Folds of Honor - American Dunes Golf Club

[Big Frank]

Ex F-16 fighter pilot Lt Col Dan Rooney, the same guy who founded Folds of Honor in 2007, started the American Dunes Golf Club 4 years ago, which directly benefits the Folds of Honor Foundation.   American Dunes isn't a bad choice of names, since the largest sand dunes in the eastern half of the U.S. are in Michigan. Here in the Lower Peninsula Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is 71,199 acres on 35 miles of shoreline. At 460 feet, they're the fifth tallest sand dunes in North America. There's also Silver Lake State Park where you ride around on the dunes, which is 2,936 acres, and a small area called Rosy Mound Natural Area is less than 2 miles from the golf course. There are lots of other sand dunes, too. 5 square miles (3,200 acres) of Grand Sable Dunes in the U.P. are perched atop the 300-foot high Grand Sable Banks. Walking up big, steep dunes is like walking up the down escalator.

The American Dunes Story

In 2006, the Grand Haven Golf Club hosted a small golf tournament that would inspire the formation of Folds of Honor. The Grand Haven Golf Club closed in 2018 and a small group of patriots joined together with Jack Nicklaus to create American Dunes. The mission of American Dunes is unwavering. We are honored to raise awareness and funds for the families of our fallen and disabled veterans.  Jack Nicklaus led the project by donating his $3,000,000 design fee, a group of eighteen individuals sponsored a hole and five private investors joined together to preserve the birthplace of Folds of Honor.

Lt Col Dan Rooney, a fighter pilot in the USAFR and PGA Professional founded Folds of Honor in 2007. “American Dunes represents a collaboration of countless likeminded patriots, who want this golf course to forever stand as a tribute to the birthplace of Folds of Honor, a safe haven for veterans who find rehabilitation through the recreation of the game, and a backdrop to celebrate our country and those who fought for its freedom” said Rooney. A significant legacy such as this is born out of the effort of selfless individuals and companies who have donated their time and resources.

And now, because of you and many other like minded patriots that know that Freedom Is Not Free, your support of American Dunes Golf Club directly benefits the Folds of Honor mission.

Your round of golf at American Dunes will be the most heroic round of golf you will ever play.   Why?  Because it will be for someone else.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKwM5grvPng


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3O_Syn9pN8

[Big Frank]

It seems like there are a lot of golf courses in Michigan. I was curious about how many so I did a search. Golf Link says there are 860 golf courses in Michigan, including 657 public, 85 municipal, and 118 private courses. There are 6 golf courses in Flint, Michigan, including 1 public, 4 municipal, and 1 private course. There are also another 27 golf courses within 20 miles of Flint, including 22 public and 5 private courses. I live between a (Frisbee) disc golf course and a regular golf course that are only about a mile and a half apart. I think there used to be regular a golf course where the disc golf course is. There's another golf course just over 2 miles due east of the golf course by me, and another one 4.3 miles west of it. I'm literally surrounded by golf courses and a Frisbee golf course. That's 1.6 miles from my house, and it's not the only one in Flint, and a regular golf course is only a mile away. The hardest course in the whole state is less than 9 1/2 miles away. It seems like there's a church on nearly every block too. There's a whole lot of golfing and a lot of praying going on around here, sometimes at the same time.   From what I've read, in the summer when it's too hot to enjoy the weather down south, Michigan becomes the golf capitol of the U.S.