Crystal Downs

If you picked up the 1987 Golf Digest 100 Greatest Courses magazine, Crystal Downs would be nowhere to be found. Due to its remote location in Northern Michigan, this Alister MacKenzie design remained largely unknown to golf course aficionados for decades. Amazingly, the course jumped into the spotlight because of a visit from then PGA Tour player and soon-to-be architect Ben Crenshaw. During the 1986 Buick Open, Crenshaw skipped a practice round to see MacKenzie’s work at Crystal Downs. Crenshaw won the Buick Open later that week and talked about the stellar course at Crystal Downs. In the 1989 edition of Golf Digest’s rankings, Crystal Downs clocked in at No. 16! 

MacKenzie’s appointment at Crystal Downs came after his work in California at Meadow Club, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo. He was hired by Walkley Ewing to rework the nine-hole course he had laid out after reading Robert Hunter’s book, “The Links.” Unlike his work in California, MacKenzie was accompanied by Perry Maxwell, who carried out construction for his Midwest courses and Augusta National.

Crystal Downs’ place among the greatest courses in the world is due to its remarkable property. The course sits on a narrow strip of sand dunes that has Lake Michigan on one side and the idyllic Crystal Lake on the other. The front nine is widely regarded as one of the best in all of golf. Standing on the first tee, which sits high on a ridge, the entire nine unfolds in front of you and features a wide variety of holes that play through stunning topography. A few of the front nine’s most famous holes include the short par-4 fifth and its donut bunkers, the boomerang green seventh, and the epic bunker-less par-5 eighth. The less famous back nine plays in a more wooded area for holes 11-17 before returning to the dunescape.

Take Note…

Beach Club. The Crystal Downs Clubhouse sits up on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, but it also has a private beach down the bluff. 

Benzie Day. Every year at the beginning of October, Crystal Downs hosts “Benzie Day,” which is a public lottery to play Crystal Downs for Benzie County Residents. The $10 fee goes to support local scholarships. 

Architect’s hang. Traverse City is home to two of the greatest modern architects, Tom Doak and Mike DeVries, each of whom plays at Crystal Downs. For a long time, Doak was Crystal Downs’ consulting architect. Now DeVries, who grew up working on the course’s grounds crew, mans the post.

‍Laid-back vibe. Crystal Downs is predominantly a summer vacation club; it is one of the most laid-back great courses in America.

What Architects Say?

“That would have been a really hard routing to come up with. When MacKenzie started with that, the road that goes around the edge of it now came through some of those holes. It went across the middle of six and seven fairways. So, he's gotta be looking across the road at the other side, trying to figure out how to do it. And I think the hole that makes it work is number five, the short par 4 that hits over the hill.

"It's not as like up and over like Royal Melbourne, but rather over and around. ... I don't think anybody would have come up with that hole. Just looking at it, you can look at a map all day and not think there's a hole right there. You know, that was just like, 'I got some other holes. Now I got to make this one work.' And arguably, that's the most interesting hole of all of those.”

-Tom Doak on the front nine routing

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