By Toby Ingleton |
Tyler Rae’s restoration of Donald Ross’s 1920 design of the North course at Detroit Golf Club is complete and ready to host the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic later this month.
The architect aimed to restore more of Ross’s original scale, strategy and visual character, while updating the course for modern play and the requirements of professional tournaments. The project included rebuilding greens, repositioning and updating bunkering, and enhancing playing surfaces, including new fairways.
The renovated fourteenth (left), fifteenth (right) and sixteenth (centre) holes on the North course at Detroit Golf Club (Image: NMP Golf Construction)
NMP Golf Construction supported Rae’s work with extensive storm, greens and fairway drainage, new irrigation mainlines and control systems, and significant construction work.
“We had to replace the infrastructural components of all major pieces of the golf course,” said Rae. “This entailed a completely new irrigation system, full-scale drainage replacement of very large, deep main drain lines – up to 18 feet deep in places – with a smaller arterial drainage network tying into the new main system, all new greens bunkers and tees, walk and cart bridges, ditches and cart pathways.”
“Detroit Golf Club was a different kind of project because the tournament date was firm,” said Darryl Bartlett, chief development officer for NMP. “We had to work backward from when the course needed to be ready this July, give the club enough time for grow-in, and still complete a full-scale renovation with extensive drainage and irrigation work. It took planning, manpower, and execution, and our team hit every milestone.”
Green complexes at the par-five fifth and par-three third holes (Photo: NMP Golf Construction)
“This was a 10-month scope of work packed into a five-month project,” continued Bartlett. “We were involved in every capacity, from drainage layout to building and shaping the greens and bunkers by hand with our team. This was an abnormal procedure since the timeline was so tight; thus, it was all hands-on deck from our team.
“This course has to perform for members, for agronomy, and for the best players in the world. That means that work below the surface matters just as much as what people see on television. Drainage, irrigation depth, basin locations, bunker floors and green construction all have to work together. We’re proud that NMP helped set up Detroit Golf Club for that kind of performance.”
NMP Golf Construction packed a 10-month scope of work into a five-month project (Photo: NMP Golf Construction)
Read More:
Tyler Rae to begin Ross-inspired renovation of Detroit’s North course in 2025 (8 May 2024)
Detroit completes irrigation work and prepares for renovation (30 June 2025)
NMP continues to support the club with punch-list work and finishing touches as grandstands, hospitality areas, and tournament infrastructure are installed.
“It looks fantastic,” said Bartlett. “When you see the course now, you see the strategy and the Ross character coming back, but you also know there is a tremendous amount of infrastructure underneath it. That is what makes a renovation like this last.”