The Tradition Continues

Every course Jerry Matthews Natural Course Design creates or remodels possesses its own unique design. While viewing our most recent projects you quickly become aware of how beautiful and challenging our courses can be — and the different natural environments and inherent limiting factors we often encounter. From mined-out quarries, to floodplains, to urban reclamation projects, our natural course design philosophy results in a truly enjoyable golfing experience. These courses offer you a snapshot of how we continue the tradition.

Bucks Run Golf Club

What has become one of Michigan’s premier daily fee championship golf course, Bucks Run Golf Club is distinguished by having within its 290- acre site a variety of great landforms, both natural and man-made. Remnant spoil piles; three lakes — including stunning 35-acre Fisher Lake with 30- foot bluffs; and many small borrow pits, were all byproducts of fifty years of gravel mining that provided many of the varied and unusual elements to be integrated within the golf course layout. In addition to the many man-made features, the site was blessed with over
two miles of the picturesque Chippewa River running through the property that
was incorporated into several holes on the course. Combining these
man-made and natural features with the balance of a site comprised of mature
hardwoods and conifers, you have all the desirable ingredients for a beautiful
and challenging golf course.

The essence of the course is reflected in four outstanding golf holes, numbers eight, nine, 17 and 18. The eighth hole was a par three waiting to happen. Playing across the east end of Fisher Lake, the eighth hole features a green site perched on one edge of the lake and utilized four large spoil piles ranging from 145 to 193 yards away as tee locations. The par-three 17th hole is another "natural" golf hole, with a large spoil pile transformed into a tee site playing across a stretch of white-water rapids to a green situated on the opposite side of the Chippewa River. The configuration of Fisher Lake provided landforms ideally situated to create not one, but two cape-style golf holes, the ninth hole doglegs right along the lake, while the 18th, doglegs left across water. Both holes play to peninsula greens situated twenty feet below a very prominent clubhouse that overlooks both the lake and the two greens—creating a venue unparalleled in clubhouse settings.

Named “Best New Amenity” by Great Lakes Golf Magazine, the two-acre putting course at Bucks Run features 18 individual bentgrass holes situated on an island in the middle of a lake adjacent to the clubhouse. A flowing brook with several waterfalls separates the nines and the holes are beautifully designed—complete with fescue covered mounds and sand bunkers to match the look and feel of the championship course.
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Oak Pointe Country Club Championship Course

Oak Pointe Country Club, a 36-hole private club owned and operated by Club Corp, was operating the Championship Course as a public course in conjunction with the private 18-hole Honors Course. The Championship Course was to be extensively remodeled to be a companion to the private 18-hole facility.

The first step was a comprehensive Remodeling Study, analyzing the unique problems on this site and investigating all possible design solutions with the owners. Two new ponds were created adding to the challenge and beauty of the course providing a source of fill material for new golf features that included 18 new tee complexes, six new greens, several fairway cuts to enhance visibility, 47 sand bunkers and a new short-game practice facility. Heralded by ownership and membership alike—the resulting course now epitomizes the playability, look, and feel of an established, exclusive, upscale country club. Back to top.

The Torch at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort

The Torch at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort is our most recent project in northern Michigan and is destined to join our long and storied list of highly- acclaimed designs. High on bluffs, the site offers magnificent vistas of both Torch Lake to the east and Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay to the west.

Nestled between fescue covered mounds and strategically placed sand bunkers, the core of the course is distinguished by expansive rolling links style
holes. The 17th hole, a picturesque 210-yard par three, plays from tees high on
a wooded ridge, dropping down 80 feet to a beautiful green complex
surrounded by large maples and cedars. Visible from the tee is a spectacular
view of Torch Lake.

Looking west from the clubhouse, you encounter an unparalleled panoramic view
of fifteen holes of the golf course. To the southeast, you are presented with a view
of Torch Lake and it’s beautifully clear emerald-green water. Adjacent to the
clubhouse, the resort will offer their guests a comprehensive full service practice
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Red Oaks Golf Course, Oakland County Parks

Red Oaks Golf Course is a nine-hole golf course situated in a narrow corridor bounded by numerous commercial and residential developments. In 2001, an Oakland County storm drain project impacted the course by routing two large drains through the middle of the existing course. The resulting drain installation necessitated the reconstruction of the entire golf course, including the incorporation of nearly 80,000 cubic yards of displaced soil onto the site.

What was once a nearly flat, featureless course with push-up greens has been transformed into an extremely beautiful links-type course—a green oasis in an urban landscape. The excess soil was worked into large mounds that accentuate the new golf features and surround the perimeter of the property. Large tees, strategically-placed sand bunkers and generously-sized greens have transformed Red Oaks into what Ralph Richard, Executive Officer of Oakland County Parks, now calls "one of the greatest nine-hole courses in southeast Michigan." Back to top.

Additional recent projects include:

Mount Pleasant Country Club

Remodeling of the existing 18-hole golf course at Mount Pleasant Country Club consisted of the creation of two new lakes, one new hole, 17 new tees, the installation of an extensive underground drainage system including four pump stations, and installation of stream bank erosion control measures, all in conjunction with a new 18-hole irrigation system.

Twin Lakes Golf and Swim Club

A new nine-hole addition designed to compliment the existing 18-hole Jerry Matthews designed golf course.

Monroe Golf and Country Club

The need for a two-acre lake for irrigation resulted in 20,000 cubic yards of excess soil. The design and construction of a new par-five finishing hole incorporating the new lake into its design; a new totally wooded par-three hole and numerous other tee improvements was all prompted by the need to dispose of this material and the desire of the club to increase the size of its existing parking lot. Back to top.