Lions81
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Crystal Downs Country Club Course Review - An Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell Design
Crystal Downs Country Club is one of the true golfing gems in the United States. It is located in northwest Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, three miles north of Frankfort and forty miles west of Traverse City. It was founded in 1927, and designed by Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell. Yes, the same Alister MacKenzie who designed Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo. Much like those, Crystal Downs is extremely highly acclaimed, ranked #13 in the United States and #31 in the World by Golf Digest.
While Crystal Downs is a full service, private country club, this review will only focus on its wonderful golf course.
Crystal Downs is a links style course situated on extremely undulating terrain. It plays to a par of 70, and only has 2 par 5s. The course has 4 different tees to choose from, with their yardages, ratings, and slopes as follows:
Red: 5466, 73.7, 135
Gold: 5695, 69.6, 128
White: 6302, 72.6, 135
Blue: 6518, 73.6, 138
The course provides a very detailed, and useful guidebook for all of the holes. In the guidebook, the Club's long time head-pro describes Crystal Downs as "a thinking person's course, where long is good but not necessary...where the position you leave your ball is critical, and where the wind always blows. Crystal Downs is the coming together of golf's greatest architect, Dr. Alister MacKenzie, at the zenith of his career (after designing Cypress Point and just before Augusta National), with a marvelous piece of property."
We met our host at the golf shop, which is right next to the first tee. This view of the 1st hole greeted me. To say I was unbelievably excited would be an understatement.
It had several other breath-taking elevated tee shots, such as #10 shown here, which is an amazing par 4 from the highest point on the property.
And here is #17. A wonderful short par 4, where you hit your drive through a very narrow chute straight downhill
Then, after a good drive, this is the view for your 2nd shot back up the hill to an elevated green that looks like its floating in the sky. Spectacular.
I had heard before my trip here about how difficult the greens were. That would be an understatement. Quite simply put, they are the hardest greens I have ever played. They have wonderful (but devilish) slopes and contours, and the club keeps them very fast. As our host kindly informed us before we started our round, "make sure to stay below the hole." Truer words have never been spoken. If you were above certain holes, you had a hard time even keeping your ball on the putting surface. There was also a great variation in the size of the greens. Some are extremely large, others are very small. And some are incredibly unique, like the famous "kidney" punch-bowl green on #7 pictured here. Notice the way the green wraps around the bunker.
And a closer look at the green here:
Another interesting design feature MacKenzie used are tee shots to blind landing areas. The most famous of which is the par 4 5th hole shown here.
A good tee shot actually is between the bunkers and the tree on the right, and carries over the hill, to where a large fairway awaits, but the tree and bunkers certainly can get in your head if you let them. This hole is consistently rated as one of the best in the world. I loved it.
Crystal Downs has one of the best collections of par 3's I have ever played. # 3 is shown below. Notice how the back bunker blends perfectly into the landscape.
#11 is another very fun par 3, playing between 180-200 yards across a ravine to a diabolical green. I mentioned the slopes on the greens earlier. For example on this hole I hit a great shot pin high to about 8 feet. I had to play almost 4 feet of break on my birdie putt.
#14 shown below is a short hole, around 140 yards, and with a gorgeous backdrop. The bunkers in front of the green are telling you "don't be short." However with the way the green sits perched atop a hill, you can't be long either. A tremendous short par 3.
Final Thoughts:
I had very high hopes and expectations heading into my round at Crystal Downs, but the course surpassed all of them. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to play an Alister MacKenzie design. The combination of wonderful terrain, beautiful hole designs, and amazing green complexes made for an unforgettable round. All of the staff at the club were incredibly welcoming and friendly. The course conditions were immaculate. All in all, Crystal Downs is simply a world-class golf club. I hope you enjoyed the review. Will provide a few more photos in following posts.
Crystal Downs Country Club is one of the true golfing gems in the United States. It is located in northwest Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, three miles north of Frankfort and forty miles west of Traverse City. It was founded in 1927, and designed by Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell. Yes, the same Alister MacKenzie who designed Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo. Much like those, Crystal Downs is extremely highly acclaimed, ranked #13 in the United States and #31 in the World by Golf Digest.
While Crystal Downs is a full service, private country club, this review will only focus on its wonderful golf course.
Crystal Downs is a links style course situated on extremely undulating terrain. It plays to a par of 70, and only has 2 par 5s. The course has 4 different tees to choose from, with their yardages, ratings, and slopes as follows:
Red: 5466, 73.7, 135
Gold: 5695, 69.6, 128
White: 6302, 72.6, 135
Blue: 6518, 73.6, 138
The course provides a very detailed, and useful guidebook for all of the holes. In the guidebook, the Club's long time head-pro describes Crystal Downs as "a thinking person's course, where long is good but not necessary...where the position you leave your ball is critical, and where the wind always blows. Crystal Downs is the coming together of golf's greatest architect, Dr. Alister MacKenzie, at the zenith of his career (after designing Cypress Point and just before Augusta National), with a marvelous piece of property."
We met our host at the golf shop, which is right next to the first tee. This view of the 1st hole greeted me. To say I was unbelievably excited would be an understatement.
It had several other breath-taking elevated tee shots, such as #10 shown here, which is an amazing par 4 from the highest point on the property.
And here is #17. A wonderful short par 4, where you hit your drive through a very narrow chute straight downhill
Then, after a good drive, this is the view for your 2nd shot back up the hill to an elevated green that looks like its floating in the sky. Spectacular.
I had heard before my trip here about how difficult the greens were. That would be an understatement. Quite simply put, they are the hardest greens I have ever played. They have wonderful (but devilish) slopes and contours, and the club keeps them very fast. As our host kindly informed us before we started our round, "make sure to stay below the hole." Truer words have never been spoken. If you were above certain holes, you had a hard time even keeping your ball on the putting surface. There was also a great variation in the size of the greens. Some are extremely large, others are very small. And some are incredibly unique, like the famous "kidney" punch-bowl green on #7 pictured here. Notice the way the green wraps around the bunker.
And a closer look at the green here:
Another interesting design feature MacKenzie used are tee shots to blind landing areas. The most famous of which is the par 4 5th hole shown here.
A good tee shot actually is between the bunkers and the tree on the right, and carries over the hill, to where a large fairway awaits, but the tree and bunkers certainly can get in your head if you let them. This hole is consistently rated as one of the best in the world. I loved it.
Crystal Downs has one of the best collections of par 3's I have ever played. # 3 is shown below. Notice how the back bunker blends perfectly into the landscape.
#11 is another very fun par 3, playing between 180-200 yards across a ravine to a diabolical green. I mentioned the slopes on the greens earlier. For example on this hole I hit a great shot pin high to about 8 feet. I had to play almost 4 feet of break on my birdie putt.
#14 shown below is a short hole, around 140 yards, and with a gorgeous backdrop. The bunkers in front of the green are telling you "don't be short." However with the way the green sits perched atop a hill, you can't be long either. A tremendous short par 3.
Final Thoughts:
I had very high hopes and expectations heading into my round at Crystal Downs, but the course surpassed all of them. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to play an Alister MacKenzie design. The combination of wonderful terrain, beautiful hole designs, and amazing green complexes made for an unforgettable round. All of the staff at the club were incredibly welcoming and friendly. The course conditions were immaculate. All in all, Crystal Downs is simply a world-class golf club. I hope you enjoyed the review. Will provide a few more photos in following posts.
