High Pointe Golf Club

In 1986, Don Hayden was looking to hire an architect for a new golf course in Northern Michigan. He solicited advice from the legendary Crystal Downs professional, Fred Muller, as he didn’t want to hire a “big name.” Muller pointed him in the direction of a 26-year-old who had just visited the Downs, Tom Doak. 

It was Doak’s first solo project after a stint working with Pete Dye on a variety of projects. Looking back, it was an ideal site for one of the driving forces of golf’s minimalism movement that has influenced the last 20 years of golf architecture. High Pointe’s site was filled with perfectly sized broad slopes and the sandy soil that dominates the Traverse City area. Doak built the course in 1987 and 1988, and personally shaped all 18 greens. The course opened in June of 1989 as a daily fee golf course that climbed as high as No. 79 in Golf Magazine’s U.S. ranking

During the economic downturn, High Pointe fell on tough times, eventually closing after the 2008 season. The property was sold off to be a hops farm, and much of the front nine was bulldozed to accommodate farming the land. As time went on, the hops farm struggled as a business and the land became available. A Florida-based entrepreneur, Rod Trump, had discovered the Traverse City area during his unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Kingsley Club and was made aware of the prospect of potentially recreating High Pointe from a golf podcast (wink wink). Trump moved quickly and secured the land in 2022, setting up the return of High Pointe with Tom Doak. 

Due to the prior farming operation, reimagined High Pointe centers around a stretch of six original holes that remained untouched but overgrown. These were holes 10-15 of the original design, a stretch of holes that was widely considered High Pointe’s best. 

Originally, Doak had routed 27 holes for the Hayden’s and he was able to find the map in his office. The reimagined High Pointe features six original holes, a reimagined hole that was the former 18th, and 11 new holes, nine of which were routed by Doak in 1987. I asked Tom about the prospect of looking at a new routing all these years later during a podcast and he remarked, “Luckily I still had a copy of the routing… which somehow included that third nine I laid out. I thought, ‘I could probably do a better version of that now that isn’t quite as up-and-down.’ But when I walked the ground again—no, the old one’s better.”

In today’s version of High Pointe, the original holes are the eighth, ninth, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th holes, with the old 18th serving as the newly reimagined 16th. Doak wrapped up construction in 2024 and 2025 served as the first full season at High Pointe. 

Take Note…

Practice makes perfect. The only course where Tom Doak had shaped all 18 greens was at the original High Pointe. In preparation for the new High Pointe project, Doak anticipated shaping many, if not all, of the greens, a practice he rarely does now. So while his crew was working on the Te Arai North Course, Doak got on the bulldozer and shaped some greens. 

Old Front Nine. The original front nine was lost to the hops farm operation as the land was altered to accommodate farming. The club now owns that land, and LIDAR scans were done before the destruction of the golf course. This would allow Doak and his crew to restore the land and course (if they ever decided to).

The few, the proud, the fescue fairways. High Pointe joins a small list of private destination clubs with fescue fairways, arguably the best playing surface. Others of note include The Lido, nearby Kingsley Club, and Ballyneal.

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