Every great golf course architect has watched, helplessly, as capitalism plows under a design to make way for progress. Tom Doak, the genius behind many of the 21st century’s greatest designs, has lost six of his courses to progress. Beechtree, Black Forest, Charlotte Golf Links, Apache Stronghold, and the nine-hole Aetna Springs course, have all met their demise at the hands of bulldozers and cement.
It’s easy to do this sort of thing, you know, build a golf course that you don’t plan to keep. Roadways, malls, high-rises, neighborhoods, can all be built over the top of a links. Near my hometown, the Westwood Country Club in Amherst, New York, will convert to a central park for the town in 2024. When you’ve ridden a bulldozer, pushed dirt around with a backhoe, and drawn plans for holes in the dirt, watching the end must be heartbreaking.
For Tom Doak, however, one of his courses appears ready to see the light of day once more. High Pointe, Doak’s first design, was closed and the back nine was repurposed into a hop farm in 2008. The architect, back then, was also the builder. Doak built each of the greens himself, and had plans to expand the course to 27 holes at some juncture. By 2010, High Pointe was but a memory.
Ran Morrissett, the director of Golf Club Atlas and an architecture aficionado, made a supportive yet bold claim about some of the holes at High Pointe. We decided to ask the architect himself if those holes were really that good.
Is Ran Morrissett’s glowing assessment of holes 10-15 still accurate, 33 years after the original High Pointe opened? If not (and even, if so) will you adjust those holes to make them even more compelling?
Tom Doak: I have always loved that stretch of holes that Ran mentioned. In the new routing the 10th and 11th will become eight and nine, but then the 12th through 15th will retain their original numbers. The terrain back there reminded me of Sunningdale or some other heathland course; the topography is big and bold, and you’ll almost certainly have to deal with uphill, downhill, and sidehill stances for the approach shots to the par-4’s. The greens at the 12th, 13th, and 14th were all pretty daring, and I will have to see whether we can keep the contours exactly the way they were or whether I’ll need to soften them slightly, as they certainly weren’t designed for 11 or 12 on the Stimpmeter.
Are they still the best stretch of holes I ever built? Possibly not, because I’ve been blessed with many great sites in the past 20 years. But I think they are still in the conversation, anyway. The challenge will be creating a bunch of new holes that are just as original.
The original 18 holes at High Pointe golf course, courtesy of Renaissance Golf.
Fast forward to 2023, and thanks to the financial support of Rod Trump, High Pointe is on the cusp of opening its first tee for business. Nine of the original holes will be joined with nine new holes, with Doak using the benefit of over 40 years of golf architecture experience.
What has changed? Plenty. High Pointe opened for play in 1989, as a public-fee course. High Pointe 2.0 will return as a private club, with a limited membership. Since 1989, destination clubs like Sand Hills in Nebraska, Kinloch in Virginia, and Ballyneal in Colorado, have followed an Augusta National-style of national and international memberships. Will High Pointe subscribe to this paradigm? That remains to be seen.
Mr. Rod Trump is the driving force behind the return of High Pointe. He offers a bit of insight into the project and his own relationship with golf with answers to a few of our questions.
1. Please tell us a bit about who you are, what you’ve done for a living, and how you and golf intersect.
Golf is my passion. I am blessed with many, many friends who are all great people. Nearly every one of them, and all the best ones, I know because of golf.
I had the good fortune to build a few companies at a young age and sell them which afforded me the ability to figure out what I love and what I wanted to do. I’ve loved golf since the first time I put a club in my hand during college, and I’m excited by the opportunity to create one of golf’s next great homes.
2. You’re undertaking a monumental task this year, in the resurrection (more or less) of Tom Doak’s first golf course: High Pointe. This formerly-public Michigan course was closed and sold, and a portion was turned into a hop farm. We’ll get to that, but how did you become involved with Tom Doak and this venture?
At the urging of a very dear friend, I rented a house in the Traverse City area for eight weeks in the Summer of 2021. I fell in love with the area. Surrounded by water, with the perfect climate for more than three months and with daylight that lasts well into the night, what’s not to like!? And, the people there, they are great – kind, honest, genuine. Instantly, I decided this is where I wanted to spend a portion of the year for the rest of my life.
