Angels Crossing: a GREAT modern course

[ed_getka]

I had read positive things in the past year about Angels Crossing so I stopped by when I was in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. It amazes me how some courses get an incredible amount of hype, and others get murmurs of approval, when the reality is that architecturally the courses are the same caliber.
   Angels Crossing blew away my modest expectations. Lots of credit goes to Jim Thompson and his brother and their shaper; and the architect of record is Bruce Matthews. Jim will be the first to tell you that Bruce deserves tons of credit for the routing which I thought was very admirable of Jim to be so upfront about.
     From the wonderfully flowing greens (with a couple of exceptions), to the flat-bottomed bunkers that are deep enough to qualify as hazards in anybody's book (think Raynor/Langford style), to the constantly changing directions of the holes, Angels Crossing is another great example of quality architecture at a reasonable price.
    It isn't private, and doesn't have the "exclusive" cachet, but if you enjoy interesting architecture Angels Crossing is a must see.
    RJ Daley went there as part of a 3 day/3 courses trip, and ended up staying at AC all 3 days. That says something about the quality of what is on the ground at AC.
    Another cool thing about Angels Crossing is that you can go all the way around from the front tees with a putter. From the first two sets of tees there are no forced carries and yet with the interesting greens a golfer wouldn't think for a second that they were missing out.
    I'll run through the holes later as I have time. It was drizzly on the morning I showed up and I was a little golfed out from my escapades up north, but by the time we rode around the front nine, I just HAD to tee it up on the back nine to get a better sense of how some of the holes played. So for my descriptions of the front nine keep in mind that I don't have a great feel for how the strategy of the holes plays out.

I am very interested in hearing what others thought about the course and what critiques you have.

[Joe Hancock]

There's no end to the list of people the Big Jim will buy lunch/ dinner/ golf for.....

Really, RJ and Ed....I'm not pissed.....

Joe

[ed_getka]

Hole #1 par 4   A mid-length opener that slides gently left, with fairway bunkers guarding both sides of the fairway. The approach is guarded left and right by bunkers that sit below the green which is elevated 6 feet? or so above fairway grade. As you walk up onto the first green and see the nicely flowing contours, you sense that you are in for an interesting day.

#2  par 4   A shortish par 4, that plays relatively straightaway to another well-contoured green. Think the long flowing contours of some of the holes at NGLA. Which Jim has never been to BTW.

#3 par 3 A mid-length (4-8 iron depending on tees) hole to yet another well-contoured green. This green is pushed up about 6 feet also, which starts to seem a bit repetitive at this point, but fortunately is not carried on throughout.

#4  par 5   Doglegs slightly left with a carry from the back 3 sets of tees, but from the front tees plays as a dogleg right with a big bunker right to think about for the weaker player if they want to challenge it. The second shot is complicated by figuring out what side of the fairway you want to come in with your 3rd shot (or 4th shot ). The last 100 yards or so to the green the fairway is bisected by a row of bunkers. The green boomerangs around the bunkers with the tips of the boomerang sloping down into the fairway, so it is preferrable to approach from the pin side of the fairway.

[ed_getka]

Joe,
   Now, now you were the one who didn't have time for me just because you were having your big Michigan superintendents shindig.  We were tired boys after driving back down from Marquette on Saturday night. I helped Bob get a couple of things done on Sunday to get ready for winter. Sorry you are feeling neglected my friend.

[ed_getka]

#5 par 4   This hole Jim felt had to be shoehorned in, but I didn't even notice. Even after Jim had me try to figure it out, I couldn't find the "connector" hole while looking at a routing map. A shorty four that bends right. This was one of the greens I didn't care for the look of, as it is two-tiered (side to side, which is cool), but the tier was really steep and looked too sharp to my eye. Keep in mind I didn't play this hole so it may play just fine. Being a short approach shot I like the fact that you have a lot of incentive to hit your shot to the proper side of the green.

#6  par 3 Biarritz ++  This is the coolest Biarritz green I have ever seen. It takes the standard Biarritz to a whole new level with some extra slopes and shelves built in that would make a 3 VERY well-earned. Guarded front right by a pretty deep bunker (8 feet?), and a Pinehurst #2 type shaved down area that comes out of the swale on the left side. Too much to describe with my limited grasp of the English language.

#7  par 4   I can't really remember this one. Edit: WOW! How could I have forgotten this hole, it is so cool. It is a dogleg left off the tee, with a depression on the inside of the turn that will make your approach blind, as will being in the left fairway due to the rise and fall of the land. However, hit your tee ball out to the right and for 1-2 clubs more you get a perfect view of the green. The green is HUGE, and has some mild contour, but is mostly a tilted green that can leave you with some VERY long lag putts. A very tough hole.

#8  par 5 Good tee shot from the back 3 tees to carry a cross bunker, up two tees have a much more inviting tee shot. Didn't seem to me much to think about on the 3rd shot, EXCEPT that the 3rd shot will be a doozy quite often given the contours of this green. The green opens up from the right so big hitters could try to draw one in.

