Latest news with #KingsleyClub
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
World-class designer bringing talent to metro Detroit for Dunham Hills golf course rebrand
Golf fans in metro Detroit, get excited: A world-class name in golf course architecture is bringing his talents to southeast Michigan. Mike DeVries, based in Traverse City and best known in these parts for crafting Kingsley Club and Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, is the designer tabbed for a project at Dunham Hills in Hartland, 10 minutes from the intersection of M-59 and U.S. 23. Advertisement The redesigned course, if all the money is raised, will be rebranded as Proving Ground Golf Club, a nod to Detroit's historic automotive industry. (The new logo is a sports car with a flag in the back seat.) It could open by 2027, according to Crain's. The property was purchased in December 2024 by a group of investors who are "passionate, like-minded golfers," including Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Brian Cairns. DeVries' new routing was revealed May 31 after more than a year of planning. Proving Ground wants to offer something different, something rarely seen in golf clubs in America. The club will offer public play, but its grand vision will be modeled after clubs in the United Kingdom, where a robust annual season pass membership base takes a block of play in part to lower fees and hopefully take better care of the golf course. There will still be plenty of tee times available for the public. It's a setup used by the acclaimed Belvedere in Charlevoix. Advertisement DEVRIES BEAUTY: Greywalls in Marquette feels like a time warp back to Jurassic era "The plan was simple, start with great land and a top-tier architect," the club said in a statement. "With Dunham Hills and Mike DeVries we found both. "From scouting and acquiring the property, walking the land with Mike, and watching his sketches evolve into a world-class design, this journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Mike's vision is now taking shape, and we couldn't be more excited about what's ahead." View from the fairway at the par-4 14th hole at Dunham Hills Golf Club in Hartland, Oct. 24, 2021. A pond creeps into the fairway from the left, forcing most players to lay up off the tee and be accurate. Dunham Hills is a tree-lined routing with up-and-back holes, allowing shorter walks between greens and tees, with plenty of movement in the land — a nod to its name. DeVries' style is to let the natural property determine the golf, and he has a good canvas to work with at the par-71, 6,758-yard course opened in 1967. (Dunham Hills remains open for public play this season.) Advertisement DeVries' reimagined layout and routing is set at 6,859 yards from the tips playing as a par-70 layout. It has two par-5s and three par-3s on the front nine, including a short 137-yard sixth hole, and takes out the back-to-back par-5s on Nos. 12-13 and instead has a par-5 14th. Golf course designer Mike DeVries poses at Kingsley Club. "Really, when you start to look at a piece of property, I respond to what's inherently there," he recently told Michigan Golf Journal. "Asking, how do we build good, fun golf that's engaging for every level of player for that property, and not just try to drop a template in there, or this idea or that idea, and try to reproduce it. 'For me, it's sculpture with a 20,000-pound piece of equipment. To me, that's all part of the creative process and figuring out the right puzzle and how we solve that.' Advertisement DeVries, now known worldwide for his course designs, has three other Michigan layouts to his name besides Kingsley (2001) and Greywalls (2005), each in west Michigan and well-regarded by golfers: Pilgrim's Run (Pierson), Diamond Springs (Hamilton) and the Mines (just outside Grand Rapids). Proving Ground would be the second high-end, newly constructed public 18-hole golf course in southeast Michigan, after a two-decade period without one. The Cardinal at St. John's opened in 2024. Marlowe Alter is an assistant sports editor at the Detroit Free Press and spraying golf aficionado. You can reach him by email: malter@ Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress). Advertisement Stay connected and stay informed. Become a Detroit Free Press subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dunham Hills golf in Hartland to be redesigned, become Proving Ground
USA Today
10-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Detroit-area's Dunham Hills Golf Club to undergo revision by world-class designer
Detroit-area's Dunham Hills Golf Club to undergo revision by world-class designer Golf fans in metro Detroit, get excited: A world-class name in golf course architecture is bringing his talents to southeast Michigan. Mike DeVries, based in Traverse City and best known in these parts for crafting Kingsley Club and Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, is the designer tabbed for a project at Dunham Hills in Hartland, Michigan. The redesigned course, if all the money is raised, will be rebranded as Proving Ground Golf Club, a nod to Detroit's historic automotive industry (the new logo is a sports car with a flag in the back seat). It could open by 2027. The property was purchased in December 2024 by a group of investors who are "passionate, like-minded golfers," including Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Brian Cairns. DeVries' new routing was revealed May 31 after more than a year of planning. Proving Ground wants to offer something different, something rarely seen in golf clubs in America. The club will offer public play, but its grand vision will be modeled after clubs in the United Kingdom, where a robust annual season pass membership base takes a block of play in part to lower fees and hopefully take better care of the golf course. There will still be plenty of tee times available for the public. It's a setup used by the acclaimed Belvedere in Charlevoix, Michigan. "The plan was simple, start with great land and a top-tier architect," the club said in a statement. "With Dunham Hills and Mike DeVries we found both." "From scouting and acquiring the property, walking the land with Mike, and watching his sketches evolve into a world-class design, this journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Mike's vision is now taking shape, and we couldn't be more excited about what's ahead." Dunham Hills is a tree-lined routing with up-and-back holes, allowing shorter walks between greens and tees, with plenty of movement in the land — a nod to its name. DeVries' style is to let the natural property determine the golf, and he has a good canvas to work with at the par-71, 6,758-yard course opened in 1967. Dunham Hills remains open for public play this season. DeVries' reimagined layout and routing is set at 6,859 yards from the tips playing as a par-70 layout. It has two par-5s and three par 3s on the front nine, including a short 137-yard sixth hole, and takes out the back-to-back par 5s on Nos. 12-13 and instead has a par-5 14th. "Really, when you start to look at a piece of property, I respond to what's inherently there," he recently told Michigan Golf Journal. "Asking, how do we build good, fun golf that's engaging for every level of player for that property, and not just try to drop a template in there, or this idea or that idea, and try to reproduce it. 'For me, it's sculpture with a 20,000-pound piece of equipment. To me, that's all part of the creative process and figuring out the right puzzle and how we solve that.' DeVries, now known worldwide for his course designs, has three other Michigan layouts to his name besides Kingsley (2001) and Greywalls (2005), each in west Michigan and well-regarded by golfers: Pilgrim's Run (Pierson), Diamond Springs (Hamilton) and the Mines (just outside Grand Rapids). Proving Ground would be the second high-end, newly constructed public 18-hole golf course in southeast Michigan, after a two-decade period without one. The Cardinal at St. John's opened in 2024. Marlowe Alter is an assistant sports editor at the Detroit Free Press and spraying golf aficionado. You can reach him by email: malter@
USA Today
19-05-2025
- USA Today
This Michigan golf course feels like a time warp back to Jurassic era
This Michigan golf course feels like a time warp back to Jurassic era It looks like no terrain you have ever seen before on a golf course — like you've been transported into an Ansel Adams landscape portrait. That's the grounds of Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with Lake Superior shimmering in the distance. The aptly named Greywalls was sculpted out of breathtaking, tumbling land featuring granite walls and outcrops scattered throughout the fairways and greens — it feels straight out of the Jurassic era. It makes for a gnarly one-of-a-kind ride through the wilderness, with stunning views and elevation changes, never-seen-before fairway impediments and numerous holes that would qualify as the signature on most courses. More: Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play 2024: Top 100 U.S. public-access layouts, ranked Greywalls was created by Saginaw native Mike DeVries — who, a few years earlier, completed the acclaimed private Kingsley Club in Grand Traverse County — after Marquette Golf Club saw its original 1929 course, The Heritage, being overrun. DeVries, who earned his Masters in landscape architecture in 1994 from Michigan, has created well-regarded courses in west Michigan, including Pierson's Pilgrim's Run, Grand Rapids' The Mines and Hamilton's Diamond Springs. Greywalls, opened in 2005, continually ranks inside the top 50 public-access courses in America, as judged by Golfweek: It was No. 40 nationally in 2024, and No. 2 in Michigan. How DeVries had the vision to carve out Greywalls from a rugged forest is jaw-dropping, both to the architectural expert and the untrained eye. Right away, you know you're in for something different. The par-5 first hole tees from a high point to boldly sloping turf with rock outcroppings on each side. The par-4 second fairway has severe peaks and valleys as it winds and tumbles to a green site sticking out of the forest. The par-4 fourth features a giant mound of fairway on the left with a small patch of moss and fescue on top of another jutting rock that drops off to a valley of fairway on the right. The green is protected on the left by a giant overgrown rock wall standing a few stories high. The sixth might be the best of them all: a rare uphill par-3. But, boy, is it intimidating, hitting over a rock outcropping with a green sitting on a plateau surrounded by more rock. I'm surely one of thousands to bang it off the rock face guarding the right side of the green. And the par-4 seventh? Don't even get me started on that extreme roller coaster of a fairway with random jagged rocks splattered across it. Just making it through the hole with the same ball you teed off with — and without a sprained ankle — is an accomplishment. The par-4 11th makes you feel like you're on the only golf hole in the world, beautifully framed by bunkers crisscrossing the fairway from every angle with the dense forest behind the green. \Virtually every hole offers something unique, including tightly mown areas around the fast greens, which allow imaginative ways to get the ball rolling toward the cup. It's a design feature not seen enough at most courses. The journey ends on the downhill par-5 18th with a tee shot down a chute framed by more rock outcroppings, with Lake Superior beckoning beyond the horizon. Greywalls has earned even more positive publicity over the past few years from two leaders of new-age golf media platforms. The website Fried Egg Golf spotlighted the course and featured a short video on No. 7 among its "Great Golf Holes" series. "Mike DeVries created one of the most memorable holes in golf simply by letting the jaw-dropping terrain be the star," Fried Egg founder Andy Johnson says in the clip. No Laying Up played its final match of its "Tourist Sauce (Michigan)" series in 2021, showcasing the entire course intertwined with commentary from DeVries. Greywalls is the type of experience where, after you finish the round, you have to take a seat to talk through and digest the nigh-indescribable nature of what you just witnessed. And though you might need a day to recover, you want to get out and play it again to see what kind of breaks you might get the second time around. It is a course every golfer from below the Mackinac Bridge should try to play at least once, and more than worth the half-day drive from southeast Michigan. Marlowe Alter is an assistant sports editor at the Detroit Free Press and a spraying golf aficionado. You can reach him by email: malter@
