The Orchards Golf Club

The Orchards Golf Club is Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s 1993 daily-fee championship course in Washington Township, Michigan, 30 miles north of Detroit, and perennially ranked as the best public course in southern Michigan. Jones Jr. routed 7,036 yards par 72 across 525 rolling acres of lakes, wetlands, prairie grasses, and the mature apple orchards that name the club. A 74.5 course rating and 136 slope put it well into championship-test territory. The defining architectural feature is the bunkering, 93 flash-faced bunkers anchor the routing, placed strategically rather than penally. Jones Jr. wound fairways in and out of dense hardwood forest stands and open meadow stretches, which creates the kind of hole-to-hole visual variety that keeps 18 holes from feeling repetitive. Large greens with pronounced slope do the final defending on approach shots. The Orchards has been named #1 among the top 10 metro Detroit public golf courses by the Detroit Free Press (2018 & 2019) and continues to appear on Michigan top public lists. Pair with Shepherd's Hollow (Arthur Hills, Clarkston) and Bay Harbor Quarry/Preserve (Arthur Hills, Petoskey) for a full Michigan public-course itinerary spanning three of the state's strongest layouts.