[Kyle Henderson]

The Kingsley Club has been documented and discussed ad nauseum in this forum, and for good reason. Here are a few vantage points that may have escaped previous depictions…

Putting green and 1st tee. Empty, world-class course. Sunny skies. Hell yes.


At the short 2nd, the full extent of the perils found left of the tiny green do not immediately come into view… Right is also bad. Long is also bad. It might be a shortish par 3, but if my opponent is in big trouble, I’ll consider laying up.


With no real sense of what to do at the 3rd tee, I aimed for the right center on my first attempt. My drive took a perfect forward kick in the fairway “bowl.” This was so fun to do and watch, I teed up another and hit a nearly identical drive. Addiction set in… Sadly, my 2nd and 3rd rounds of the day brought me back down to earth at the very same coordinates.


4th tee. Now that’s a fairway! Again, beginners luck proved to be the rule, as I never managed to keep subsequent drives on the top of the hump. I wish every golf course was this engaging.


Looking back over the 4th green. It’s large and it gathers, but straight putts are in short supply.


At the longish par 3 5th, the bowled green REALLY gathers decent shots. Spend a few extra minutes putting about if no one is behind you (ditto the 3rd, and 13th greens especially).


The 6th fairway is plainly off kilter (view added for Sven).


The 6th green viewed from short/right. Short grass will quickly sweep away anything a bit long or left. Learn this lesson quickly.



The par 5 7th. This course is quite young. How has the forest grown over it so quickly?



The 7th landing is a bit wider than it looks from the tips (view added for Tim).


The short approach at the 7th green. This is a popular spot, judging by the permanent seeding station.


At the short par 4 8th, drives must flirt with a scraggly central hazard to threaten the green. The smart play is just short of the traps. Take plenty of extra club on the approach. That green is raised more than I thought (the first 3 times).


The par 3 9th viewed from the blooming southern tees (facing north). Though longer, I found this angle less intimidating than play from the western tees.


Looking south from behind the green.

[Brett_Morrissy]

beautiful work so far "Hendo" - if this course was in Australia, how do you think it would be sit or be received amoung the beauties you played?

[Greg Taylor]

Reminds me of Crystal Downs, which I guess isn't suprising given the location.

Looks like the elevation changes are perfect, cant imagine the greens are as good as CD but if they were they make a good pair.

[Jud_T]

Kyle,

Nice shots.  What were your favorite and least favorite holes?  fyi- the play on #2 is back center of the green almost regardless of where the pin is (including for your second shot!).  Even if you're over or in the back bunker at least you have a shot straight back the length of the green.  It's right and particularly left that are deadly.

[Bill Seitz]

The short approach at the 7th green. This is a popular spot, judging by the permanent seeding station.

If you see a seed tube in the fairway at Kingsley, beware.  That's not necessarily where you want to hit it.  But it is where just about every ball that misses its target will end up. 

Jud, I can't remember what trip it was this year, but I hit an iron to the dead back middle of the 2nd green when there was a front pin, and walked off the tee patting myself on the back for resisting temptation and executing the safe shot.  I pulled my putt a bit to the left, it caught the ridge, and about 20 seconds later I was resting at the bottom of the gully on the right of the green.  I putted the ball roughly 20-25 yards off the green. And it wasn't my worst putting experience at Kingsley last summer by a longshot.

[Jason Topp]

These images nicely capture some of the subtelties of the course while being beautiful in their own right.  Thanks for sharing.

[Tim Pitner]

Perhaps the photo is misleading, but there doesn't appear to be much room to hit it off #7 tee.  Looks a bit awkward.  Does it play that tight?

[Bill Seitz]

Perhaps the photo is misleading, but there doesn't appear to be much room to hit it off #7 tee.  Looks a bit awkward.  Does it play that tight?

Tim, It's more open off the tee than it looks.  There's room down to the left.  Depending on how far you hit it, the play is usually to hit it about 230-250 from the blue tees, or about 270 from the gold tees.  It's usually a three wood unless it's playing into the wind.  You don't want to go too far left because the you can get blocked out by that stand of trees, but it's not really a difficult tee shot.  The strategy comes on the second shot, whether to lay it back 130-140 on the ledge, where you have a full view of the green and you're playing from the height of the green, or beat it down to where the seed tube sits, which leaves 60-70 yards, blind and uphill. 

A really fun way to play seven is to play it as a long par four from the red tees.  If you take it right just a touch and carry it about 240-250, you'll catch the top of the ridge and it will funnel into the fairway.  It's just a really fun tee shot, and usually leaves a longer approach than you're likely to hit when playing it as a par five.

