“What DeVries has done is build a set of bunkers
that reflect the style of several master architects as
well as a touch of his own originality.”
- GEOFF SHACKELFORD, GolfWeb
Great Site, Wildlife, and Design
Meet for Great Golf
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.
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.
“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.
ACCOLADES
Ranked #10 in Michigan's Best Public Access Courses, GolfWeek 2020
Ranked #5 in USA Public Golf Courses, Golf Advisor 2018
Ranked #98 in USA, Golf 2002
Ranked #1 in Michigan Public Golf Courses, Golf Advisor 2018
Ranked #28 in Michigan, Top100GolfCourses.com 2019
Top 100 Courses You Can Play Golf
Best New Affordable Courses of 1999 Golf Digest
Michigan’s Best Public Access Courses GolfWeek
“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
