The Country Club of Detroit occupies a tract of land, some 300 yards from Lake St. Clair, which is as flat as an airfield. On only two of the holes—the 9th and the 18th where the greens are slightly plateaued—is there more than a ripple of undulation. Nine times out of ten, a course built on this type of terrain is doomed to be second-rate and soporific. The tenth time, it is redeemed by the imagination of a skillful golf course architect, such as H.L. Colt (of the famous English firm of Colt & Alison) who laid out the Country Club's course in 1911. Colt saw to it that his holes were lengthy and varied, and marched them in an interesting sequence through the giant elms and maples which abound on the property.
Over the years, with the introduction of steel shafts, the juiced-up ball, the sand wedge, and other technical refinements, the Country Club's layout gradually lost its "shot value." Three years ago, Robert Trent Jones, the Colt of today's golf architects, was called in to perform an overhauling job that would restore the course's championship qualities. Jones lengthened the layout from 6,412 yards to 6,875—about the same yardage as the Augusta National—by bringing the tees back, a few of them as much as 60 yards. On many holes, to penalize the long hitter if he did not place his drive accurately, he put in fairway trapping 225 to 250 yards from the tee. Such a trap, flanking the fairway on the right, for example, tends to bring the trees lining the left side of the fairway much more actively into play. Jones built three new greens (the 3rd, 6th and 10th), extended most of the other old wedge-shaped greens with a "tongue," and revivified the area around the greens by adding new traps, recon-touring old ones, and "flashing" a large percentage of these hazards against greenside mounds. Though it is much less intimidating than Oakland Hills (also in the Detroit area) which Jones remodeled brilliantly for the 1951 Open, the Country Club is a fair and demanding test and should produce an authentic champion.
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MAP
LARRY BUHL
H. H. SMITH JR.
CHARLES SYMINGTON
WILLIAM CLAY FORD
C. J. EDWARDS
A. VANDERZEE
W. DEAN ROBINSON
MRS. ROY CH
HENRY FORD
JAMES WHITEHEAD
DONALD J. MACFARLANE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
390 yds
230 yds
175 yds
370 yds
450 yds
185 yds
450 yds
365 yds
430 yds
410 yds
460 yds
510 yds
155 yds
450 yds
425 yds
365 yds
465 yds
590 yds
LEADING CITIZENS OF MOTOR CAPITAL WHO LIVE ALONG COURSE
WILLIAM CLAY FORD
Ford Motor Co.
LARRY BUHL
Wholesale hardware
H. H. SMITH
Stock broker
CHARLES SYMINGTON
Sylvania Electric
C. J. EDWARDS
Manufacturers representative
A. VANDERZEE
Chrysler Corp.
W. DEAN ROBINSON
Briggs Manufacturing Co.
MRS. ROY CHAPIN
Widow of Hudson founder
HENRY FORD II
Ford Motor Co.
JAMES WHITEHEAD
Contractor
DONALD J. MACFARLANE
Attorney
NO. | YARDS | PAR | NO. | YARDS | PAR |
1 | 365 | 4 | 10 | 590 | 5 |
2 | 450 | 4 | 11 | 410 | 4 |
3 | 510 | 5 | 12 | 450 | 4 |
4 | 390 | 4 | 13 | 175 | 3 |
5 | 230 | 3 | 14 | 450 | 4 |
6 | 370 | 4 | 15 | 365 | 4 |
7 | 430 | 4 | 16 | 185 | 3 |
8 | 155 | 3 | 17 | 460 | 4 |
9 | 565 | 4 | 18 | 425 | 4 |
OUT | 3365 | 35 | IN | 3510 | 35 |
3365 | 35 | ||||
TOTAL | 6875 | 70 |
