This course is in our GSPro library — pull it up in any bay and play it wall to wall.

"One of the most photographed public courses in the Midwest thanks to its Lake Michigan bluff setting — high name recognition, worth having in the sim library."

Rick Smith and Warren Henderson set out in the late 1990s to build an Irish links on American soil, and the site handed them the chance: 245 acres of former apple and cherry orchard on bluffs 180 feet above Lake Michigan, with 3,100 feet of lake frontage and 225 feet of total elevation drop. Opened in 1999, the Bluffs Course delivers windswept fescue, huge rolling fairways and lake horizons that pass convincingly for the west of Ireland. It's a fixture on every top-public-courses list in America; a Macdonald/Raynor-inspired South Course by Fry and Straka followed in 2018.

Bucket-listers who want Ireland without a passport — this is arguably the Midwest's most spectacular public course, and a superb buddies-trip anchor with the South Course next door.

The holes riding the bluff edge on the back nine are the reason it's famous — fairways and greens perched over open Lake Michigan water, wind deciding everything. The scale of the dunes-and-fescue interior keeps the inland holes from feeling like filler.

Generous fairways, but wind off Lake Michigan, deep fescue and dramatic elevation make it a handful. Forward tees and a match-play mindset keep it fun for higher handicaps.

In GSPro — the recreation is a community favorite and shows up in players' best-of lists. In a Clubhouse bay it plays big: wide corridors reward the driver, but crank the wind and it becomes a proper test. Great pick for a members' night with a view.

Public. Peak green fees run roughly $215-275 with shoulder-season and twilight rates from around $125, plus discounted replays. Summer weekends book far out — reserve early.