12th Hole at The Kingsley Club

The Kingsley Club

A Rugged Royal Gem

By Brian Weis

If golf is a journey, your experience will begin at the city limits of Kingsley. A few miles outside the quaint downtown, a dusty dirt road sets the stage for your four and half mile rugged royal ride. Be warned, relying on your GPS to get to the front gates may lead you down the wrong path. I strongly urge you to get directions to the course before your trek begins.

The Mike DeVries masterpiece is a tale of two nines. The front nine has a British links feel, that rises and falls through native prairie grasses and rugged Northern Michigan sand hills. While the back nine adds a northwoods charm carving through dense deciduous forest and cathedral pines.

What makes The Kingsley Club a truly unique is the fescue grass fairways, commonly used in Scotland and Ireland. Beleive it or not, only two other courses in America utilize fescue fairways. Add firm, fast and undulating green complexes and golfers have traditional Scottish golf right in the tip of the Michigan mitten.

The members deem the long par 4, 12th as the signature hole. From the elevated tee the hole flows through the valley with mature forest on the left and wind-blown prairie grass on the right. Distance and accuracy is needed to reach the small green on the valley floor.

The closing hole is an experience in itself, assuming your host or caddie share the secret on how to play the hole. I won't reveal what's in store for you but many golfers have had their best shot of the day on this tee box.

Recent Awards

2012 Golfweek Magazine rated The Kingsley Club as the 23rd Best Modern Course in America
2012 LINKS Magazine Names Kingsley Club #63 in USA
2012 Planet Golf Ranked #74 in World

The Skinny

Tees: 5 Sets of Tees
Yardage: 6956, 6480, 6309, 5755 and 4987 Yards
Slope/Rating: 141 / 73.2, 133 / 70.8, 132 / 70.1, 129 / 69.5
Par: 71

How To Play

Kingsley Club is a private club that allows some public play. The best way to play the course is through an invite from a guest. You can also secure a tee time by having your local country club golf professional call for a reservation. As guest, a fore caddie is mandatory. Your guide will provide you the local knowledge to save at least 5-10 shots - tee shot lines, distances to pins and trouble and reading the slick greens. The recommended tip is $20-$40 a bag.

Kingsley Club observes traditional Country Club policies so tuck your shirt in and leave your cell phone in the car.

More Information

The Kingsley Club
5511 Mayfield Trail
Kingsley, MI 49649
231-263-3000
www.kingsleyclub.com

Revised: 08/30/2012 - Article Viewed 32,185 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA) and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.