DETROIT — In a year, the excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks will be ready to begin the first major transformation of Detroit Golf Club’s North Course since it opened more than a century ago.
If all goes according to plan, the course may be unrecognizable to most golf fans when the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the PGA Tour’s annual stop in Detroit, begins in 2026.
“It will look like a completely different place,” said club president Michael Pricer matter-of-factly.
Under the direction of architect Tyler Rae, more than 100 trees will be removed, native grasses and ditches will be added, greens will be moved and enlarged, and bunkers will be added immediately after the tournament ends next year.
For television viewers, holes 14 and 18 will undergo dramatic changes. The signature pond in front of the 14th green, which is covered with sponsor signs during the tournament, will be removed and replaced with two large bunkers. The oval 18th green will be reshaped into a rectangle and moved forward and away from the clubhouse.
The only people who might recognize Detroit Golf Club in 2026 are the most attentive Donald Ross experts or members who have spent a lot of time in the club’s archives studying Ross’ original design plans from 1914 and grainy black-and-white photos from the 1950s.
The 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)
“We’re trying to restore the original Ross design,” Pricer said. “So we want to preserve the heritage and history of the club and really honor the legacy that Donald Ross created.”
“And we believe this place will be in the top 100 when we’re done.”
This is quite possible, because a golfer’s ancestry is highly valued by golf experts who judge such things.
But if you’re not an annoying golf nerd who drops obscure terms like “Redan Green” in casual conversation, Pricer has a more accessible comparison of what DGC could look like when Rae’s renovation is complete in November 2025.
“To be honest, I think it will look a lot like Pinehurst,” he said, referring to the site of this year’s US Open. “We’re bringing back the original greens that Ross wanted to design. They’ll be much more open and much bigger.”
“So you’re going to have a much more comprehensive view of the entire golf course. Yes, I don’t think it’s going to be anywhere near as drastic as Oakland (the renovation of Hills Country Club), but it’s going to open up quite a bit.”
Like its more famous Ross cousin to the north, DGC faced some resistance from members in approving the $16 million project – perhaps like hitting a lob wedge against a two-club wind. It moved forward in March after 57 percent of voting members approved the project.
Of course, no one wants to spend thousands on membership, thousands on annual dues, food and other fees, and then have to shell out thousands more to renovate the place.
However, this was not just a prestige project. Pricer and the club’s treasurer, Keith Hazely, tried in several meetings with members to make them understand that the renovation was necessary not only to improve the condition and playability of the course, but also to secure its future.
Removing trees will encourage grass growth. Tee boxes and fairways will be improved. Then there are the invisible things that are probably most important, like repairing the 24-year-old irrigation system and the original drainage infrastructure from the 1920s.
Pricer said DGC’s green spaces can drain six inches of water per hour, while Oakland Hills’ green spaces can drain over two feet of water in an hour.
“So if we get 1.5 inches of rain in 36 hours, we’re basically flooded,” he said. “So we lose revenue from cart sales because we can’t set up carts because the water is too soft.”
This becomes a trickle-down problem. Fewer people on the pitch also means less revenue from food and drinks.
The 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)
“It really has a pretty tough economic impact on the club,” Pricer said. “At the end of the day, the golf course is the reason we’re here. And that’s why it’s time to make the investment.”
This investment cost the top Class A members a one-time fee of $5,800 and then $170 per month. Not exactly cheap, but not exactly bankrupt for a private club whose parking lot is full of Cadillacs and Mercedes.
And because renovations are being carried out separately on the front and back nine holes of the North Course, 27 of the DGC’s 36 holes will be available to members for at least two months after next year’s tournament.
Maybe it just took a while for some members to grasp the cost, the logistics and the reality, because who wants to pay more for something? But a week and a half ago, Pricer was leaving the driving range when a member who voted no in March pulled him aside and apologized.
“And you know, it was a nice validation,” he said. “We still got it done, but I think a lot of people are starting to realize that in the spring and summer when it happens, it’s going to be a lot more thoughtful, like, ‘Oh, we really need this.'”
Pricer explained all this while sitting in a crowded club office, surrounded by papers and folders and the rest of the financial and logistical baggage that comes with running a $16 million project. Outside, the tumult and cacophony of a PGA Tour event swirled outside the window.
And then Pricer mentioned a frightening prospect.
“Because that’s my personal opinion,” he said, “if we don’t do that, this course will die.”
