The Loop
Tom Doak's reversible experiment at Forest Dunes — a single set of greens and fairways played clockwise one day and counter-clockwise the next, so you get two completely different courses from one piece of ground.
Tom Doak had long wanted to build a course you could play both directions, the way the Old Course at St. Andrews once was. At Forest Dunes in northern Michigan, he finally did it. The Loop is a single set of greens and fairways routed so cleverly that it plays as two completely different eighteen-hole courses — the Black clockwise, the Red counter-clockwise — on alternating days. It’s a genuine architectural novelty that also happens to be a joy to play, twice.
| Yards | Rating | Slope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | 6,704 | 71.5 | 125 |
| Regular | 6,078 | 68.8 | 118 |
How it plays
Open, sandy, and friendly — by design. A reversible course has to be playable from both ends, so Doak built wide fairways, few forced carries, and large greens with approachable entrances, shaping the interest into the ground rather than hazards. The genius reveals itself when you play the opposite direction: a green you approached from the left yesterday is now attacked from the right, and the whole strategic picture flips. It’s walkable, fun, and quietly brilliant.
Two completely different courses from one piece of ground.
The pedigree
The Loop was the golf story of 2016 — a reversible course, the first of its kind purpose-built in the modern era, from one of the game’s most celebrated architects. It drew pilgrims and press, won best-new recognition, and has settled in as a cult favorite that rewards the two-day visit its format demands. There’s nothing else quite like it in American golf.
Plan your visit
It’s at Forest Dunes near Roscommon, in the sandy pine country of northern Michigan, alongside the original (and excellent) Forest Dunes course. To get the full experience you need to catch both the Black and the Red, so plan an overnight or two and check which direction is in play. Walk it, take it lightly, and enjoy the mental puzzle of recognizing yesterday’s holes from entirely new angles.
Who should play here
Golf nerds, students of architecture, and anyone who delights in a clever idea executed well. The Loop isn’t the most dramatic or demanding course on a bucket list — it’s the most interesting, a design experiment you can only truly appreciate by playing both ways. Bundle it with Forest Dunes and the up-north Michigan trail, and give yourself the two days it deserves.
The Loop, quickly
- What is a reversible golf course?
- The Loop uses one set of greens and fairways routed so it can be played in two directions. On a given day it plays either clockwise (the Black) or counter-clockwise (the Red) — two genuinely different courses from the same ground, on an alternating schedule.
- Who designed The Loop?
- Tom Doak, at Forest Dunes in northern Michigan. It opened in 2016 as the first purpose-built fully reversible course in modern American golf.
- Can you play both directions?
- Not on the same day — the resort alternates which direction is in play. To experience both the Black and the Red, you'll want at least a two-day stay.
- Is The Loop walkable?
- Yes — it's a walkable, sandy, open course, and walking is very much in the spirit of the place.
We may earn a commission on the tee-time link above — we only point you where we’d book ourselves. Scorecard figures are illustrative.