Kingsley Club a Diamond in the Rough

By Mike Terrell
Sun contributor
When you think golf in northern Michigan, especially the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula, it’s normally of posh resorts and designer courses with some of the leading names in the game attached to them.
Some will pay lip service to the “old masters” and the classic designs they produced like Alister MacKenzie’s well-known Crystal Downs, located near Frankfort along the Lake Michigan coastline. None have taken it to the degree that little known Traverse City golf course architect Mike DeVries took the Kingsley Club.

Located near the small town of Kingsley it was built with a little different philosophy from most of the “up north” golf courses that comprise America’s Summer Golf Capitol.
“We wanted to build a pure golf course; a traditional-type private course with a minimal impact on the landscape. Making money wasn’t our driving force,” said co-owner Ed Walker, a local businessman. “We didn’t want a housing development surrounding the course. It’s designed for people who love the game, and exists solely for the enjoyment of its members and guests.”
They knew what they wanted. It was just finding the right course designer to create it. Fred Muller, longtime pro at Crystal Downs and a mentor to DeVries introduced him to Walker, and the rest is history.
Given a piece of property full of sand, atop ancient glacial dunes full of kettle-like bowls, DeVries built a golf course full of humps and bumps that reminds one of a Scottish links, but still has generous landing areas on the fairways that American golfers are used to playing. It’s a wonderful mix; a true blend of classic and modern.
Lynn Henning summed it up well in an article he did for Links Magazine a couple of years ago when he said, “Two high-rolling businessmen gambled on an unknown architect and came up aces with this spiritual descendent of Crystal Downs.”
Dr. Gary Wiren, considered one of the top 10 teaching golf pros in the world, spent three weeks at the club this summer as a guest of Walker working and playing with members. He’s traveled extensively all over the world and fell in love with the club the first time he visited it a couple of years ago to play in their annual Hickory Open; a tournament played with old hickory-shafted clubs.
“I fell in love with the Kingsley Club the moment I set eyes on it,” he said when I spoke with him at the club earlier this summer. “It’s semi-remote. You end up driving down a dirt road, see a little sign as you round a corner in the woods, drive up to the top of the hill and there it is.
“It’s just like a Scottish course out in the middle of nowhere; so natural and the greens are diabolically fun to putt,” he laughed.
When asked to rank the club compared to other courses he has played around the world, he had high praise for DeVries’ first course.
“It’s a links-style course in the grandest design with fescue fairways, enormous bunkers and huge undulating greens that will test your putting skills,” he said.
Great flashes of sand and humps and bumps, typical of British Isle links mark the first nine holes, with towering pine trees added to the second nine. While only four years old the course is already receiving national praise and comparisons. Golfweek recently ranked the course 22nd in the nation, a heady ranking for such a new course.
“That’s spectacular, especially when you consider all of the great courses its ahead of,” added Wiren. “I think it deserves all the accolades it has received. For his first course DeVries did a remarkable job.”
DeVries, a student of MacKenzie’s designs, grew up in Frankfort playing and working at the renowned Crystal Downs and worked for Tom Doak and Bill Newcomb, well known Michigan golf course architects, and Tom Fazio before striking out on his own. Both Doak and Fazio have multiple courses on the Top 100 list.
Walker described finding the piece of property.
“I was having a cup of coffee in my Traverse City office one morning during the winter when I saw an ad for this piece of property in the local paper, and it sounded perfect,” the businessman enthused. “It was a 400-acre piece of property near Kingsley surrounded on three sides by state land. With high rolling grassland and sparsely vegetated soil, it was perfect for the type of course we wanted to build.
“We didn’t have to create tee boxes and bunker areas. The natural formations were already there, and with no wetlands involved, we had no environmental issues.”
The club is committed to preserving the environment and worked closely with the Audubon Society in the development of the course.
Nestled among rolling highlands, mature hardwoods and white pines, the club is located about 12 miles south of Traverse City. Its high rolling pastures offer beautiful vistas from several points around the 18-hole course. The par-71 course is designed with a wide variety of tees ranging up to almost 7,000 yards from the tips. Each hole – typical of a links-style course – is designed to offer options on routing and types of shots. The beautiful ninth hole has six sets of tees from which to choose.
“It’s a classic design that follows the lay of the land,” said PGA Professional Muller. “It certainly feels like a golf course built in the 1920s.”
You won’t find any water on the course, but, if you like bunkers, you’re in luck. There are 129 of them scattered around the course. And, if you like to walk, again you are in luck. The course, according to Walker, was designed to walk, which is encouraged by a caddie program. Power carts are available as an option.
“It’s a course that you’ll want to walk,” he added, “and, that’s the way we wanted it designed. I like to be able to see other holes when I play golf. I don’t like the isolation you feel on many area courses; all with individual holes. Classic, traditional courses were designed to walk, and that’s what we’ve duplicated at Kingsley Club.”
The course is open only to club members and their guests, and the club membership is being limited to the first 250 who join. Presently it’s at a little over 100 members. Many members are from outside the state of Michigan.
“We wanted to create a place with few rules and few starting times,” chuckled Walker. “If we took in more members we would have to have rules and starting times. It’s a place where kindred sprits can gather to have a little fun, make friends and play all the golf they want.”
The clubhouse sits high atop a ridge overlooking the first, ninth and tenth fairways offering spectacular views of the course. An extensive practice facility with a short game area, putting greens and a driving range is located across from the pro shop and clubhouse. A couple of “club cottages” with lockout rooms have been built to provide lodging for its national members and guests. Each cottage has eight individual bedrooms and a large common area complete with a kitchen.
Guide services, utilizing local hunters and fishers, is also available for members who enjoy trout fishing on area rivers and a little upland game hunting on adjoining state land.
For more information on the Kingsley Club and all that it has to offer or take a virtual tour of the course, log onto www.kingsleyclub.com, or you can call (231) 263-3000.