Boyne Highlands — Donald Ross Memorial

The Donald Ross Memorial at Boyne Highlands is built on an unusual premise: each of the 18 holes is a recreation of a celebrated Donald Ross design from courses across the country. Newcomb, Kircher, and Flick executed the concept in 1989, drawing from Ross's portfolio at Pinehurst, Seminole, Oakland Hills, and others. The result functions both as a playable round and as a survey of one architect's most recognized ideas.

You're playing 6,814 yards, par 72, slope 132. The most accessible of the Boyne Highlands courses in terms of raw difficulty, with manageable yardage, visible hazards, and rough that doesn't impose the kind of penalties the Heather does. The course plays through the same northern Michigan hardwood forest, and conditioning is consistent with the rest of the resort.

Results from any tribute concept are mixed, and they are here. Some holes capture the strategic intent of the original convincingly. Others are better understood as interpretations rather than replicas, adapted to a landscape and climate quite different from the Carolinas or the Northeast. The greens are the most successful element. They feature the crowned, turtle-back shaping Ross favoured, where approaches that land on the surface but miss the correct sector tend to roll off the edges and leave challenging recovery shots. That's the Ross experience translated faithfully.