Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club (Farms/Birches)

Overview: Farms/Birches is the original 18-hole pairing at Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club, a private community on the Lake Michigan side of Harbor Springs. The round moves through mature hardwoods and gently changing ground, with The Farms providing the more traditional northern parkland feel and The Birches adding more defined hazards and strategic angles. Generous playing corridors do not make the course automatic: the tree lines, approach positions and changing elevation reward a golfer who plans the next shot rather than chasing distance. It is a classic Harbor Springs round, rooted in the landscape and played within a larger 27-hole club.

History: Birchwood’s original 18 holes were designed by Bruce Matthews Sr. and his son Jerry Matthews and opened in 1972. Jerry later added The Woods nine in 1998, creating the club’s present 27-hole structure. Farms/Birches remains important because it preserves the earliest course identity at Birchwood and explains why the facility can offer several combinations without losing its original character. The club’s current information describes the golf as private, with the course serving a residential and membership community rather than operating as a regular public resort.

Did You Know? The Farms/Birches pairing is the part of Birchwood that began the club’s golf story in 1972. The later Woods nine expanded the menu, but this combination still represents the original two-nine foundation of the Harbor Springs property.