A good friend, who happens to coach several players on the PGA Tour, mentioned High Pointe to me and it instantly became my mission. That very day, I reached out to Tom, and once we spoke, reincarnating High Pointe became my mission in life.
3. How will High Pointe 2.0 differ physically (the layout, the land) from the original version, the OG, if you will?
I honestly believe 2.0 will be better. The land is spectacular. Young Tom was afraid to move earth, but a learned Tom knows how to maximize the value of the land. While it is all sandy soil, the new land is more compatible with the original back nine. Tom had originally routed a third nine for the original High Pointe and thought if it ever happened the back nine and the third nine would make for the best 18 holes. Tom was excited right out of the gate by the opportunity to take all of the land (500+ acres) and make the best 18 holes.
In addition, we are bringing back to life what Tom describes as “the meat of the golf course.” Holes 10 through 15, which Ran Morrisset has described as, “to this day, the best six holes Tom has ever routed,” will all be re-born. I believe High Pointe 2.0 will feature the best of the original golf course blended with the product of the hands of an old master who is truly one of the best of all-time.
4. Version 1.0 was a public-access course. High Pointe 2024 will be a private club. Why the change in paradigm?
The Traverse City area has grown tremendously and the climate of the area is about as good as it gets anywhere in the continental U.S. for 110-120 days; the temperature, the extended hours of daylight, the low humidity. Additionally, High Pointe is just 15 minutes from an airport, which services many commercial flights as well as private aviation. The area is ripe to participate in what will be a rop national golf club, and it’s the best financial model to ensure Tom’s first born lives on, forever and ever.
What is guaranteed, however, is the adherence of the entire project to a standard of environmental excellence. As first reported by Beth Milligan in the Traverse Ticker, High Pointe will follow the Best Practices Guide for Golf Courses, established by the state of Michigan. For an idea of what High Pointe looks like currently, see the slideshow below. Anticipate an update on progress in early 2024.
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Adam
Feb 23, 2023 at 10:44 am
I used to play High Pointe every fall in high school for an invitational tournament and loved it. I’m glad it’s making a comeback but it’s a gigantic disappointment that it’s going to be so private. Especially with Doak making comments after visiting golf in Scotland and saying we’ve done it all wrong in the states with making the game so inaccessible and costly.
Mel
Feb 26, 2023 at 9:37 pm
Yeah. Unfortunately you won’t be playing it again, and either will I.
Ronald Montesano
Feb 27, 2023 at 1:56 pm
Never say never. I don’t have any inside information, but I’m hopeful that there will be opportunities for folks to play the course.
Jbone
Feb 28, 2023 at 7:47 pm
Probably just some media to let us know how we’re missing out.
Ronald Montesano
Feb 27, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Never say never. I don’t have any inside information, but I’m hopeful that there will be opportunities for folks to play the course.
Chuck
Feb 28, 2023 at 10:28 am
There are many private golf clubs in northern Michigan. Some great ones. Wequetonsing; Belvedere; Kingsley; True North; Harbor Point. And none of them are terribly difficult to get on if you work at it, especially in the ‘shoulder’ seasons before Memorial Day and after Labor Day.
The one very notable exception is Crystal Downs. And I do think that when folks think about “private golf in northern Michigan,” they naturally think of Crystal Downs, which is quite exclusive all through the playing season. (Not a secret, since Tom has published articles and books on the subject; he is a Crystal Downs member.)
Mel
Feb 28, 2023 at 3:29 pm
Hmmm…. Work at trying to get on a golf course and pay 300 bucks? No thanks. I’ll play Arcadia for that, which involves a click of a button. Just not a fan of the grotesquely hoity toiity here.
Rich
Feb 23, 2023 at 10:40 am
I was excited until finding out it’s going to be private. Bummer.
Ronald Montesano
Feb 27, 2023 at 1:56 pm
Never say never. I don’t have any inside information, but I’m hopeful that there will be opportunities for folks to play the course.