The design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw has signed on to build a new golf course at Kingsley Club near Traverse City, Michigan. Clearing for the club’s second 18-hole layout began this year, and the course is expected to open for limited preview play in late 2028 with a full opening in 2029.
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are designing a new golf course at Kingsley Club in Kingsley, Michigan. The new course will sit on 520 acres southeast of the club’s original Mike DeVries course.
The second course is part of a $40-million investment in the club by Escalante Golf, the Texas-based company that acquired Kingsley club in 2022. Escalante also is building an expansive new clubhouse slated to open at the club in 2027 to replace the converted construction trailer that served as a minimalist home since the club was founded in 2001. A larger practice green also will be built near the clubhouse. Kingsley is the owner-operator of 26 properties in 17 states.
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The private Kingsley Club already is home to a well-loved Mike DeVries course that features frequently heaving terrain and is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 39 modern course in the U.S. and the No. 3 private course in Michigan.
Coore and Crenshaw’s course is being carved into a recently acquired 520 acres southeast of the original property. Planned as a walkable course, the new layout will feature fescue playing surfaces intended to promote the same kind of fast and firm conditions found on DeVries’ original course. The new course also will feature a “bye hole” that returns to the clubhouse after the opening six holes. The layout is roughly planned to extend to 7,200 yards with a par of 72, but plenty can change during the build as Coore and Crenshaw tie the course into the landscape.
“The Escalante team has again given us an opportunity to work with a wonderfully intriguing, gifted site for golf, this time in the state of Michigan, home to some of America’s most acclaimed golf courses,” Coore, who worked with Escalante on the recently renovated Pines Course at The International outside of Boston, said in a media release that announced the new course. “We are excited about the potential of this highly individualistic site, the Kingsley Club in general and being able to create a course in a state with such a rich golfing history.”
Jason Lusk is Golfweek’s travel and golf course architecture editor, as well as the print magazine’s creative director. He has written for and designed Golfweek for more than two decades.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Kingsley Club to add second course by Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
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