Kingsley Club has been unanimously chosen by a handful of GOLF’s Top 100 panelists as the 3rd best course in Michigan!
After Crystal Downs and Oakland Hills, the highest-rated Michigan courses in GOLF Magazine’s rankings, what’s the best course in the state and why?
Ran Morrissett (Architecture Editor): Michigan is stacked with great golf, both from the Golden Age and from the Modern Age. Narrowing it down to one is brutal, but when in doubt, I tend to side with the course that promotes ‘bouncy-bounce’ golf, which would be The Kingsley Club and its fescue playing surfaces. The ball releases more across its fairways and greens than the great parkland courses around Detroit.
Steve Lapper (Panelist since 2009; has played 84 of the Top 100): The Kingsley Club hands down. This private gem dances around, over and through undulating, heaving terrain that encourages the player to think about not just where the green and pins are, but also the land and its movement that takes you there. It’s natural, no-fuss routing is a delightfully fun mix of golf adventure and strategic, insightful design. The highest praise is that it never fails to demand both your best swing and capture your interest – from the first hole to the last.
Thomas Brown (Panelist since 2015; has played 95 of the Top 100): The Kingsley Club. The Kingsley Club was built in 2001 by a young, brash golf architect named Mike DeVries. Kingsley is simply one of the premier designs built in the modern era of golf architecture. I remember approaching the 4th green on my first round there, thinking that golf enthusiasts might finally be able to find consensus on what the merits of natural design look like. DeVries took chances on the design. Fellow critics have tried to explain to me that par-3 9th hole is too challenging, or that the 13th hole, at 292 yards, is sensory overload. I’ll have none of it. Kingsley is perfect.