Metro Detroit golf courses are opening early: Here's where you can play now

Golf is back in Michigan and it's finally time to break out the clubs from the basement.

Looking for a course you can get out and play during the end of winter and early days of spring around metro Detroit? There are plenty.

Thanks to some uncharacteristic warm weather early in the year for metro Detroit, golf courses are opening their doors for patrons early, with some courses already in operation, and others welcoming golfers for the first time during the inaugural weekend of March.

Due to popular demand, the tee times are already filling up, as courses prepare to open up for the season entirely, or welcome golfers just on the rare warm days at the end of winter.

"As soon as we had those couple of warm days a week or two ago, all of our golf courses started getting calls asking if we were open and when we were going to open," Huron-Clinton chief of marketing and communications Danielle Mauter said Thursday. "Staff has been working diligently trying to make that happen much earlier in the season than what we would typically see. Typically, our courses don't open until early April, so we are a month early at this point."

MORE: Ranking metro Detroit's Top 10 Public Golf Courses: Here's who made the list and why

The hunger for golf will satisfy Michiganders deprived of playing outdoors for the past few months, allowing a jumpstart on the season to take advantage of Mother Nature's gift of warmer weather.

Still, be sure to call ahead wherever you're looking to play for updates on course conditions with the weather in flux these days.

"It's early but we expect to be operating with the usual great conditions that you'd expect from Kensington," Kensington Metropark course manager Matt Park said Thursday. "It's a bonus to be able to be able to open this early and we're looking forward to getting some golfers their early fix."

Here's a list of golf course openings in and around metro Detroit.

MORE: Michigan's best par-3 holes: 10 standouts from public golf courses

When do golf courses open in metro Detroit for 2024 season?

*Current regular 18-hole rates with cart; rates may vary online, later in the day, and for seniors

**Blue links go to articles the Free Press has recently written about the course

• Beacon Hills, Commerce Township: Open

• Blackheath, Rochester Hills: Open

• Brae Burn, Salem Township: Open

• Cattails, South Lyon: Open

• Cherry Creek, Shelby Township: Open

• Coyote Golf Club, New Hudson: Monday

• Eagle Crest, Ypsilanti: Open, $55 weekday, $65 weekend

• Fellows Creek, Canton: Open

• Fox Creek, Livonia: Open, $35 weekday, $42 weekend

• Fox Hills, Salem Township: Open

• Glenhurst, Redford: Open

• Glen Oaks, Farmington Hills: March 29 (tentative), $47 weekday, $52 weekend

• Greystone, Washington: Open, $40 weekday, $50 weekend

• Hartland Glen, Hartland: Open

• Hilltop, Plymouth Township: Open

• Huntmore, Brighton Township: Open, $50 weekday, $60 weekend

• The Links at Hunters Ridge, Howell: Open

• Huron Meadows Metropark, Brighton: Open, $39 weekend

• Idyl Wild, Livonia: Open, $37 weekday, $39 weekend

• Kensington Metropark, Brighton: Saturday-Sunday; full opening March 16, $36 weekday, $40 weekend

• Lake Erie Metropark, Wayne County: Open, $31 weekday and weekend

• Lake Forest Golf Club, Ann Arbor: Open, $45 weekday and weekend

• Links at Gateway, Romulus: Open

• Lyon Oaks, Wixom: March 29 (tentative), $61 weekday, $77 weekend

• The Majestic, Hartland: Open, $45 weekend

• Northville Hills, Northville Township: Open

• The Orchards, Washington Township: Friday or 15, $50 weekday, $60 weekend

• Pierce Lake, Chelsea: April 1

• Pine Trace, Rochester Hills: Open

• Rackham, Huntington Woods: Open, $36 weekday and weekend

• Red Oaks, Madison Heights (9-hole course): March 29 (tentative), $30 weekday, $32 weekend

• Rouge Park, Detroit: Open

• Salem Hills, Salem Township: Open

• Shepherd's Hollow, Clarkston: Open

• Springfield Oaks, Davisburg: March 29 (tentative), $47 weekday, $51 weekend

• St. Clair Shores Golf Club: Open

• Stonebridge, Ann Arbor: Open, $49 weekday, $69 weekend

• Sylvan Glen, Troy: Open

• Timber Trace, Pinckney: Open

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: Open, $32 (affiliated)

• Washtenaw Golf Club, Ypsilanti: Open, $45 weekday and weekend

• WestWynd, Oakland Township: Open, $45 weekday, $55 weekend

• Whispering Willow, Livonia: March 15

• White Lake Oaks, White Lake Township: March 29 (tentative), $43 weekday, $48 weekend

• Willow Metropark, New Boston: Open, $31 weekday and weekend.

Note: Are you a golf course operator? Email the Free Press' Marlowe Alter at malter@freepress.com to let us know when you're opening and your standard rates, and we'll add your club to the list.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: When do golf courses open in Michigan for 2024 season?