Cape Wickham Golf Course

King Island, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA

Cape Wickham is a unique and beautiful place, remote today but even more so when its famous lighthouse was built in 1861 to warn seafarers of the treacherous waters of the Bass Strait. The golf course is located next to the lighthouse and the iconic structure is visible from throughout the golf course and is prominent from the clubhouse view.

The land the site occupies is amazingly diverse in how the golf holes and features interact with the ocean. Eight full holes play along the coast while three other green sites and three other tees are adjacent to the water. Importantly, holes attack the water from all different directions of the compass and at various heights to the sea, from the clifftop 1st to the 18th’s beach, while the 16th tees are perched on rocks at the seashore and the 11th is practically in the Bass Strait at both tee and green.

To have the opportunity to work on a traditional links golf course in such a beautiful setting is a dream come true. To take advantage of all this project had to offer, Mike DeVries brought his family over to King Island for 6 months in 2013 to build the course. The chance to experience a distant land and culture by all was unforgettable and one we will treasure all our lives.

Visit the course’s website at http://capewickham.com.au/ to learn the latest from this great new course.

Golf Australia Features Lost MacKenzie Course

“Everybody who plays this game has heard of Dr Alister MacKenzie. Hardly anyone has heard of David Edel. But a throwaway line over a post-round drink in Argentina a decade ago could see the names of these two inextricably linked for generations to come.”

GOLF AUSTRALIA, October 2010

Read the article to find out how DeVries Designs are involved in bringing this lost course to life. Golf Australia, October 2010: MacKenzie’s Lost Designs (PDF)

Golf Club Atlas Group Reviews Kingsley

Check out the Golf Club Atlas website for reviews and discussions on courses and all things golf course architecture related. A group of 35 from this site came together to play Kingsley (with smaller contingencies at Greywalls and the Mines prior to Kingsley) in late June.

“Like a pitcher that changes speeds, I thought Kingsley was a great example of a course constantly varying the challenge from hole to hole.” — JASON TOPP

Since then, there has been some good discussions on the courses – click here to see what they are saying. Or, if you’d like to participate in the thread click here.

Mike DeVries named a Quality Endorsed Designer

Darius Oliver, author of the critically acclaimed Planet Golf and Planet Golf USA books, has started Planet Golf On-line, a website to provide the “Definitive Reference to the World’s Greatest Golf Courses” and the “Internet’s most authoritative source for unbiased and accurate golf course information.” In developing this site and its accompanying Global Golf Group, Oliver has identified only nine Quality Endorsed Designers, and Mike DeVries is among that select group.

“Mike DeVries is one of those rare modern course architects who not only understands the principals of great design but is also able to personally shape the features that make golf courses so appealing. His ability to work with natural ground contours enables him to produce original layouts that are sustainable, attractive, fun to play and constantly engaging.”

View the endorsement

Greywalls on the Cover of GolfWeek

A shot of the 5th green at Greywalls is featured on the cover of the magazine’s annual “GolfWeek’s Best” issue, which lists the country’s top 100 courses in Classical (pre-1960) and Modern (post-1960) eras. Greywalls debuts at #92 in the country, joining Kingsley, which is at #20 and has been a staple on the modern list for many years.

In the listing for public access courses in Michigan, Greywalls is #3, Pilgrim’s Run is #17, and the Mines debuts at #19 for the state.

God of the Greens: Mike DeVries

Traverse City’s Mike DeVries has gone from mowing fairways at Frankfort’s tony Crystal Downs to designing some of Northern Michigan’s sweetest links. This year GolfWeek Magazine named the DeVries-designed Greywalls course in Marquette No. 3 in the state, and Kingsley Club, just south of Traverse City, No. 20 of the Best Modern Courses in the nation. We caught up with the wunderkind between trips to Texas, where he’s carrying out the decades-lost design of a course MacKenzie masterminded in 1930.

Essay: The Rhythm and Flow of a Golf Course

Good rhythm and flow on a golf course is like good theater – there is a series of acts that build upon one another to create a sum greater than its parts. The rhythm and flow is critical to creating a good golf course experience because great holes that don’t connect and flow together won’t “complete” a course like a good sequence of holes can.

The great courses of the world, whether they are links like Royal Dornoch or an inland course like Augusta National, have great rhythm and flow and world-class holes that make them desirable to play every day. Certainly there are many non-famous courses that are fun and challenging for their players on a regular basis – that may be the true meaning of good rhythm and flow.

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Essay: On Perry Maxwell

Having grown up working at Crystal Downs in northern Michigan, I have had an appreciation of Perry Maxwell’s work for a long time. Perry’s work as Alister MacKenzie’s associate on that venerable course certainly had a great effect on his work and philosophy, as he spent three seasons there building the course now regarded as one of the best in the world. Maxwell’s respect for a landscape’s inherent qualities and use of those features in its design is one of the great aspects of the golf course at Crystal Downs. I became enamored with golf at an early age and with golf course architecture because of my exposure to Crystal Downs. I am certain that the beauty of the natural landforms of the site were an inspiration to Perry Maxwell just as they are to me to this day and I am positive that he made the course better due to his recognition of the intricacies of the land.

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