
The Lakes Golf Course Review
The Lakes at The Loon Resorts
Grade: B-
Teacher’s Comments: A fun and challenging course that could use a little more TLC.
The Lakes is a woods-and-links course that is part of The Loon collection of courses in Gaylord. The others are The Ridge and the eponymous The Loon.
As a name, The Lakes is a bit of a misnomer, for only four of the holes really play around Lake Michaywe. To be fair, though, they are probably the most memorable.
The Lakes opens with a linksy tee shot, transitioning into a series of hilly, woodlands holes from two through nine. Ten and eleven return to a linksy style, before transitioning to a series of challenging wooded holes over and around Lake Michawye. Eighteen starts in a wooded setting, then opens back up to a links style — in a way, the opposite of the first hole.


A Jerry Matthews design dating to 1988, The Lakes has a bit of a Greatest Hits of Northern Michigan vibe. It’s got the classic sharp downhill par 3 that so many courses have Up North; a tee shot through a vale between two hills; a ski hill downhill par 5 (although there’s no skiing); tee shots over marsh; and a finish around a lake.
It’s a really enjoyable modern design.


From the back tees, The Lakes comes in at 6, 289 yards and plays to a 70.8/136.
Tees | Yardage | Rating | Slope |
Blue | 6, 289 | 70.8 | 136 |
White | 5, 818 | M 69.1 W 74.6 | M 129 W 139 |
Gold | 4, 922 | M 65 W 70.1 | M 116 W 125 |
Red | 4, 615 | M 63.7 W 68.3 | M 114 W 119 |


My favorite hole as the par 5 eighteenth. The tee shot races out through a tunnel of trees to an open, links style hole beyond. Between tee and landing zone, a small ravine lurks and could catch low shots.


After the tee shot, the hole opens up to a wide, treeless fairway that wraps around a pond. The green sits at the far end of the shepherd’s crook. Mounding lines the right side of the fairway.
The second shot is the question here. Play it safe and away from the pond? Or risk the shore for a shorter approach?


As it turns out, there’s plenty of landing room on the back side of the pond. It just doesn’t look like it from the tee shot landing zone. It’s just a neat trick for the eye.




The holes over Lake Michawaye are also of note. They are really spectacular and very intimidating. The carries are really not that long, but they get into your head.
Fortunately, there are much shorter tees further up.




The Lakes also features two diabolical par threes on the shores of the lake. Twelve is set on a slope on the left side of one of the lake. Seventeen is on the right side, with water all around.




Conditions on the day I played were widely varied. Some holes were as good as any course I played in 2024. Others, not so much. There were some awful stretches of fairway, and some bunkers that needed tending. Was any of this a dealbreaker? No. But I expected a lot more from a resort course in Northern Michigan, especially for the price.
I enjoyed my play at The Lakes and wouldn’t be adverse to returning to play. It has several holes that I’d like to try again. For what it’s worth, I walked the course, but there were some spots that might deter the less physically fit. A woman who was watering her yard near one of the tee boxes said I was the first walker she’d ever seen.
The Lakes golf course review was first published January 23, 2025 from notes and photos taken on a round played during the 2024 season. For a list of all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan golf course reviews, follow the link.
A course tour of the Lakes follows:


























































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