[Sven Nilsen]

Some other great greens at Kingsley to take a moment to hit some putts:

1 - trying to stop a putt on the lower tier from the back of the green
4 - to just about anywhere on the green
7 - some amazing pin locations that require a deft touch
9 - putting from one side of the boomerang to the other
11 - a remarkably tricky green
16 - treacherous from any angle

Some additional thoughts:

3 - the drive is the key to the hole, as playing from the hollow is no fun and is the worst angle into the green, especially with a back pin.
4 - the photos never do the hogsback justice, just a wonderful fairway where being just a bit off line can leave a blind shot into the green.
6 - the slope of the fairway makes this hole (if you have a shot from the tee, get it on this thread), as getting a good line into the green makes a big difference.
7 - a true jigsaw puzzle of a hole, and one that takes a few plays to figure out.  
8 - there are more ways to play this hole than described in the commentary, a drive long down the left can be a better play for certain pins, as can a drive that goes over the hill on the right.
9 - Unlike Kyle, I find the shot from the south tees to be way more daunting than any shot from the west, especially when the pin is cut on the southern portion of the green.

The front 9 has an intimate feel that you don't find at many other courses, there are spots where you can see up to 6 or 7 of the 9 pins.  You don't really notice this feature while playing the first hole, but as soon as you walk up to the 2nd tee the reveal takes place and you get a peak at the joys to come, including a look at the day's pin on 5 (and a look at the pin on 4 when you walk of the 2nd green).  Of course, lurking in the back of your mind for the first 8 holes is the shot into the 9th green, which can be a round maker or breaker.

Perhaps this belongs on the routing thread, but I'd love to hear Mike D. talk a bit more about the routing process for the front 9.  From what I've heard, there are a number of really cool sounding holes that were sacrificed (including some different angles for playing the land that makes up 4 and 6 and the big hollow in between).

I'll save the back nine comments (starting with the wonderful uphill 10th) for when the photos are posted.

To answer Brett's question - Kingsley is right up there with the two courses at Barnbougle and ranks higher on my list than St. Andrew's Beach.  The combination of contours, fast & firm conditions and shot demands makes it a perfect combination of fun and challenge.

[Kyle Henderson]

Brett,

Based on what I saw down under, I think Kingsley could certainly be considered among the top 10 Australian courses.

Greg,

CD and KC both boast superb sets of greens throughout the round. As for which is "best," I'd have a tough time picking a clear winner in a direct comparison, which I think says enough.

Jud,
I'll keep your strategy for #2 in mind if/when I return.

Tim,
I posted another photo of #7 above to show you how much room is available off of the tee.

[Kyle Henderson]

Sven,

Agreed on the greens worth spending extra time exploring. There are many. I was shooting for brevity in my initial comments.

I posted a view of the 6th fairway above for you.

I tried to play #8 several different ways. A couple of times I went over the right side hill, and both times my ball was propelled forward and left... dangerously close to the traps.  I also learned that the left side of the fairway will ease leaking tee shots ever further a la izquierda into the rough.

A centerline 5 -wood followed by a pitching wedge works most consistently for me, but in a strong wind I would try something else. Options are there.

On the 9th, the tees were never set up on the west, so I had to sneak over there the 2nd day to try the shot. To me, it seemed as though a bad push from the west tees (to the south side of the green) would tumble down the hill would end up in worse shape  than a tee shot from the south that comes up a bit short and most likely finds a bunker. Am I wrong? A pull from the south tees would be an awful result, I expect.

[Sven Nilsen]

Kyle,

Here's my take on 9:

South Tee/South Pin - The only miss is long and straight and hoping that the ball doesn't peel off to the back left of the green or fade off the slope on the right side.  Missing right is almost as much trouble as missing short or left (where the ball tends to hang up in the rough).  The tees on the south side (except for the shortest tee at the top of the hill) are generally level with the green, whereas from the West you have the advantage of it being a bit of a drop shot.

South Tee/West Pin - a shot that is a ton of fun to play, but I don't know if I've ever seen this combination in play (I have tried the shot just for the fun of it).  Play to the heart of the green and hope you get it past all of the trouble.

West Tee/South Pin - a very tough shot, and unless you're going to drop one out of the sky the play may be to try to work something off of the contours in the middle of the green and feed it from left to right towards the pin.  Long and short on a straight line are not good places to be, but any miss to the left is generally going to leave you a tricky but doable two putt.

West Tee/West Pin - The easiest tee shot, as you have the bank on the left of the green to help you out and its generally a shorter shot from the equivalent tees on the south side.  The only danger is missing right into the crook of the boomerang, but the recovery shot does have a bit of a backstop and the green is a bit wider on that side.

