The golf business is alive and well in northern Michigan.
Forest Dunes, a three-course resort near Roscommon, recently announced plans to add a fourth course to its lineup.
The architectural team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner have been hired to design SkyFall at Forest Dunes. Unlike the other three courses at the resort in the Huron National Forest, SkyFall will be a private club with limited resort guest play.
SkyFall will be the first project in Michigan for Hanse and Wagner, who also designed the highly regarded Black Course at Streamsong Resort near Bowling Green, Florida. Both facilities are owned by Rich Mack and Tom Sunnarborg.
"The opportunity to have Gil and Jim craft their first original design in Michigan on what is the most compelling property at Forest Dunes is really exciting," Mack said in a news release. "I'm also pleased that we will work with Gil and Jim a second time in our career and create something really special here in Michigan."
Other 18-hole courses at Forest Dunes are the property's namesake course designed by Tom Weiskopf and The Loop – a reversible Tom Doak layout. Both courses regularly show up on the various Top 100 lists of Best Courses You Can Play. The resort's Bootlegger layout is a 10-hole par-3 course designed by Riley Johns and Keith Rhebb. The Hilltop is Forest Dunes' 18-hole putting course.
The project is a homecoming of sorts for Hanse, whose early experience includes working for Tom Doak at High Pointe Golf Club 70 miles away in Traverse City.
The new course will be routed through 300 acres of forest adjacent to the resort's other three courses and will feature elevation changes of up to 70 feet.
"Gil and Jim are two of the most influential golf course architects of our era and are entrusted to advance projects of golf significance across the globe," Sunnarborg said. "We know they will find the best of the land to work with and turn it into something unforgettable that members and guests are going to thoroughly enjoy, hopefully many times."
Construction on SkyFall is expected to begin later this year or in early 2026.