Franklin Hills (michigan) by Ross

[keith heimforth]

   I played this course over  10 years  ago.

I vividly remember it as having a beautiful   routing  with very nice holes,

including   1,5,9,13,14,15.   Im a  9  hcp and  I enjoyed Franklin
Hills more than Inverness and as much as Pinehurst.
Im wondering  if  others think this is one of Donald Ross'  best efforts.

[Paul Richards]

This is an excellent Ross course with one major blemish - the 17th (?), the dog-leg right around a pond.  

[Brad Klein]

short uphill par-4 13th - 295 yards to a domed green that's not more than 2,000 square feet - one of Ross' greatest short holes.

[Will E]

Wednesday night they held a meeting where approval for new irrigation was scheduled to be voted on and passed. This is just the start of some dramatic changes that could be underway at Franklin very soon.

[David Wigler]

Shooter,

They barely have 200 members and the average age is dead.  They are not going to be making any major changes.  Besides, I thought that Art Hills was tied up at Barton Hills.  How could Franklin hire him.  

[Jeff_Mingay]

My favourite course in the Detroit area, for whatever that's worth. Although, I agree with Paul. The 17th stands out as the weakest link: a somewhat odd, 90-degree dogleg, right, around a pond, with no option to 'bite off as much [of the pond] as you can chew'. The tee shot is forced, and average length drives can run out of fairway.

Following the recent dismisal of long-time superintendent, Tom Gray, the club's hired Ron Prichard to consult on a 'restorative-based' plan for Franklin Hills. Which should result in some exciting work there, indeed. Much of Ross' original design remains intact. A few 'tweaks', here and there, is all the course requires, IMHO.

[Boreum_Hill]

Never played there, but I used to drove by it everyday commuting from Orchard Lake to the Ren Center.  Looks very hilly.

Arthur Hills did some work in the mid 80s there, and Golfweek had it listed in the Top 100 Classical for most of the 90s (think it last appeared in '99).

My favorite club in the area is Indianwood Old Course.  My partner took me out there a few times, another fun one to try and walk.  Always a delight when the bunkers have ladders.

 

David Wigler -

It looks cramped, but I'm curious if you ever played Pine Lake CC?  I've been to social functions there but never played it.  That one was on my "alternate" drive home.

[Will E]

Wigler,
My facts indicate you're off in thinking nothing will happen. As far as Mr. Hills work at Barton, let's just say that I've got the key people very interested in what's happening at Franklin. I'm also trying to get them to see the work that's been done at Skokie and Beverly. If things go as planned it wouldn't be a shock if Franklin and Barton were on everyone's short list of Michigan's best.

[Brad Klein]

Franklin Hills has been rated in the top-100 by Golfweek on the classical list every year since our ratings first appeared in 1997. It was no. 52 then and is no. 93 now.

[Will E]

Franklin is a fine course indeed. Worthy of it's Golfweek ranking? Not sure I'd agree, and am not surprized to see it falling over 40 places. The par 5s are pretty weak and the course is over grown and could really stand a face lift. The fact that it's known as one of the best in Detroit says a lot for the quality of golf here. In Westchester or Long Island I don't think it would get much notice.

[Tom_Doak]

Bruce Hepner consulted at Franklin Hills for most of the past ten years.  It's a terrific course, and I thought he was doing the right thing by not doing much to it.

I'm surprised to hear it needs restoration so badly.

[Nick_Ficorelli]

Shooter:
What do you mean when you say the course is "overgrown".
If you talk about conditioning ,that has a limited role in course rankings.

[Boreum_Hill]

Michigan Golfer magazine cites FHCC as the purest untouched Ross in the metro Detroit region.

[Boreum_Hill]

drifting off topic briefly....

this is Pine Lake CC, a Willie Park (1921) layout a few miles away from FHCC.

[M.W._Burrows]

Franklin Hills is a quality golf course.  I would put it along side some of the other Ross courses that have had very good restoration work done, such as Salem CC and Charles River.  All three of them have good greens and green complexes, good routings, and are REALLY fun to play.  I am a golf architecture enthusiast who doesn't practice/play golf enough and I had a great time at all of these courses.  

One other thing they all have in common is that there aren't too many extremely memorable holes at any of them.  That seems to be the case for me with Ross courses in general.  The Ross course I've played with the most memorable holes would have to be Essex County Club.  I will agree with Brad Klein about #13 at Franklin.  I couldn't stop talking about that whole after I played it.

P.S. Pine Lake isn't worth driving a mile out of your way to play.  I would estimate that 95% of anything that was Willy Park, Jr. there has been eviscerated.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jeff Mingay was kind enough to arrange a tour of Franklin Hills for me over a year ago, on a cold, but worthwhile day.  Tom Gray was a gracious host, and even showed us some of the Donald Ross field notes.

They were remarkably modern.  The third is a par 3 playing to the crest of a hill.  Ross wrote to "lower the green for vision."  The second was cut in a hillside, and he had some notations about changing the shape of the green.

The course was typical midwest - solid, but not spectacular.  The short 13th - a sub 300 yarder - with an tiny elevated green (just above the word Franklin, running top to bottom) was the highlight.

Sorry to hear Tom has left.  There goes my connection to play if I get there in warmer weather!

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

In would appear that Ross designed a "bite off" or greed hole on 17 and subsequent greens chairmen or tree committees planted the trees thus ruining the hole.

[keith heimforth]

Jeff  Mingay,

I agree 17 is dud,  would love to hear about a  few of your


favorite holes at  FHCC other than the superb 13th.
 What do you think  of  2,9,   and  14,15  ?  have you seen

Plum Hollow in Southfield.



MW  Burrows

thanks for your appraisal,   its surely afun   course.

some of your  preferred holes at   Franklin Hills  ?

[A_Clay_Man]

I Don't remember too much of Franklin Hills, which is odd. But I wouldn't go so far as to say it's as good a Beverly. Trying to figure out why I don't remember much was probably because it was in the mid 80's yearwise and the member I was matched up with was very talkative and nice. We were concentrating on other more important matters, such as the recent passing of his wife. The women who arranged my round is also dead. So Wiggy's line about the average member's age, ain't far off.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Tom Doak:

I, too, was surprised to hear Ron Prichard had been hired to devise a 'restoration plan' for Franklin Hills, knowing Bruce and Tom Gray had been effectively 'chipping away', slowly but surely, at tree removal, bunker reconstruction, green surface expansion and related adjustments to fairway mowing patterns. There's not much physical work to do there, in my opinion.

Keith:

I have played Plum Hollow, as a guest of David Wigler. It's a wonderful golf course as well, a real 'sleeper' in the Detroit area not many golfers talk about.

Some of my favourite holes at Franklin Hills? 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 18 come immediately yo mind.

[A_Clay_Man]

Is the 18th a par three? With the green to the right of the clubhouse?(in aerial) If so, I recall this hole as toughie. The hole I remember, reminded me of the 5th at Lawsonia and perhaps one of those examples of "getting back" to the clubhouse. But as I said above my recolloection is vague.

[Tom_Doak]

The ninth hole is the par 3 on the right of the picture.  The routing is kind of like Muirfield's in that the back nine is all in the middle.