Bay Harbor Golf Club
Bay Harbor, Emmet County, Michigan · Northern Michigan Resort Corridor golf market
- Access
- semi private
- Holes
- 27
- Architect(s)
- Arthur Hills
- Gated
- No
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Bay Harbor Golf Club is the golf centerpiece of one of the Midwest's most ambitious resort-residential transformations: 1,200 acres and five miles of Lake Michigan shoreline that spent over a century as an industrial cement plant and limestone quarry before CMS Land Company and Victor International Company (in partnership with Boyne USA Resorts, which was contracted in 1994 to build and manage the golf club and the Inn at Bay Harbor) redeveloped the site starting in 1994. Millions of tons of cement kiln ash were stabilized as the foundation for Arthur Hills's 1998 27-hole design, which runs along high bluffs and a reclaimed quarry to create three distinct nines — The Links, along the water; The Quarry, carved through hardwoods and former limestone pits; and The Preserve, through mature woodland — that have been ranked among Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Public Courses (Links/Quarry routing) since shortly after opening.
For a golf-oriented homebuyer, Bay Harbor Golf Club matters less as a stand-alone club and more as one half of a genuine two-club system that defines the entire Bay Harbor community. The golf club itself is semi-private and does not require homeownership, membership, or any waitlist to play — it is bookable like any high-end resort course. But it is formally paired, through an optional combined-membership package, with Bay Harbor Yacht Club (see that anchor's own record), which is a mandatory obligation for owners in most of Bay Harbor's 32 residential neighborhoods. A buyer evaluating Bay Harbor for its golf needs to understand both halves of that system rather than assuming the golf course's own public-access, no-membership-required model describes the whole community.
Golf & Course
Arthur Hills designed all 27 holes at Bay Harbor, opening in stages beginning in 1996-1998 as the former Penn-Dixie cement plant site was reclaimed. The Links nine runs along a high bluff directly above Lake Michigan with six holes hugging the water; The Quarry nine was carved from the two former limestone quarries that now also contain Bay Harbor's yacht harbor; The Preserve nine winds through mature hardwood forest set back from the shoreline. The Links/Quarry combination has appeared on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses in recent rankings (reported at No. 100 nationally / No. 19 in Michigan for 2025-26, after reaching as high as No. 23 nationally in 2007-08), and the course was ranked third in Golf Digest's 1999 Best New Upscale Public Courses survey, behind Bandon Dunes and Whistling Straits — strong company for a course built on a former industrial site. Green fees run roughly $99-$199 for 18 holes depending on season and time of day. Bay Harbor Golf Club is operated as part of Boyne Golf's Michigan portfolio, alongside Crooked Tree Golf Club, Boyne Highlands' four courses, and the Country Club of Boyne.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
Bay Harbor Golf Club is semi-private: the general public can book tee times and play without any ownership or membership requirement, and Boyne Golf also sells a resort-wide golf membership (covering all 11 Boyne-operated Michigan courses) that any buyer can join independent of owning property at Bay Harbor. Separately, Bay Harbor Golf Club and Bay Harbor Yacht Club have marketed a combined-membership package that lets a buyer join both clubs together at a discount — a real, documented offering (confirmed via a 2023 industry press release), but an optional add-on, not something that comes bundled with a home purchase. The genuinely consequential access question at Bay Harbor is the separate, largely mandatory Bay Harbor Yacht Club obligation carried by most homes in the community — see the Bay Harbor Yacht Club anchor record for that adjudication in full. A buyer should not assume that owning a home at Bay Harbor includes golf privileges, nor that playing Bay Harbor Golf Club implies any connection to owning property there.
Living in Bay Harbor Golf Club
The golf course is not a peripheral amenity at Bay Harbor — it is one of the physical spines of the community, with fairways and greens running directly along or through several of Bay Harbor's 32 named neighborhoods, from waterfront enclaves along The Links to wooded sections near The Preserve. Homes directly overlooking or backing onto the course command a premium within an already high-end market (reported luxury home prices roughly $1.5M-$5M+ community-wide).
Lifestyle & Amenities
Golf at Bay Harbor sits alongside the community's boating, beach, and Village-district lifestyle rather than standing apart from it — many residents split their time between the course, the Bay Harbor Yacht Club's marina and beach club, and the pedestrian Village at Bay Harbor's shops, restaurants, and boutique hotels (the Inn at Bay Harbor, Village Suites), all part of the same 1994-onward master-planned redevelopment.
Location & Surrounding Area
Bay Harbor sits directly on Little Traverse Bay / Lake Michigan between Petoskey and Charlevoix in Emmet County, roughly equidistant (a few miles) from both towns' downtowns and about 3-4 miles from Petoskey's core.
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What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm current green fees and any Boyne Golf resort-wide membership pricing directly with Bay Harbor Golf Club/Boyne Golf — no current published fee schedule was found this session beyond a reported $99-$199 green-fee range.
- Do not assume golf access is included with a Bay Harbor home purchase — it is not; confirm the separate Bay Harbor Yacht Club obligation that applies to most (not all) Bay Harbor addresses.
- Confirm current terms of any combined Golf + Yacht Club membership package directly — the only documented reference found was a 2023 promotional offer, not a current standing program.
Notable
- Built on a former cement plant and limestone quarry site; millions of tons of cement kiln ash were stabilized as the foundation for the golf courses during a 1994-1998 redevelopment.
- The Links/Quarry 18 has appeared on Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Public Courses list; it ranked third in Golf Digest's 1999 Best New Upscale Public Courses survey, behind only Bandon Dunes and Whistling Straits.
- Boyne USA Resorts was contracted in 1994 to build and manage Bay Harbor Golf Club and the Inn at Bay Harbor as part of the broader CMS Land Company / Victor International redevelopment.
- Bay Harbor Golf Club and Bay Harbor Yacht Club are legally separate entities that market an optional combined membership package — golf access itself is not mandatory or bundled to Bay Harbor property, even though most Bay Harbor real estate carries a separate, mandatory Yacht Club obligation (see that anchor).
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US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.