#9  par 4  Can't really remember this one either. Keep in mind, I didn't play the front nine, so this is not a commentary on the quality of the two holes I can't remember.

Jim,
   Are those supposed to be CU buffalo-shaped bunkers between #1 and 9?

#10  par 4  Shorty 4, well-guarded off the tee with fairway bunkering. This one is all about hitting the approach shot into the right sector of the green. The green is essentially an upside down peace sign that is rotated a little counterclockwise. I didn't care for this green as I felt it was a little over the top, but it is certainly challenging to putt, and your ability to control a short iron is tested. This one may come down to a personal  preference thing.

[Jim Thompson]

Ed,

You're doing pretty well so far.  Number seven may be the hardest hole on the course.  The long par four is an off cambered dog leg left that really limits visibility for the greedy player who tried to cut the corner.  The green is the third to fourth largest on the course with a ton of rolling slopes.  I just realized you never found a bunker when we played, which explains your depth estimates.  The bunkers are a bit deeper than you remember as are the push ups of the green complexes but since we didn't play the front it is good to see that your eye was fooled a bit.  I'm sure RJ can chime in and give a full perspective of slope impacts, visual deceptions, and bunker depths especially the one on the left of #15 .

Those bunkers are indeed buffalo shaped.  The nice thing is you don't pick up on the shape unless you are flying over the course in a plane.  They are from the Buffalo Bills helmets as my brothers nickname is Buffalo Bob after a stint he did on a soil compactor.  They were put on the plan as a joke but ended up being pretty cool so we built them.


For the tree house, Ed did share his tastes on greens and internal slopes.  I think it was a good response and that a full range of green styles and feature types make for a full round and keeps the course from feeling repetitive or boring.  I would hope that everyone who plays the course either finds a couple greens approaching the edge of the envelope (#6, #8, #10, #13, #17) or a little boring compared to the others (#2, #5, #11, #15) for their individual tastes.  The great thing is for everyone who has played the course their list of the good, the plain, and the extreme is always different.  Remember a good diet has a lot of diversity.

Cheers!

JT

[ed_getka]

Jim,
   I figured the bunkers were deeper than I was estimating, but I didn't want to be telling fish stories. More later, busy changing diapers just now.

[Brian Joines]

This summer I convinced my two golfing buddies to take the hour drive with me to Angel's Crossing. These guys neither know nor care about golf course architecture at all. The things that usually excite them are water holes or most importantly waterfalls!

So when I took them out to Angel's Crossing I was very curious to hear what they thought. I loved the course. I felt the options on each hole were great from tee to green. After the round I heard both of them raving to friends about the course on their cell phone. I asked them what they liked about it and was suprised at the responses. They both said they liked the different angles provided by the wide fairways and large greens. They thought the options were great.

This really said a lot to me about the course. Anytime a course can make a preson who is normally uninterested in architecture see and appreciate it, that really says good things about the design.

Congrats Jim! You've got a great place over there.

[George Pazin]

This summer I convinced my two golfing buddies to take the hour drive with me to Angel's Crossing. These guys neither know nor care about golf course architecture at all. The things that usually excite them are water holes or most importantly waterfalls!

So when I took them out to Angel's Crossing I was very curious to hear what they thought. I loved the course. I felt the options on each hole were great from tee to green. After the round I heard both of them raving to friends about the course on their cell phone. I asked them what they liked about it and was suprised at the responses. They both said they liked the different angles provided by the wide fairways and large greens. They thought the options were great.

This really said a lot to me about the course. Anytime a course can make a preson who is normally uninterested in architecture see and appreciate it, that really says good things about the design.

Congrats Jim! You've got a great place over there.

It should also say a lot to the many many posters/golfers who believe that good architecture is lost on "the masses" or Joe Sixpack.

Thanks for relating the story, wish I could've been with you!

[PThomas]

another great thing about is the unbelievably low green fee Jim charges

[RJ_Daley]

I said it once - no more than once, this group on GCA would be missing out greatly if we don't schedule a gang of us to go to Angeles Crossing for a shindig.  I have only seen Joe's, The Mines Golf Club in photos, but being so close to AC (about an hour), we have plenty of exciting multiple course options for a long weekend trip.  And, as mentioned, I was so excited about AC, that it was as far as I got, along with a gentle expression of being perturbed from my wife when I mentioned I was staying an extra day or so to go to Grand Rapids to see Joe's place.  I can only imagine how beautiful the Vicksburg area is now in fall.  We must do it!!!

[Brian Joines]

South Bend, IN is only an hour away and have some good public options. The Warren Course (Coore/Crenshaw) and Blackthorn (Hurdzan/Fry) are both good value public courses. South Bend CC (O'Neil 1916) is probably the best course in South Bend and could be an option depending on the size of the group.

This another pretty good option if we deicde to make a GCA gathering.