The Kingsley Club

Kingsley, Michigan   May, 2001
18th: America’s 100 Best Modern Courses (post 1960), March 8, 2008, Golfweek
America’s 50 Greatest Golf Retreats (#37), Winter 2006-2007, Golf Digest
World Atlas of Golf, Gazetteer Selection, (Hamlyn, 2005), p. 281.
Modern Classics, pp.66-71, April, 2004, Links

"The most fun I had playing golf in 2002 was at The Kingsley Club, 20 miles south of Traverse City, Michigan.
. . . Kingsley proved to be a pure delight, full of humps and bumps that offer both good and bad bounces. It's a grand collection of holes that pose obvious risks and substantial rewards, with gnarly bunkers that are both treats and treacheries. It is such a simple-looking yet complex design that I still marvel at its subtleties six months later.
. . . Kingsley was laid out by golf architect Mike DeVries on pure sand, atop glacial domes and within kettle bowls. The open, linkslike front nine features windblown bunkers and wild and wooly deep native grasses in the far rough. The equally rugged back nine has all that stuff plus a hardwood forest.
. . . I relish my round at Kingsley because every hole allowed me to play within my own game, but sometimes it taunted me into trying a shot above my skill level. It was as quirky and charming as an Irish links, yet it had the generous nature of a modern-day American course, with wide, wide fairways, nasty-looking rough that is well out of play and plenty of optional tee boxes.
. . . The Verdict
I say Kingsley is a 21st Century version of Crystal Downs, and someday it will contend for a spot on America's 100 Greatest."
From Ron Whitten’s review of The Kingsley Club on GolfDigest.com.

"Dr. MacKenzie himself must be applauding the 13th, a 285-yard par 4 that looks perfectly digestible until you confront the green. It is 13,000 square feet of taunts and tricks, especially that plunging bowl in the back. But what a hoot-if you can figure out what to hit and how to play it.
Then there’s the 15th, which in its own humble way is every bit the pain in one’s knickers that No. 17 is at St. Andrews. Like the Road Hole, Kingsley’s 15th is technically a par-4. Other descriptors have been used by irked challengers who fume about the 455-yard journey, which requires a stout carry on the tee shot and a long approach to a small perched green.
But on this golf course-a fine venue for walking and match play, by the way-the 15th fits, devilishly and beautifully. DeVries calls it a "half-par" hole, probably closer to a par-5. ‘But I like it a lot,’ he says. ‘The lack of convention, and the fact the better player may feel he has to get there in two while the smarter player can hit to a position where he’s comfortable, and still make four.’"

Lynn Henning, Modern Classics, Links, April, 2004, pp. 66-71.
CLICK HERE FOR KINGSLEY CLUB HOLE DESCRIPTIONS AND PHOTOS

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