BOYNE GOLF

Golf Travel - Boyne Resorts

July 6, 2026

Author: Tim Branco

America’s Summer Golf Capital Just Keeps Getting Better

The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is one of America’s most spectacular destinations, featuring hundreds of miles of Great Lakes waterfront and countless small classic American towns. It is also home to Boyne Golf and its spectacular “Michigan’s Magnificent 11” Golf courses and resorts, offering the very best experience in golf vacations, an epic place to make great golf memories!

Everett Kircher, who founded Boyne Resorts in 1947 by acquiring 40 acres of land in Northern Michigan with a modest ski hill for $1, has since built the largest family-owned golf and ski company in North America. As the former Michigan state senator said, as he accepted $1 from Kircher for the land – “Anybody damn fool enough to want to build a ski hill, well … I’ll give you this property.”

The former Studebaker car salesman from Detroit made that deal and never looked back. Revenue generated from that first ski hill—and later from an investment in a ski lift in Gatlinburg, Tennessee—provided the capital Kircher needed to acquire the land that would become The Highlands. When he sought to create year-round employment for his staff, he expanded into golf, transforming the property into a four-season destination.

Kircher emphasized service and loyalty in everything he created. He knew customer experiences were the key to success in the resort business, and he valued his employees so much that after developing Boyne Mountain, he wanted to find a way to keep all his employees and staff year-round. This led him into the world of golf in the 1950s; he used his dad’s farm tractor to build a nine-hole golf course at the foot of Boyne Mountain, transforming Boyne into a four-season resort business as he continued to expand offerings for vacationers. It was a classic example of Stewardship in business, the practice of safeguarding an organization’s resources, culture, and relationships for long-term sustainability.

In 1963, after the opening of The Highlands in Harbor Springs, Michigan, Kircher began planning a championship golf course at the resort and hired Robert Trent Jones Sr. to design it. In 1966, Boyne opened its first championship 18-hole course, The Heather. The Heather was the beginning of the Northern Michigan golf boom, and was named the National Golf Course of the Year in 2019.

Today, Boyne Golf is home to Michigan’s Magnificent 11, which includes 162 golf holes, second only to Pinehurst Resort, making it one of the largest golf resort destinations in North America. What makes Boyne so uniquely different is its location along the shores of Lake Michigan’s turquoise waters, with sandy beaches, small-town charm, and long summer days, which allows golf to be played sometimes as late as 10:00 PM. You can play 36 or 54 holes and still have ample time to freshen up for a spectacular sunset dinner along Lake Michigan.

Boyne Golf’s collection of 11 courses spans three resort destinations: The Highlands, Boyne Mountain, and the Inn at Bay Harbor.

The Inn at Bay Harbor, with Bay Harbor Golf Club, is the flagship property for Boyne Golf, offering 27-holes of spectacular golf along the shores of Lake Michigan. The Links, Quarry, and Preserve combine to create three different 18-hole combinations, while Crooked Tree Golf Club sits high on a ridge above Bay Harbor overlooking Little Traverse Bay. The Inn, reminiscent of turn-of-the-century Victorian hotels, opened in 1999 and features charm and modern-day elegance. In 2002, Golf Digest recognized the Inn at Bay Harbor as one of the “Top Ten Coastal Resorts” in the country.

The Highlands, with its Scottish countryside charm, features four championship courses including The Heather, Arthur Hills, The Moor, Donald Ross Memorial, plus Doon Brae, a new slopeside par-3 course and the 65,000 square foot putting course, Back Yaird. Boyne Mountain is also home to two scenic mountainside courses. The Alpine and The Monument offer stunning views of Northern Michigan and nearby Deer Lake.

Boyne Golf offers a variety of championship layouts with unmatched topography, including parkland, shoreline links, rugged quarry holes, mountainside and slopeside courses, each designed to be enjoyable and playable for golfers of every skill level. The resort’s golf collection also showcases the work of some of the game’s most respected architects, including Robert Trent Jones Sr., Arthur Hills, Bill Newcomb, Harry Bowers, and Ray Hearn, whose acclaimed Doon Brae short course has become one of the property’s signature experiences. In addition, the Donald Ross Memorial, a unique tribute to one of golf’s greatest designers, is currently being refined through a thoughtful renovation plan led by Hearn and the Boyne team to more faithfully reflect Ross’ original architectural vision.

Boyne Golf has been recognized by GOLF Magazine as one of North America’s “Premier Resorts” (Gold) and is currently ranked No. 3 in USA Today’s 10BEST Golf Resorts category. The resort was also previously ranked No. 1 in the 10BEST Golf Destinations in the U.S. for a golf getaway, and The Highlands was ranked No. 2 in the 10BEST Golf Resort category.

The Quest for Family Resort Greatness
The philosophy and leadership of the Kircher family grew Boyne Resorts into North America’s largest privately owned four-season resort company through acquisitions and natural growth initiatives. Along the way, the founding formula of customer service and the over-the-top friendliness of all staff became a formidable building block for the company and is what stands out most about the Boyne Resort brand even today. Everyone is so amazingly helpful, informative, and dedicated to being part of what makes this company so great!

Boyne Resorts Today
Boyne Resorts portfolio currently includes Michigan’s three premier destination golf resorts, Inn at Bay Harbor, The Highlands, and Boyne Mountain; Big Sky Resort in Montana — founded by the late Chet Huntley; Brighton Ski Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City, Utah; The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington; Loon Mountain in New Hampshire; Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and Pleasant Mountain in Maine; Cypress Mountain near Vancouver, British Columbia – home of the freestyle skiing and snowboard venue for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games; Gatlinburg SkyPark near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Boyne Resorts offers the very best in golf, ski, tennis, biking, hiking, and cross-country skiing together with luxurious accommodations, fine dining, cozy restaurants and lounges, and exquisite spa facilities. It remains a leader in the industry spanning North America from British Columbia to Maine, offering outdoor experiences for every season and everyone.

Today, Boyne Golf’s Magnificent 11 highlights the very best in Michigan Golf, including some of the most spectacular courses in America. In addition, the region’s Norman Rockwell-like lakeside resort towns of Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Charlevoix, Boyne City and Traverse City have long been summertime playgrounds for golfers, and those in the know, including famed Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, who spent his summers in the area, and where his passion for writing blossomed.

The destination is also easily accessible in the summer with several non-stop flights into Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport from a variety of major cities around the country, including the Northeast with Boston, MA and LaGuardia in New York, or Pellston Regional Airport through short connections in Detroit or Chicago.

It’s no wonder the area is the perfect buddy trip destination. To book your stay & play, visit Boynegolf.com.

The Boyne Golf Lineup of Courses