Forest Dunes debuts new 10-Hole short course

Photo: Forest Dunes Golf Club

Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon, Mich., recently opened its new 10-hole, 1,135-yard Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns-designed Short Course.

Forest Dunes is home to the Tom Weiskopf-designed Forest Dunes course and the innovative reversible Tom Doak layout, The Loop (with its counterclockwise Red routing) and the 18-hole, two-acre Hilltop Putting Course.

Situated on a peaceful, rolling land positioned perfectly between The Loop and Forest Dunes courses and near the clubhouse, pavilion, practice area and putting course, the short course, with engaging, strategic holes measuring between 65 and 150 yards, is a new focal point for golfers of all ages and skill levels.

Photo: Forest Dunes Golf Club

Forest Dunes owner Lew Thompson wanted a fun and playable course for his grandkids and beginning golfers, so he entrusted Johns and Rhebb, who helmed the renovation at Orlando’s Winter Park 9 course, to build a course with entertaining shot values and an unintimidating sense of fun. He also wanted it ready for this summer. Johns and Rhebb responded with a course that has excellent shot values while maintaining a playfulness throughout the design. And, they got it built and grassed in just 81 days.

“We essentially had carte blanche from Lew, which was awesome, and really the only way we could get the project completed in time,” Rhebb said.

One of the few requests Thompson had was to make the course playful – a theme that permeated throughout the design process.

“You don’t often get the chance to get super creative when designing courses, but with the short course, we really had the opportunity to have some fun with it,” Rhebb said. “Lew wanted it to be fun and always engaging, and we were able to express that in the design.”

The short course’s greens are constructed to funnel balls toward pin locations, improving the likelihood of holes-in-one, while a few tee shots tempt golfers to make use of strategic slopes and banks instead of flying it in the air. The greens showcase a variety of subtle shapes, many being bowl-shaped and some resembling catcher’s mitts or tabletops.

Photo: Forest Dunes Golf Club

A unique feature on the course will be that holes 1 and 10 are crossover holes with a tree protecting from direct ball flight issues.

“The land gave us such a great canvas to create something fun that offers a ‘welcoming handshake’ to entry-level players and says ‘this is what golf can be,'” Johns said. “Here you can go out in your flip flops and hit flop shots with a few buddies, try to make an ace on every hole or use a putter off the tee to try and run one on the green.”

The entire first hole and 10th hole are viewable from the pavilion.

“The pavilion is the social hub, it’s where music is playing and people are having drinks, so we wanted to take some of that liveliness and put it into play somehow,” Johns said.