Originally the Automobile Club of Detroit, The club was formed by some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the country.
- Henry Bourne Joy, president Packard Motor Company
- Russel Alger Jr, who's father was Governor of Michigan, U.S. Secretary of War, and U.S. Senator
- Truman Newberry, Secretary of the Navy, U.S. Senate 1919-1922
- John Dodge, Bicycle shop, Oldsmobile Transmission Builder, and of course Dodge
- Ransom E. Olds, inventor of the assembly line, and of course Oldsmobile
- Roy Chapin, Hudson Motor company, American Motors, and U.S. Secretary or Commerce
- James Couzens, U.S. Senate 1922, Mayor of Detroit 1919-1922, Secretary of Ford Motor Company
- Edwin S. George, one of the largest fur manufacturer and dealer in the U.S., Developer with Albert Kahn
- Howard E. Coffin, Founder of Hudson Motor Company
Moved from Detroit to Pine Lake in 1905 into a 40'x50' 2 story clubhouse. In 1906 the members built Long Lake Road to shorten their commute by 6 miles. In 1916 the club changed it's name to the Automobile Country Club. The club hired Willie Park Jr. to design the original 9 hole course which opened Saturday June 4th 1919, claiming to have the largest greens in the state. David Kay, Scottish Golf Expert, was hired as the first golf professional, who had worked for WPJ for many years laying out courses.
February 21, 1923 the club approves plans for a 9 hole addition, Ernie Way was hired as the pro / super to construct the new 9 holes. There is evidence of the club hiring WPJ for the additional 9 holes, but perhaps he was not on site... I haven't found any details to prove he was actually here..
The course has been "improved" a lot over the years. In the mid 1930's Albert Tillinghast rebuilt the 13th green, as requested by Jimmy Anderson, head professional and president of the Michigan PGA. In the 1980's the club purchased a section of land adjacent to the 3rd and 4th holes in order to expand and lengthen the golf course. VonHagge and Devlin were hired as the architects... This is where the ponds and heroic holes that don't match anything on the course come in... oops, I meant to say "Signature Holes". The scope of their work was a complete renovation that included ponds, island greens surrounded by sand, and of course lots and lots of pointy mounds.. but they only did work on holes 3-7. Other greens were moved and rebuilt over the next few years with varying local architects, including #2, #9, and #13 and #14. In 1999 Craig Schreiner renovated all the green side bunkers, and followed up in 2000-2001 with new tees, fairway bunkers and alignment, drainage, practice greens, and a rebuilt #5 green.
In the last few years, we have been adjusting the course to make improvements. We have retained Drew Rogers as our course architect, a few hundred trees have been removed, more fairway re-alignment, we have added roughly 25% more putting surface by recapturing green space, added another 4 areas of closely mown turf around greens, connecting some fairways, and connecting some greens to tees. Most recently we removed two poorly placed fairway bunkers on the 11th hole and constructed one bunker with the scale and position to compliment the hole.
Drew has provided the club with a comprehensive plan for the future, but as of right now we are taking small bites and improving every day.
AND...Member feedback is almost 100% positive on all the work on the course.
Other fun facts:
9 of The Automobile Club members financed Packard Motor Company with an investment of $225,000, in 1902
In 1912, 3 guys drove a Columbus Electric Car from Woodward and Jefferson (downtown Detroit) to the Pine Lake Clubhouse... Columbus Buggy was owned by Clinton B. Firestone, who later turned his company over to a young relative "Harvey"
In 1908 Two of the clubs members personally paid to gravel Woodward Ave from the State Fairgrounds (8 mile) to 12 Mile