Latest news with #RayHearn
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Cardinal at St. John's is the Free Press' Top Public Golf Course in Wayne County
This is the first in a series looking at the best public golf courses in the six-county metro Detroit area. It's a rare thing when a high-end course opens, and it's even rarer when that course opens to the acclaim The Cardinal at St. John's earned shortly after its 2024 debut. Advertisement Architect Ray Hearn did a masterful job reworking and pretty much reinventing St. John's uninspiring 27-hole resort course from the 1980s and transforming it into an upscale track in Plymouth that's both challenging, pretty and playable. The carts are some of the most comfortable I've ever been in and the touchscreen GPS system tracks players ahead of you in order to avoid hitting into them. Because it's attached to a beautiful red-brick resort, playing the Cardinal feels like an entire luxury experience. The course is immaculate and feels like a nice throwback – you know, like way back in the 1990s – with a fairly straightforward design that doesn't try to trick you into thinking you're in Scotland. Hearn resisted the urge of most his peers who show up and immediately proclaim: 'We've got to get rid of 30,000 trees!' The par-5 fourth hole is reachable in two swings, and the first of back-to-back par-5s at The Cardinal at St. John's Resort in Plymouth Township, July 17, 2024. It's American parkland golf at its bucolic best: big greens that are subtle without being devious, boulder-lined ponds, perfect sand in manageable bunkers that are outlined by normal rough. No pot bunkers or fescue and native grasses that catch, trap and steal your ball, if not your chance of saving par or bogey. Advertisement The Cardinal is, after all, a resort course, which means level of difficulty shouldn't be daunting for a guest who might be playing it for the first and only time of their lives. Hearn obviously learned the lesson Jack Nicklaus never did when he constructed brutal test after brutal test during the height of his design career. MORE ON THE CARDINAL: I just shot my best golf round ever at St. John's The Cardinal. Maybe you can, too. But being playable doesn't mean the Cardinal is a pushover. Even though there are few forced carries, if you miss the fairway you'll find some of the thickest rough among any public course in metro Detroit. The rough around the green is a different story. Hearn put thought into the options he wanted to give his golfers when they missed their approach shot. Instead of just putting a bunch of thick rough around the greens – U.S. Open-style – and forcing a chop out, he put shorter grass in some areas to give players the choice of chipping, lobbing or even putting a ball. Advertisement Ther course has plenty of variety but two of the standout holes are the par-4 ninth hole that features an Oakmont-style church-pew fairway bunker, and the Redan green on the par-3 third hole. If you haven't played the Cardinal, you'll get a chance to see it on television or in person when the LIV Golf tour shows up in late August. You might want to book a tee time well before that because it isn't often you get the chance to play a course you see tour stars playing on TV. Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@ Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez. Check out for the rest. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The Cardinal is the Free Press' Top Public Golf Course in Wayne County
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Michigan resort plans June opening for new par-3 course on a ski slope, putting course
Doon Brae and the Back Yaird, the new par-3 course and putting course at The Highlands in Michigan, will open late this spring. Guests can begin booking play on the short course for a planned June 6 opening. The lighted, nine-hole Doon Brae is touted by Boyne Resorts as being the first modern golf course built on a ski slope. It will be the 11th course for Boyne, designed by architect Ray Hearn – a Michigan native – on the site of the former Cuff Links par-3 course. The course will feature music, fire pits and food service. 'The combination of small greens inspired by some of the great green templates from overseas with sod-faced bunkers and tight mowing patterns will be a fun, perfect add-on to the daily golf itinerary,' Bernie Friedrich, director of golf course renovations and development at Boyne Resorts in Harbor Springs, said in a media release announcing the planned opening. 'It also provides a wonderful option for families, kids and beginners to try golf for the first time.' Stretching between 678 and 993 yards, the course moves mostly horizontally across a steep slope to minimize any dramatic uphill hikes. Holes range from 57 to 134 yards in length. 'I wanted to make sure we were creating something fun and unique without being a difficult walk,' Hearn said in the media release. 'We also considered all the families taking their kids out to play the short course and then the putting course.' The Back Yaird (Scottish for yard) will be a 1.5-acre, 27-hole putting course with three nine-hole combinations. It will sit just off the Slopeside Patio of the Highlands Main Lodge. 'Every time I visited Scotland with friends, I was always inspired by the Himalayas (a famous putting course) at St. Andrews,' Hearn said. 'We just kept playing it over and over and never got bored. The Back Yaird will provide that kind of experience.' This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The Highlands will open its Doon Brae par-3 course in June
USA Today
30-01-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Michigan resort plans June opening for new par-3 course on a ski slope, putting course
Michigan resort plans June opening for new par-3 course on a ski slope, putting course Doon Brae and the Back Yaird, the new par-3 course and putting course at Boyne Highlands in Michigan, will open late this spring. Guests can begin booking play on the short course for a planned June 6 opening. The lighted, nine-hole Doon Brae is touted by Boyne Resorts as being the first modern golf course built on a ski slope. It will be the 11th course for Boyne, designed by architect Ray Hearn – a Michigan native – on the site of the former Cuff Links par-3 course. The course will feature music, fire pits and food service. 'The combination of small greens inspired by some of the great green templates from overseas with sod-faced bunkers and tight mowing patterns will be a fun, perfect add-on to the daily golf itinerary,' Bernie Friedrich, director of golf course renovations and development at Boyne Resorts in Harbor Springs, said in a media release announcing the planned opening. 'It also provides a wonderful option for families, kids and beginners to try golf for the first time.' Stretching between 678 and 993 yards, the course moves mostly horizontally across a steep slope to minimize any dramatic uphill hikes. Holes range from 57 to 134 yards in length. 'I wanted to make sure we were creating something fun and unique without being a difficult walk,' Hearn said in the media release. 'We also considered all the families taking their kids out to play the short course and then the putting course.' The Back Yaird (Scottish for yard) will be a 1.5-acre, 27-hole putting course with three nine-hole combinations. It will sit just off the Slopeside Patio of the Highlands Main Lodge. 'Every time I visited Scotland with friends, I was always inspired by the Himalayas (a famous putting course) at St. Andrews,' Hearn said. 'We just kept playing it over and over and never got bored. The Back Yaird will provide that kind of experience.'
