Country Club of Detroit

[Bradley Anderson]

I played CCD today with some guys from my green committee.

Wow what a great golf course. The route and the bunkering where amazing.

My only criticism is it seemed like the greens may have been changed at some point in the clubs history. They have distinct quadrants, that are pitched in different angles, but it seemed like there may have been more internal contouring inside of those quadrants at one time that someone flattened out. They are great greens, don't get me wrong, but I think they are going to be a lot better after Doak works on them.

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed that golf course, and I hope get to play it again in a year or so.

[Niall Hay]

What did you think of the bunkers (including sand quality)? And the green speeds?  It’s too bad they are closing the course for the summer early this year.

Great old place and the site of Palmer's US Am. 18 is a great hole.

[Bradley Anderson]

Niall,

Green speeds were good for me.

I shot out of several bunkers, including the bunker that is being tested with the new sand. I think it was number six right green side. I thought the newer sand was the best stuff I have ever hit out of. 

[TEPaul]

Bradley:

Apparently the club must have some pretty good records of architectural changes made to the course over the years because there's a fairly long "R" list in Cornish and Whitten's "The Architects of Golf."

One time I was speaking to Crystal Downs' pro Fred Mueller who is a very funny guy and he was telling me about the time he was the medalist at the County Club of Detroit in a US Open qualifier and after the round the press interviewed him and asked him what he thought about the course. He said: "It's the best Donald Ross course I ever played.

[Niall Hay]

Bradley:

Apparently the club must have some pretty good records of architectural changes made to the course over the years because there's a fairly long "R" list in Cornish and Whitten's "The Architects of Golf."

One time I was speaking to Crystal Downs' pro Fred Mueller who is a very funny guy and he was telling me about the time he was the medalist at the County Club of Detroit in a US Open qualifier and after the round the press interviewed him and asked him what he thought about the course. He said: "It's the best Donald Ross course I ever played.

"Crystal Downs' pro Fred Mueller who is a very funny guy" never heard that about Fred.....

[Niall Hay]

Niall,

Green speeds were good for me.

I shot out of several bunkers, including the bunker that is being tested with the new sand. I think it was number six right green side. I thought the newer sand was the best stuff I have ever hit out of. 

The new sand is good, but didn't they just redo their bunkers?

[Jay Flemma]

Paging Bill Hyde! Paging Bill Hyde!  Please pick up the white courtesy phone in the Polo Lounge!

[Tom MacWood]

Here is a link to another thread on CC of Detroit.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40713.msg859171/

[TEPaul]

"Crystal Downs' pro Fred Mueller who is a very funny guy" never heard that about Fred....."


Well, maybe I just bring out the humor in people.

[Niall Hay]

That must be it!

[JStewart]

Tom Doak's renovation here really enhanced the experience. I played CC of Detroit back in 2004 and now a couple times since the work done in 2010 and it's a big improvement. Large, mature trees really frame the holes nicely but at the same time it's not claustrophobic at all. I was told they removed some 200+ trees. The fairways aren't huge but it's a course that doesn't take driver out of your hand. There isn't a drop of water out there and most of the OB isn't really in play. Some of the par-4s can get a little monotonous and it's a pretty flat site in general, but it's a really nice routing, a great walk and a very playable challenge. I don't know how much contour was added to the greens, but they're firm and undulating. If the PGA Tour ever came back to Michigan this would be a great venue. It's a deceptively large piece of property.
 
No. 1, par-4

 
No. 8, par-3

 
Nos. 12 & 14, par-4s


 
No. 18, par-4

 
A picture in the clubhouse commemorating Arnold Palmer's 1954 US AM title here

[Tom_Doak]

Joel:


Thanks for the compliment.  Not all of the new work was ours; Keith Foster rebuilt the bunkers on the course a couple of years before our work, but he resigned as consulting architect after the club balked on rebuilding the greens in 2008 or '09.  So, we were asked to rebuild the 18 greens, and to re-contour them as I saw fit, since the original greens had been changed a few years prior and they didn't have any record by which to restore them [nor, after much prodding, did anyone think the original greens were special].


We did move the 17th green back and to the right ... the previous version was a strange RTJ creation designed to keep a 470-yard par-5 difficult, and it was totally out of character with the golf course.  We also changed the fairway bunkering on #17 and #18 [the 18th had 3 bunkers on the outside of the dogleg and trees on the inside, blocking the view of the green ... I see from your picture that it looks all better now].  But the main work was to the greens, which were rebuilt by Brian Slawnik and Eric Iverson in a very short window that summer.  I was really pleased with how good those greens came out; not severe at all by my standards, but there is a ton of variety from 1 to 18, way more than existed when we started.