Crystal Downs Country Club is a private country club

Country club

A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...

 in Lake Township

Lake Township, Benzie County, Michigan

Lake Township is a civil township of Benzie County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 635 at the 2000 census. The township is irregularly shaped, following the shore of Lake Michigan from Crystal Lake north to Leelanau County...

, Benzie County

Benzie County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 15,998 people, 6,500 households, and 4,595 families residing in the county. The population density was 50 people per square mile . There were 10,312 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...

, near Frankfort, Michigan

Frankfort, Michigan

Frankfort is a city in Benzie County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,513 at the 2000 census. The elevation of Frankfort is above sea level. The city is situated with Lake Michigan to the west, Lake Betsie, formed by the Betsie River before flowing into Lake Michigan, on the...

. Designed by golf course architects Alister MacKenzie

Alister MacKenzie

Dr. Alister MacKenzie was an internationally renowned, British golf course architect whose course designs, on three different continents, are consistently ranked among the finest golf courses in the world...

 and Perry Maxwell in 1929, the par-70, 6,518 yard course offers views of Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 and Crystal Lake. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau County and Benzie County....

 lies just to its east.

Despite being consistently ranked among the top courses in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (ranked 10th for 2007-08 by Golf Digest

Golf Digest

Golf Digest is a monthly golf magazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized , and Golf World Business. The...

) the only tournament of note it has hosted has been the 1991 U.S. Senior Amateur, due to its isolated location far from population centers and the corresponding lack of sufficient facilities (lodging, transportation, infrastructure) needed to accommodate the crowds attracted by major tournament events. Crystal Downs is considered one of the top golf courses in America, and has drawn many comparisons to surrounding golf clubs, the difference with Crystal Downs being its isolation.