About 20 Detroit area supers have been getting together from time to time to talk turf, play golf, and enjoy the camaraderie. In our foresome we had Me, Dan Dingman from Grosse Ile, John Cooney Tam O' Shanter, and Brian Schweihofer from Franklin. This month we played Rackham. WOW what a great golf course!
Ross drawing in the club house. The first 5 holes were moved to make room for highway expansion.
Note the diagonal routing. Here we have a level rectangular piece of property on a north-south east-west axis. So if you route holes diagonally on this property you are really maximizing the effects of light and wind, and you never get the sense that you are playing in parallel hole corridors.
The terrain is fairly level.
John Cooney in fine form hitting from 3 tee.
Six green, which we all felt was probably original.
Taken from 7 tee. Typical of the trees at Rackham. This was the only hole that I felt the tree corridor was a little tight for what the hole offers in terms of options.
On 7 we begin to encounter our first of many center-line hazards. These gotta be original - but if this was a country club they would have all been taken out right?
Eight green. A really cool par three, elevated green with subtle contours.
The clubhouse in the distance - built by Albert Kahn.
The original greens are round and fairly simple; the internal contours are not at all bold like Oakland Hills or Grosse Ile, but very fun to play. This green (number 9) might have been rebuilt but it seemed to be original. The angle of the fairway definitely changed as nine fairway is now in what was once the driving range. That's right, in 1923 Ross designed a grass practice range on a public course.
My favorite green on the course was number 12. From the fairway it looks like a small target but there is plenty of green to work with.
Many of the tees are at ground level. I love these kinds of tees that are basically part of the original grade.
Looking back at 14 green. Placed on a hillside and the grade of the green follows the hill pretty close. Look at how firm and fast the fairways are playing. You gotta get out and play this course to see the ball bounce and roll. Adam Hosler, the superintendent has this course playing just perfect.
Another cool center line bunker with a high lip placed just before the summit of a slight ridge. This section of the course is where you get the most terrain change. The Detroit Zoo is just off to the side of this hole. One of the things I love about these center line hazards is they obscure your view of where the ball lands. You hit your shot beyond the hazard and you don't see it land. So there is some element of surprise with this kind of feature.
Longish par three with center line fairway hazards that are laid out on a formal line. I don't think I have ever seen Ross lay out something this formal? Again, if this was a private club these probably would have been removed a long time ago.
Look at how the bunkers are in pyramid formation. Very cool hole.
The par five finishing hole to an uphill green guarded by trees.
And then we went to Memphis Smoke for ribs and beers, where we were joined by the distinguished Dr. Vargas.
Adam Hosler, our host superintendent is in the orange shirt.
Dr. Frank and Dr. Crum played on the course with us, and Dr. Frank was clearly the top player of the day.