One of the subtle features on the hole is that a miss on the east side pin high or past does not give you an easy recovery shot, as the ball has probably run a good distance down the short grass away from the green and judging the pitch, bump or putt up the hill is a tough proposition.  A bit of a mental play, as standing on the south tee that looks to be the safer option for a miss, and a lot of folks may bail out that way in a unconscious reaction to all of the trouble to the left.

In addition, the bunkers are no fun no matter where the pin is, but they are certainly easier to find from the south side than they are from the west.

I could talk all day about the course, but there are certainly folks around here that know all of these features a lot better than I do.

[Tyler Kearns]

Kyle,

Thanks for the tour, bringing back fond memories of one of my very favourite golf courses.

The course is laid out over a very large property (approx. 400 acres), however, it maintains a very intimate feel. Mike DeVries packed in 4 greens (1, 2, 4, 5) and sets of tees (2, 3, 5, 6) in only 7 acres on the front nine! Similarly, good clearing on the back nine allows 15, 16 and 17 to bleed into one another.

The green complexes offer plenty of recovery options after missing greens, which is always fun. The putting surfaces themselves are full of thrilling contours, and a number of times I utilized the various backstops to minimize the damage and ensure I only made bogey.

Dan Lucas keeps the course in ideal conditions, firm and fast which really accentuate the contours of the land.

TK

[Kyle Henderson]

Sven,

Thank you for the detailed analysis. I missed right once, and that was a dicey recovery, but I had the soft flop working. The bunkers didn't seem too bad, but I only tried escaping them for fun (never hit into them with my proper ball). With a match on the line, I'm sure those shots grow much more difficult.

[Kyle Henderson]

Tyler, the conditioning was excellent. Playing a soft Kingsley would have been very disappointing, but the course is thankfully presented in optimal springy fashion.

[Jud_T]

Kyle,

Dan does a phenomenal job, but the course never plays really soft.  It sits on a massive sand base.  Combined with the fescue it's fairly bouncy even after a deluge.  Ballmarks are rare.  As far as #9 the simple answer is that from either tee you need to miss it inside the elbow in the green.  Outside is death.  The west tee is much easier IMO.  Standing on the south tee as either a righty slicer or a lefty who pulls the ball is more pucker factor than most can handle with any consistency.  The only real risk from the west tee is taking too much club.  I know some find this hole very penal, but once you know your way around it's quite manageable and a ton of fun.  IMHO #2 is the biggest risk for an X.  

[Bob_Garvelink]

The Kingsley Club is just another great example of what Northern Michigan golf is all about. I Love the atmosphere on the putting green that overlooks Hole # 1.  The opening hole is fantastic and takes one breath away.  Hole #5 is another one of my favorites and I love when the pin is right side.  If you can land it on the left side then you have the luxury of sitting and watching your ball roll right at the cup.  This is a great hole in 1 opportunity.  Hole #7 has a great look on the tee box and really plays easier than it looks.  Hole 9 has so many different looks which makes it unique.  The view from the clubhouse while drinking an Oberon is as good as it gets  Hopefully I get a chance to play that course again this summer.  Cheers Guys!!!

[Josh Tarble]

Reminds me of Crystal Downs, which I guess isn't suprising given the location.

Looks like the elevation changes are perfect, cant imagine the greens are as good as CD but if they were they make a good pair.

Greg, I am going to respectfully disagree with you.  I think the thing that makes Kingsley so fascinating is that it doesn't really look like any other course in my opinion.  The surroundings are similar to CD and might be closer if CD wasn't quite so manicured. Of all the courses I've seen on here, Kingsley is THE one that just looks incredibly fun, even from pictures.

[Kyle Henderson]

As a nice surprise, I waved up the player behind to join me on the back nine only to discover it was the legendary Buck Wolter. It seems, no matter where I go, I’m bound to meet one of us by chance.

10th tee: This would be the best hole on many courses, but I suspect few Kingsley lovers cite it as a favorite. There’s too much quality elsewhere.


With an array of bilateral hazards, the hole sets up well in a variety of winds from a variety of teeing grounds.


The 11th hole is sponsored by the Paradise Township Florist Mafia.


Hitting this green is much easier than holding it.


The back nine is decidedly more arboreal, as evidence by the 12th tee view.


No sand pits on the 12th. Most shots within 50 yards of the pin can be played with a putter.


The drivable 13th offers a whiff of birdies – be wary of the stink finger.


Looking back toward the tee from behind the 13th green: Putts from this back/left corner to the pictured pin must pass over a patch of the green approximately 1-2 yards wide – a sight push or pull will soon be exacerbated.


Bold ball-strikers may shorten the 14th by aiming for a hidden patch of fairway just inside the right tree line.


