Nearly a century ago, a small town with a big vision hired a legendary course designer. The result is one of the most playable and beloved golf courses in Northern Michigan.
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A historical marker at the entrance of the Elk Rapids Golf Club is your first clue that this golf club is indeed an important treasure. About 25 minutes north of Traverse City, the club sits on the shores of the turquoise waters of Elk Lake. Golf lovers delight in playing a course designed by the renowned golf architect Donald Ross, who also designed venerable Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as well as North Carolina’s Pinehurst #2.
This neatly puts it in the category of “vintage”—it’s been around since 1924 and is still going strong. The nine-hole gem checks all the boxes: beautiful, fun, challenging, yet playable and beloved by local golfers. That sentiment is reflected in many of the 250 memberships that have been lovingly handed down through generations, with a waiting list of about 80 hoping to join the semi-private club.
It’s a course with an unlikely backstory, according to ERGC member and club historian Brian Taylor. As the logging and iron works industries waned in the early 1900s, the people of Elk Rapids were desperate to breathe new life into their little bayside town. Some citizens with foresight thought a golf course would be just the thing to help the bourgeoning tourism industry, and in 1922, they voted to pass a bond to build a course. (Fun fact: the golf course is the oldest continuing business in Elk Rapids.)
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With the bond passed, Elk Rapidians immediately set out to hire a golf course architect, and among their contenders was the ambitious choice of Donald Ross. The 1920s were Ross’ heyday for course design.“It’s a bit of a mystery,” Taylor admits. “How did we get him to design the course when there were about 10 courses [in line] ahead of us?” He’s mystified by this, but his theory is that somebody in the Elk Rapids Resort & Industrial Association back in the day had some important connections with Chicago business people.
The president of the Donald Ross Society confirmed Taylor’s hunch—with some influential networking, Ross was hired in 1923 to design the course, and the Elk Rapids Golf Club course opened on July 17, 1924. The grand event made front-page news in the Grand Rapids Press.
The question remains if Ross actually came to Elk Rapids to design the course or worked from afar. He was a busy man, designing approximately 400 courses during his career, and it seemed like Elk Rapids was low on the totem pole. What is known is Ross dispatched his top associate, J.B McGovern, to Elk Rapids, and it was McGovern who chose the actual site for the golf course. He liked the site because it wasn’t a rectangle—it was more of an oblique triangle. Donald Ross then designed the course from topographical maps. Taylor says that the property was originally a farm, but it was treeless, with about 3,000 feet of lake frontage. This appealed to Donald Ross’ vision for a links-style golf course. Ross took the land he was presented and built a golf course on it. The land was cleared using a team of horses with a drag bar, and men using rakes and shovels.
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To save money, members used the old farmhouse behind the 8th green for a clubhouse. Over the years, the only two big alterations were moving the 6th green due to errant balls barraging the parking lot, and the 8th green, which was moved in the ’80s when the Village of Elk Rapids widened Ames Street.
Taylor says an example of a classic Ross hole is number 7: a 290-yard par 4. Ross liked short, uphill par 4s and bunkers inside doglegs, as well as tee boxes and greens that are close together. He also points to features that make ERGC a classic Ross design: The greens are an inverted saucer-style. And the bunkers? “Ross didn’t want to intimidate the lower-level player, but he wanted to make it challenging for the better player,” Taylor says. Superintendent and general manager of the club, Gene Davis, agrees. “It’s classic old-style and tight,” Davis explains. “Golf back then was a very social event, often with shared tees. It’s much quieter now!” And there’s not much room for error—there are only 60 yards between holes for errant shots.
Although a timeless course, ERGC had bunker renovations completed in 2018 by golf architect Bruce Hepner. Improvements were made to give golfers a better lie—pure Donald Ross. The intention was not to make it harder for the average golfer. They gave Hepner the original Ross design to work from. “Rerouting was not an option,” Taylor says. More fescue grass was added to indicate to the golfer the direction in which the hole should be played. Like Ross, Hepner is a purist who believes golfers should adapt to the course.
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As its 100th anniversary approaches, the course is in loving and highly capable hands. Davis grew up playing the course and was on the Elk Rapids High School golf team. He has a degree in turf management from Michigan State University and seemed destined for the job.
Davis says there are always challenges maintaining a course that is open from April 15 to October 15, in particular the weather. Fortunately, the course is on sandy soil close to the lake, and drains well. “We can have a heavy rain, and in three hours, it’s OK to play on,” he says. Davis is also focused on an ongoing tree management plan, featuring trees that are indigenous to Michigan to provide structure and contours, yet pay homage to the course design.
It’s a club—and a culture—that seems likely to exist for another 100 years. “There’s an ambiance that is hard to explain,” Davis says. “Ross fans like it, and even people who are clueless about Donald Ross like it. The vibe keeps bringing people back.”
Kathy Belden is a freelance writer based in Arizona. She spends her summers on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay.
Allison Jarrell is the associate editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine. allison@mynorth.com
