HighPointe Back 9 - A Potential Phoenix?

[Steve Lang]

  Every time we drive on M-72 between Arnold and Bates Roads and look south, 1 or 2 heavy sighs are usually heard as the Michigan Local Hops farm is passed... as most of the harvest appeared to be in the other day, I couldn't resist thinking,... what if they closed down and HighPointe could rise from the ashes of burning all those poles pulled out of the ground, so I sent a message to them on their FB page...  asking what happened or was to happen on the old back 9, as I knew some folks who'd like to play on there. 

The reply was: "the back 9 property is undeveloped and going up for sale in near future. It was left as is and is currently overgrown. Not much of a golf course left back there. Cheers"

Yeh, but looking at Google Earth, much is still there, we have a ton of memories, just wondering what could be, what would Tom Doak do a second time around?  How much would it cost to bring what's left of the back 9 back into flight?  There's some open looking land to the south... i need to get to the County Clerks office and check the tax rolls...  should have done this a week ago!

[Tom_Doak]

Steve:


I have thought seriously about just this scenario the past couple of years.  Before that I figured the farm would eventually expand, but it appears not.


You could restore the old back side as a nine hole course almost intact (there are hops on the 16th green and 17th tee), or add more holes to the east, where I actually did a layout for a third nine c. 1990.


I just haven’t had time to pursue it as I’m getting quite busy with paying clients again, and I guess I’m wary of several stories of old architects who lost their shirts trying to keep an old design alive.

[Colin Macqueen]

Aha!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!
Never say never, eh?
That would be a highly romantic episode if it came to pass. Love the idea.


Cheers Colin

[Steve Lang]

   Tom D,


Just think, with a new routing, the 18th could be revised into something else and no one would complain about it anymore!  I assume the pond and pump house stays with the hops farm...


Since I haven't won the lottery yet, and given what's been happening in real estate lately, I'm thinking this is a good subject for a Design Competition for the Treehouse... hmmmm, I wonder who I could get or who'd like to be a judge?


ps   Last played the to 16th & 17th from Bates Road... maybe come down and around to 17th green???

[Tom Bacsanyi]

I am absolutely in for a small ownership stake!


Tom D, what did they do with the irrigation system? I assume they left the pipe in the ground, did they pull and sell off all the heads? Is the pumphouse still functional (I assume it is used to service the hops plantings)?


Which is the better 9 at HP? If you say the back, we'll know you have your marketing hat on.


Would you change anything on the back 9 holes or just put it back as it was?

[Tom_Doak]

Tom:


Yes, I presume the pipe is still in the ground, but it’s 33-year-old PVC, so probably starting from scratch on irrigation.


There were good holes on both nines but it was Ran who wrote that the 10th-15th was still one of the best stretches of holes I ever built.  Lots of drama in those.

[Kalen Braley]

My only question is, if you resurrected the back 9 would you do something different with 18 aka 9?

[Tom_Doak]

My only question is, if you resurrected the back 9 would you do something different with 18 aka 9?

Almost certainly yes, but I am not sure there is a really good solution.  One possibility would be to walk down the hill from 15 and play it as a short par-4, but then you’ve only got seven holes, none of which are par-5’s.