[Ron Farris]

other than what is on his website, can anyone elaborate?

[JC Jones]

the ones I've played have been pretty unremarkable.

[Jon Heise]

the ones I've played have been pretty unremarkable.

No way!  The Grande in Jackson is an awesome course.  One of my favorites for sure.  Moose Ridge is another one, very popular with the locals, also a really good gc.  I think I may have played one or two others, but those two are damn fine golf courses.

[astavrides]

The treehouse likes Sea Oaks. 

[Kyle Christensen]

The Grande in Jackson is a good course. For public courses, it is probably the best in the area. Always enjoyed the course and it seems like it never costs much to play. The bunkering is great and an excellent mix of holes. The back nine has some pretty spectacular holes on it.

Moose Ridge is an odd course. Defiantly a course you need to play a few times to enjoy. One of the better public courses in the metro Detroit area though. M.R. reminds me of Tot Hill Farms a little bit. A little over the top, but once you figure out what needs to be done, it is a pretty easy and enjoyable course.

Yarrow is decent, but I just don't understand why so many people in the southwest of MI enjoy it. But another solid public course in Michigan.

Hemlock in Ludington MI is a very unique course.  I remember when I played it for the first time when I was 16 or so, I was shocked about how the course was set up. A couple of the holes have huge sand waste areas instead of rough. Pretty unique for the area, haven't played any other hearn's that I think relate to Hemlock.

In high school we played a bunch of matches at Island Hills. The old routing of the course was fantastic. But they wanted to sell lots that the golf course occupied. They tore out these holes and replaced them. Doesn't have the same feel that it once did. Still a good course in the middle of nowhere in Michigan.

[JC Jones]

the ones I've played have been pretty unremarkable.

No way!  The Grande in Jackson is an awesome course.  One of my favorites for sure.  Moose Ridge is another one, very popular with the locals, also a really good gc.  I think I may have played one or two others, but those two are damn fine golf courses.

I've played both The Grande and Moose Ridge and I stand by my comment.  Neither of those courses is distinguishable from most of the public golf in Michigan (read: Matthews designs); and while the public golf in Michigan tends to be above average, then that is at best what those courses are.  Pictures of the Grande can be found here:  http://www.grandegolfclub.com/hole.php?hole=1.  For me, the course is very contrived with its squiggly mowing patterns with predictable/squiggly bunkers.

If I'm headed to Brighton, I'm not playing Moose Ridge, I'm playing Hunters Ridge.

The bigger question is which is your favorite sauce at Dukes?  Mine was the mustard based.

[Phil McDade]

Ron:

Ray Hearn did the renovation of Flossmoor, on Chicago's south side, a three-year project. It involved extensive tree removal, major bunker renovations, some green re-dos, and one new hole, along with extensive renovations in terms of fairway alignments, on a few others. See this photo thread:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41166.0/

I wrote up a separate thread on the bunker work at Flossmor, which in all candor I'm not totally sold on, albiet with the large caveat that I only played the course once, and did not play it prior to the bunker re-do.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41574.0/

On a side note, I had some email exchanges with Hearn about the Flossmoor project and he could not have been more helpful and willing to explain the Flossmoor project. A semi-regular poster on the board, Greg Ohlendorf, is a member at Flossmoor and might have some more insights in Hearn's work.

[Billsteele]

I like The Grande also...but maybe I'm just a squiggly guy. For a modern course with some target golf aspects, I thought it was well done.

Ray Hearn's work at Flossmoor is very, very good.

[Ron Farris]

Phil, thanks for the links.  Very interesting read and great pictures.

[JohnH]

Chalk me up as another who likes squiggly.  I enjoy each and every round I play at the Grande and think it's well done with interesting shot selections.  Unfortunately it's the only Hearn course I've played, with the hopes of getting to some of his other designs in the future.

[Jon Heise]

The bigger question is which is your favorite sauce at Dukes?  Mine was the mustard based.

There was like 10 sauces!  I dont know.  I'll have to go back...

[Greg Ohlendorf]

Ron,

Ray did the renovation work at Flossmoor. Our committee worked with him over a 4 year period from master plan to completion. Ray visited our property over 60 times during the renovation work. He was an absolute professional to work with. He took our 110 old club which has been routed over the same property since the beginning and vastly improved our strategic play angles while leaving our very good green complexes in tact. We have wonderful lay of the land type greens with neat internal contours that aren't found all over. He also help us through a very intensive tree removal program.

Ray calls himself a lay of the land type guy, working with what he finds. We are very pleased with the work he did for us. Golf Magazine just awarded his work at Flossmoor as their renovation of the year for 2009. Our superintendent Bob Lively and Greens Chairman Mark Egge sing his praises as a great guy to work with.

Greg

[Matt_Ward]

It was mentioned earlier but anyone making a trek to the greater AC area of NJ would likely not have heard much about Sea Oaks as other courses in the general vicinity get more ink.

I liked Sea Oaks because it took some solid land and Hearn provided for a range of holes -- known of them great by any means -- but he also made it a point to avoid ones that would be deadly dull. A worthy place to play for those who don't need to hit the ocean everyday during the summer months.

[Patrick Hodgdon]

I caddied for one of the owners of Moose Ridge today at Calusa.

He was telling me about his "Best of the Best" tournament he holds which is a 3-man no handicap scramble event for a fairly nice purse. Was curious if any of the Michigan guys had heard of the tournament?

Also any other thoughts on the course?

[JC Jones]

PH

Here are pictures: http://www.mooseridgegolf.com/course_photos.html

Its a great piece of property right near a bunch of little lakes.  It is predictably Ray Hearn with squiggly lines everywhere.  Its like he has my 2 year old daughter draw his fairway lines on EVERY course.  Look at the pictures of The Grande and the courses are mostly indistinguishable. 

Like I said above, it is average for Michigan.  Of course Michigan average is better than most of the rest of the country but I would go to that area and can think of several other courses I'd play (and replay) before going back to Moose Ridge.

[JohnH]

Thanks JC, I think we get the point that you don't care for Moose Ridge, and feel it along with the Grande in Jackson are contrived.  Certainly no reason to beat a dead horse.  I happen to enjoy each and every visit to the Grande, and plan on playing Moose Ridge this year to draw my own conclusions.  To each his own.

[JC Jones]

To each his own.

The most important phrase to know on this site and I couldn't agree with it more.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Moose Ridge.

[Kevin Cahoon]

Ron,

As another Flossmoor member, I can say that Ray's work at the course is quite enjoyable. I play over 50 rounds per year and changes keep me challenged and interested for each round. He designed Mistwood in Romeoville, IL as well. It is a solid golf course on what I would consider a difficult piece of property.

[Richard Hetzel]

I played Moose Ridge yesterday and found it can be a very unforgiving layout. Fun course, worth playing once. Sorry, I forgot my camera yesterday!

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