Text: Greg Johnson

Lakewood Shores Golf Resort in Oscoda, Michigan is set a couple short miles from the shores of Lake Huron. Located just west of Cedar Lake and north of Van Etten Lake in a region rich with more than 35,000 acres of trails running from sand dunes to towering pines and hardwoods, Lakewood Shores is a golfing destination offering fall colors in different and dramatic ways across its three distinctive courses. 

Since it fell under ownership of Stan Aldridge and work began in earnest in 1990 to develop Lakewood Shores into a golf resort—rather than its initial beginnings as a private course—its mission has been to offer great golf at a great dollar value. 

The Gailes course at Lakewood Shores offers the experience of links golf through the award-winning design work of Ken Aldridge and Bob Cupp. The beauty of the surrounding Michigan topography that changes colors with the season is stunning. 

It was named the No. 1 New Resort Course by Golf Digest when it opened during golf’s building boom of 1993, and it recreates the look and feel of the famed seaside courses of Scotland with double greens, meandering berms, sod-faced bunkers and long fescue grasses.

Blackshire, another course at Lakewood Shores, was designed by Kevin Aldridge at the resort and was inspired by the famous Pine Valley Country Club in New Jersey. It offers a rugged feel with hardwoods, large sand waste areas and undulating greens. The hardwoods offer a variety of colors in contrast with the sand and greens.

Lakewood Shores also features The Serradella, a course designed by Bruce Matthews.  It is a classic parkland design with minimal hazards, wide fairways and large greens, and the incorporated floral gardens are stunning. Add fall color and it’s a color tour with golf involved.

“We truly have three completely different golf courses here, they are part of our packages and we make them work for our guests,” said Craig Peters, PGA professional at Lakewood Shores. “In the fall it is beautiful. The colors are amazing.”

The resort offers fall packages such as a two nights-three rounds package plus a complimentary replay starting on Sept. 22, 2019. It is $159 per person plus tax and resort fees on weekdays, and $189 on weekends. The resort also offers what it calls the Fall Blowout Package of four nights and four days of unlimited golf starting on Sept. 26, 2019. The price is $289 per person plus tax and resort fees.