Boyne Golf to open new par-3 course on a ski hill for 2024 summer

Boyne Golf, based in northern Michigan and one of the biggest golf resorts in the country, announced its new par-3 course named Doon Brae will be finished and open for the 2024 golf season.

The course, located on the backside of the Highlands Main Lodge along a ski hill at Boyne resorts in Harbor Springs, is the 11th golf course under the resort's umbrella. The 993-yard course features holes between 57 to 134 yards and was based on iconic British and Scottish course design by Holland-based architect Ray Hearn.

“As far as I know, this is the first modern golf course ever built on a ski hill,” said Bernie Friedrich, director of golf course renovations and development at Boyne Resorts in a statement. “What excites me most is how beautiful and different it is. There are three or four stacked wall bunkers. Instead of using tee boxes, we'll have just one marker on each hole and let guests play wherever they want. And the greens are inspired by some of the great ones around the world."

The course has sodded fairways, tall fescue serving as the boundaries of safe play and a variety of different greens to challenge golfers to think long and hard about their approach shots — all familiar characteristics of golf courses from across the pond.

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"Drawing on our inspiration from the British Isles allowed us to create scaled down versions of famous template greens highlighted by The Short at National Golf Links, a favorite of (Boyne CEO) Stephen’s (Kircher),” Hearn said in a statement. “Other green templates include Eden, Punch Bowl, Redan, Reverse Redan, Volcano, Steep Slope, Postage Stamp, and Biarritz."

The name Doon Brae comes from Scotland to fit the hilly characteristics of the course. Doon means going down into a valley and Brae means steep bank or hillside in Scottish.

Hearn said the course was designed to minimize walking uphill despite the course being located on a ski hill. Each hole features a different angled challenge, with most holes going either uphill or downhill. A few holes also feature a sidehill lie which forces different shots from golfers.

"I wanted to make sure we were creating something fun and unique without being a difficult walk,” Hearn said. “We also considered all the families who would take their kids out. When you look at the routing, it works — No. 1 is a level hole, 2 is uphill, 3 is downhill, 4 is uphill, 5, 6 and 7 are kind of sidehill with 5 slightly uphill with 8 and 9 playing downhill.”

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Hearn is also the designer of the new golf course at Saint John's Resort in Plymouth, which will open in spring 2024.

Boyne Golf is recognized by Golf Magazine as one of the best golf resorts in North America. Its main attraction, The Highlands (which has four 18-hole courses), was rated as the best golf resort by value.

Boyne's 11 golf course offerings among three resorts:

• Bay Harbor (three nines of the Links, Quarry and Preserve)

• The Heather

• Arthur Hills

• Donald Ross Memorial

• The Moor

• The Alpine

• The Monument

• Crooked Tree

• Doon Brae

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Boyne Golf to open new par-3 course on a ski hill for 2024 summer