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Greywalls golf course in Marquette feels like a time warp back to Jurassic era
It looks like no terrain you have ever seen before on a golf course — like you've been transported into an Ansel Adams landscape portrait. That's the grounds of Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with Lake Superior shimmering in the distance. Advertisement The aptly named Greywalls was sculpted out of breathtaking, tumbling land featuring granite walls and outcrops scattered throughout the fairways and greens — it feels straight out of the Jurassic era. It makes for a gnarly one-of-a-kind ride through the wilderness, with stunning views and elevation changes, never-seen-before fairway impediments and numerous holes that would qualify as the signature on most courses. Greywalls was created by Saginaw native Mike DeVries — who a few years earlier completed the acclaimed private Kingsley Club in Grand Traverse County — after Marquette Golf Club saw its original 1929 course, The Heritage, being overrun. DeVries, who earned his Masters in landscape architecture in 1994 from Michigan, has created well-regarded courses in west Michigan, including Pierson's Pilgrim's Run, Grand Rapids' The Mines and Hamilton's Diamond Springs. Advertisement Greywalls, opened in 2005, continually ranks inside the top 50 public-access courses in America, as judged by Golfweek: It was No. 40 nationally in 2024, and No. 2 in Michigan. How DeVries had the vision to carve out Greywalls from a rugged forest is jaw-dropping, both to the architectural expert and the untrained eye. Right away, you know you're in for something different. IN THE LOWER PENINSULA ... Nightmare green at Eagle Crest causes chaos at national championship The par-5 first hole tees from a high point to boldly sloping turf with rock outcroppings on each side. The par-4 second fairway has severe peaks and valleys as it winds and tumbles to a green site sticking out of the forest. A look from the bounding par-4 second fairway to the green at Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan near Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. The par-4 fourth features a giant mound of fairway on the left with a small patch of moss and fescue on top of another jutting rock that drops off to a valley of fairway on the right. The green is protected on the left by a giant overgrown rock wall standing a few stories high. A rock wall closely guards the left side of the par-4 fourth green at Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan near Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. The sixth might be the best of them all: a rare uphill par-3. But, boy, is it intimidating, hitting over a rock outcropping with a green sitting on a plateau surrounded by more rock. I'm surely one of thousands to bang it off the rock face guarding the right side of the green. The famed uphill par-3 sixth hole at Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan near Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. And the par-4 seventh? Don't even get me started on that extreme roller coaster of a fairway with random jagged rocks splattered across it. Just making it through the hole with the same ball you teed off with — and without a sprained ankle — is an accomplishment. The par-4 seventh hole at Greywalls tees off from a high point on top of rock and features a cliff bisecting the middle of the fairway at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. Lake Superior is seen in the distance. The par-4 11th makes you feel like you're on the only golf hole in the world, beautifully framed by bunkers crisscrossing the fairway from every angle with the dense forest behind the green. View from the tee on the par-4 11th hole at Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan near Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. Virtually every hole offers something unique, including tightly mown areas around the fast greens, which allow imaginative ways to get the ball rolling toward the cup. It's a design feature not seen enough at most courses. Advertisement The journey ends on the downhill par-5 18th with a tee shot down a chute framed by more rock outcroppings, with Lake Superior beckoning beyond the horizon. The view from the 18th green looking back up to the fairway at Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club in Marquette, Michigan near Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, June 26, 2024. Greywalls has earned even more positive publicity over the past few years from two leaders of new-age golf media platforms. The website Fried Egg Golf spotlighted the course and featured a short video on No. 7 among its "Great Golf Holes" series. "Mike DeVries created one of the most memorable holes in golf simply by letting the jaw-dropping terrain be the star," Fried Egg founder Andy Johnson says in the clip. No Laying Up played its final match of its "Tourist Sauce (Michigan)" series in 2021 showcasing the entire course intertwined with commentary from DeVries. Greywalls is the type of experience where after you finish the round, you have to take a seat to talk through and digest the nigh-indescribable nature of what you just witnessed. Advertisement TRENDING: 5 public golf courses in Michigan I can't wait to play for first time in 2025 And though you might need a day to recover, you want to get out and play it again to see what kind of breaks you might get the second time around. It is a course every golfer from below the Mackinac Bridge should try to play at least once, and more than worth the half-day drive from southeast Michigan. Marlowe Alter is an assistant sports editor at the Detroit Free Press and a spraying golf aficionado. You can reach him by email: malter@ Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress). Advertisement Stay connected and stay informed. Become a Detroit Free Press subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Greywalls golf course in Michigan's Upper Peninsula lives up to hype
