Golfweek: Kingsley One of America’s Best Courses

" The retro look is not simply a matter of the Classical courses. There's something of a traditionally oriented, back-la-basics movement in Modem course design. The four leading courses on the Modem list all sport firm, fast fescue fairways - quite a contrast to the lush, green look of American parkland golf. ... Modern golfers accustomed to pure visibility might balk at some of the quirkiness, semi-blind tee shots and scruffiness of Mike DeVries' new Kingsley (Mich.) Club (No. 98). But that's the beauty of such a list. It's fodder for discussion. And material for road trips." 

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Links: Kingsley—Head of the Class

"Federal law prohibits a golf periodical from publishing any best of list that doesn't include a course in northern Michigan. The Kingsley Club fills that requirement for this list, and it may be the most architecturally ambitious layout in the bunch. Mike DeVries did the design work, with visions of Crystal Downs and Sand Hills dancing in his head. His 6,911-yard course includes a par-5 on the back nine that plays 617 yards from the ego tees. Despite that one colossus, the rest of this Audubon-approved golf landscape is a study in the shotmaker's art." 

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Golf Digest on Pilgrim’s Run

"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."

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