have two greens and two sets of tees one each opposite each other?

golfortennis · July 21, 2014

[quote name='bppry' timestamp='1405961408' post='9749863']
So every hole will have two greens and two sets of tees one each opposite each other?
[/quote]

No, the course will just be set up in such a way that the fairway from one hole can be reached from the tee box on the next, and the green from the previous hole is that hole. ie, what was #9 green today, #10 Fairway and #11 tee box will be setup in such a way that that will be one hole, #10 green today, #11 Fairway, and #12 tee box.....and so on. When you make a course that is friendly to walkers, er, I mean put the tee boxes not very far from the previous greens, you can possibly look into something like this.

My concern would be more to do with the fact you're either going to have constant fairway and no rough around the greens, or the greens will all be surrounded by rough, and none of them will really have a fairway that connects and allows for a runup shot.

SilverBullets · July 21, 2014

[quote name='bppry' timestamp='1405961408' post='9749863']
So every hole will have two greens and two sets of tees one each opposite each other?
[/quote]

My guess would be many greens will be approachable from either direction (so not necessarily sloped one way) and you will see some double greens/fairways. Then two sets of tees. But I really haven't seen a course that can be played both directions before.