More flowers are found behind the 14th green. I wouldn’t be surprised if the local mammals poop fairy dust.


The 15th is a tough par 4, asking for a long approach to a small, raised green.


Looking back over the 15th green (blue flag) to the 16th pin (red).


Bunkers set to ensnare hooking approach shots on #15 double as visual framework by tying in with the 16th’s greenside bunkers. Nice touch.


The 17th once had an alternate left fairway option that has since  been abandoned.


Bombers able to reach this precipice will enjoy a tremendous advantage.


Enough with the retrospective flower shots already…


One last squirming fairway at the 18th.


What a neat little green site perched in that saddle up ahead. Thankfully, players get a good look at this pin location on their way to the 1st tee.


This back/right pin is tough to reach, especially from the top/right half of the fairway.


What a great course. It’s no wonder I walked 54.

[Bill Seitz]

What a great course. It’s no wonder I walked 54.

I'm pretty sure I speak not only for myself, but for Tim Bert when I say: 54?  Please.  Let us know when you walk 126! 

[Kyle Henderson]

What a great course. It’s no wonder I walked 54.

I'm pretty sure I speak not only for myself, but for Tim Bert when I say: 54?  Please.  Let us know when you walk 126!  

I did another 54 the next day...   Then, after a few plane hops, I walked 54 holes at Ballyneal for 3 days running.

A man must ration his foot skin (edit: and so must I).

[Mike_DeVries]

Perhaps this belongs on the routing thread, but I'd love to hear Mike D. talk a bit more about the routing process for the front 9.  From what I've heard, there are a number of really cool sounding holes that were sacrificed (including some different angles for playing the land that makes up 4 and 6 and the big hollow in between).

Sven,

One of the first holes I found on the property was a short par 5 that went from the far left of the third fairway back across the 4th and 2nd holes to the back tee on #6.  It was a great natural hole with lots of movement and options but it "just didn't fit" with other holes that were good enough for the final cut or provided for good flow.  Subsequently, holes 2-7T replace what that one hole crossed over, so now we have 5 very dynamic holes around the deep sinkhole of the "South 40" -- these holes are great holes and work very well together, weaving in and amongst each other to create an intimate yet expansive feel.  The 7th tee is the exit point for the South 40 and is very important, as it is a significant drop to exit that plateau - interestingly, the first landing area there is an entirely different feeling, confined by trees on the left and hillside on the right, with a blind/semi-blind 2nd shot.  I like that juxtaposition of feelings and the transition it presents to the golfer.  With the 5 holes on the South 40 plus the exit strategy, I had to get to the South 40 and back to the clubhouse area (which was logically going to be in the vicinity of the north-west-central portion of the property due to access and property configuration, although it didn't necessarily have to be exactly where it is located currently if the routing dictated a better spot).  Hence, a variety of combinations and greensites were considered, with #1G a very interesting site for any number of hole plans, but the second landing area of the 1st was the most degraded part of the property as it had 2 acres bulldozed flat for a gas transmission collection point -- that area is completely manipulated and represents about 50% of the earth-moving on the project.  So, the question was, "Should we have 1 or 2 holes out to the South 40 and 1 or 2 back to the clubhouse?"  Going out in two didn't provide for very good/different holes that added to the golf course and 8 was really dynamic and 9 was 9 (still the most controversial hole on the course . . . wouldn't MacKenzie think that was a good sign?) so that led to the big 3-shotter to start things out and figuring out how to incorporate the earth-moving that we needed to "naturalize" the gas work area into that concept.  One of the owners wanted a plateau to hit to as a target and so we manipulated the big hill on the right to create the right landing area and push material down into the gas site for contour.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Mike

[Bob_Garvelink]

Thanks for the info Mike   I sure hope your the guy that gets the opportunity to add another 18 holes to Forest Dunes.  I love playing your tracks!!!

[Kyle Henderson]

 So, the question was, "Should we have 1 or 2 holes out to the South 40 and 1 or 2 back to the clubhouse?"  Going out in two didn't provide for very good/different holes that added to the golf course and 8 was really dynamic and 9 was 9 (still the most controversial hole on the course . . . wouldn't MacKenzie think that was a good sign?) so that led to the big 3-shotter to start things out and figuring out how to incorporate the earth-moving that we needed to "naturalize" the gas work area into that concept.  One of the owners wanted a plateau to hit to as a target and so we manipulated the big hill on the right to create the right landing area and push material down into the gas site for contour.

Here is a photo I took of the "naturalized" area along with annotations by Sir DeVries.

[Steve Lang]

  Two Pictures missing... the scotch Mailbox at the 18th tee and the short trail up to the #1 tee off of the 18th green...

otherwise great to see TKC anytime..

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