Set on a large tract of land 30 minutes north of a large city, Pilgrim”s Run is a lush parkland course with an interesting history.
“But the ultimate committee project may be fourth-place Pilgrim’s Run Golf Club, north of Grand Rapids, Mich. After former superintendent Kris Shumaker drew up a routing, owner Bob Van Kampen (of Chicago’s Van Kampen Mutual Funds) invited six employees to design three holes apiece. Young golf architect Mike DeVries then designed the greens and bunkers and consulted on the building of the course.”
Ron Whitten, America’s Best New Courses, Golf Digest, December 1999, pg. 130.
The challenge was to take the six different philosophies and blend them into a whole course. Superintendent Kris Shumaker and Mike DeVries did just that, with the result an amazing golf course that is affordable and fun for the public to play. Mike was able to work with the co-designers to adopt their ideas into golf holes and a routing that flows across the land. Then he built rolling greens and beautiful bunkers that tie into the natural landscape, accenting the ridges, rolls, woodlands, and beauty of the site. The bentgrass greens, tees, and fairways give the public golfer a rich playing surface and allow the feature shaping to stand out in this natural playland.
“DeVries’ secret? Simple: spending time on site and crafting each bunker by hand. And after the surrounds of the bunker are seeded, DeVries paints the final lines of the bunkers and cuts the edges himself. Billy Bell, who was largely responsible for the dynamic bunkers of Riviera and Bel-Air, used the same process when building those hazards.”
GEOFF SHACKELFORD, GolfWeb