At lunch the other day I made the trip over to New Rogell to see if I could take a few pictures and get some more information on the course. The course is closed for the winter but I was greeted warmly at the clubhouse door by head pro Lindsay Mason who could not have been more gracious. I asked about the plans for the course and there are no plans to do any restoration and he knows of no information regarding the original plans for the course. Perhaps there is something in the archives at Franklin Hills. He told me the major investment made by Greater Grace Temple has been in maintenance equipment. From my experience of many years ago this was badly needed. Kudos to management for making this investment to keep the old gal in decent condition. I was able to walk out to the part of the course that is west of Berg road and south of the clubhouse. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the course as the Rouge River runs through this part of the property. Holes 15-18 lie here. 15 is a downhill par 3 of 155 yards from the back tees. The green is set back a bit from the river and the hole runs to the right of the cart path in this picture. Let me apologize in advance for the poor pics as all I had was my iPhone and of course the weather this time of year in Michigan is not quite like that in more southern states. At least we can get an idea of the land that Donald Ross worked with.
The Rouge River, with the 17th green beyond.
This entire part of the course is a flood plain for the Rouge River and presents some serious issues if there is a lot of rain in the summer. This next picture is of the 17th hole from left of the green looking back towards the tee which is on the hill in the back left. This area routinely floods and they are letting nature have its way as this area will be a wetlands. This hole is a 384 yard par 4 so for many this will be a decent carry. The par 5 16th is to the right, up the hill. The approach to 16 green once again crosses the river.
Here is a view from behind the green. There is a fairly substantial lip at the back of this green. It has some tilt from back to front.
Here we have the uphill par 3 18th hole. It is severely uphill and plays 166 from the back tees as you can see from the marker. You can see it crosses the river but only a badly struck shot would be affected. You can see the bunker short right of the putting surface.
A bit closer and a better view of the hill and atop it the green.
The 18th green. It has a severe slope from back to front. I’m guessing a good 3 feet.
These next few shots are hard to decipher but I tried to show the deep valley that is on the east side of the course. I shot these through the fence outside the course. We are looking back towards the fairway and tee of the 431 yard dogleg par 4 6th hole. I believe the tee is well in the back off to the right behind the trees in this shot.
It plays into a deep valley which I did not capture well than back up to the green. It would take a long and accurate tee shot to leave the golfer a solid long iron approach. The 7th hole plays to the right of the trees and utilizes the same valley although at 314 yards it plays quite differently.
A slightly different angle:
My general impression is that the terrain makes for a potentially terrific course. There are numerous valleys in use and you can see that Ross had a nice piece of land for his canvas. I doubt much earth was moved as from what I could see the green sites are naturally set. Of course as an urban course that has suffered much neglect over the decades it’s a shadow of what it could be but there is great history at New Rogell and with the stewardship of the Temple, it’s accessible and quite playable for the local golfers.
I have a scorecard and if I can figure out how to scan it, blow it up and post it to Photobucket I will post a picture of the layout soon.