(WXYZ) — Michigan is one of the best golf states in the country, despite our incredibly short golf season. With that comes incredible golf courses.
Golf Digest released its annual list of America's greatest golf courses, and three courses from the state were on the list – two private and one public.
Related: The 25 best golf courses in Michigan, according to GOLF.com
According to Golf Digest, Crystal Downs in Frankfort, Mich. is the highest-ranked in the state, coming in at 14th on the list, the same spot as last year.
The private club in Northern Michigan was designed by Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell, and Maxwell lived on site while constructing the course.
"Whomever did it, Crystal Downs has fairways that zigzag and rumble over the glacial landscape and greens that have doglegs in them," Golf Digest wrote.
Next on the list – coming in at No. 20 – is Oakland Hills' South Course. The course rose one spot from last year's ranking on the list.
It comes after a major restoration from Gil Hanse starting in 2019. The course reopened in the spring of 2021 with major tree removal, expanded greens and much more.
The course is set to host the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2029 U.S. Women's Amateur, the 2031 U.S. Women's Open, the 2034 U.S. Open, the 2042 U.S. Women's Open, the 2047 U.S. Amateur and the 2051 U.S. Open.
The final course on the list is Arcadia Bluffs' Bluffs Course, located along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Arcadia.
One of the most stunningly-visual courses, the course dropped from 83rd last year. Its other course, the South Course, did not make the list.
In 2021, Golf.com released its list of the top 100 public courses in America, with six courses making the list. Those were The Loop at Forest Dunes, Arcadia Bluffs' Bluffs and South courses, Greywalls in Marquette, Forest Dunes and Stoatin Brae.
According to Golf Digest, the courses were decided by 1,800 panelists submitting 85,000 evaluations over a 10-year scoring criteria.
"Our experts play and evaluate candidate courses on six criteria, each on a scale of 1 to 10: Shot Options, Challenge, Layout Variety, Aesthetics, Conditioning and Character," Golf Digest wrote.
Nationally, the top five courses stayed the same. Below you'll see the top 25.
- Pine Valley Golf Club
- Augusta National Golf Club
- Cypress Point Club
- Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
- Oakmont Country Club
- Merion Golf Club: East
- National Golf Links of America
- Sand Hills Golf Club
- Fishers Island Club
- Seminole Golf Club
- Winged Foot Golf Club: West
- Pebble Beach Golf Links
- Chicago Golf Club
- Crystal Downs Country Club
- Friar's Head Golf Club
- Los Angeles Country Club: North
- Muirfield Village Golf Club
- Riviera Country Club
- The Country Club: The Main Course
- Oakland Hills Country Club: South
- Pacific Dunes
- Oak Hill Country Club: East
- Prairie Dunes Country Club
- Kiawah Island Golf Resort: The Ocean Course
- Peachtree Golf Club
