The Natural - Starring Robert Redford
This is a pretty substantiated rumor, I believe, although I haven’t found anything official confirming it: The Natural golf course at Beaver Creek Resort closed at the end of the 2023 season after being purchased by a new owner. The property will be turned into hunting ground*, although I’m not sure if it will retain affiliation with the resort or not.
I recognized the name of this course, although I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard much discussion on it in a very long time. As a 1992 Jerry Matthews and Ray Hearn design, and part of the Gaylord Golf Mecca PR machine, I find it odd that this course had seemingly been flying under my radar in the last decade or so. According to a past GM, this was one of 10 Jerry Matthews “Signature” designs in the state, which I can only assume means that Ray Hearn actually built it. Still, Matthews apparently considered it one of his best designs, a claim has been thrown around so many times by various courses in the state it likely applies to every single course he built.
Looking at the overhead and reading some reviews, it seems like a very wooded property with tight hole corridors, more hiking trail than golf course. In addition to the narrowness of the course, there were also multiple forced carries over marshes. Between the constant shade and the marshes, I have to believe it took a lot of work to keep the course in good shape. According to some of the latest reviews from 2023, the course went downhill fast.
This is from 8 years ago and features the aforementioned GM interview. Absolutely stick around for the shot at the end, it’s actually quite amazing that she hit the ball while looking at the camera in her backswing:
*Golf courses turning into hunting ground feels like a very Michigan phenomenon. In addition to the Natural, Devil’s Ridge in Oxford also closed at the end of 2023 to make the transition. And perhaps the most well-known golf to hunting shutdown was Elk Ridge in Atlanta.
Wilfrid Reid - Michigan Golf O.G.
In putting together the Michigan Golf Course Aerial of the Day each week, I’ve started to mentally catalog the architects who most frequently appear in the feature. I try to find as complete of a history as I can for each course, especially for any designs from before the Depression. I’ve found that for a lot of the Metro Detroit clubs, digging deep enough often reveals a common name in Wilfrid Reid.
I first learned Reid’s name upon attending the US Senior Open at Indianwood in 2012. I knew nothing about Indianwood before attending, and I came away wildly impressed with the property. With the 2012 US Open taking place that year at the Olympic Club, another course that Reid’s name is associated with, I figured it was settled… this guy was a big deal.
And yet Wilfrid Reid is a name that isn’t often included in the list of influential course designers in Michigan, let alone the US. Maybe he wasn’t a big deal?
I hadn’t intended to do a deep dive on Wilfrid Reid, but then I found this biography of Reid, and I think the word biography should be used very loosely here. It’s more like a white board of notes and oft-repeating ideas by architect Bill Zmistowski (building architect, not golf). Zmistowski completed a renovation of the clubhouse at Indianwood after the 1981 purchase of the club by Stan Aldridge, and coincidentally is Wilfrid Reid’s grandson. The notes are a handful to take in, but there is some interesting stuff in there on someone who, now without a doubt in my mind, is an O.G. of Michigan golf.
Perhaps the achievement that Reid is mostly widely known for is his involvement at the Olympic Club, which, if we are being honest, is a bit of an oversell. He designed the original course at Lakeside Country Club in 1917 with Walter Fovargue. The Olympic Club later purchased the course, with it becoming the Lake Course at Olympic Club. A full remodel of the course by W. Herbert Fowler was soon undertaken, followed by additional work later completed by Willie Watson and Sam Whiting. It’s unclear how much of Reid’s original work, if any, is seen in today’s Lake Course.
But if the Olympic Club is an oversell for Reid, his involvement in one of America’s most iconic courses is often undersold. Wilfrid, along with James Donaldson, created the original routing for Pebble Beach. They created six routings, actually. From there, James Neville and Douglas Grant selected their preferred routing of the six, and completed the construction of the course.
I don’t think it would be out of line to suggest that Reid and Donaldson’s routing set a precedent that many oceanside courses in the United States follow today, including the original course at Bandon Dunes. Rather than using up all of the available coastline acreage in one continuous stretch, Pebble Beach makes its way to the coastline early in the round, heads inland for a stretch, and then returns for the closing holes, offering multiple experiences near the water throughout the round.
Olympic Club and Pebble Beach are undoubtedly the two highest-profile courses in Reid’s resume, with both coming quite early in his career. But both his golf design and golf playing careers featured similarly impressive starts.
Born in England in 1884, Reid apprenticed in Scotland under Willie Park, Jr. in 1901 as a teenager. After establishing his design and playing careers in Europe*, he joined Harry Vardon and Ted Ray on a voyage to Boston, where they would compete in the 1913 US Open at The Country Club in Brookline. As part of the “British Invasion”, per the Boston Globe, Vardon and Reid both shot a 75 in the first round, and then held the lead together after 36 holes with a score of 147 (that’s a 75-72… you’re welcome).
In the third round, Reid was paired with Francis Ouimet, who is most known for going on to win the event, a story captured in the book and film The Greatest Game Ever Played. Things didn’t go so well in the fourth round for Wilfrid, per this note from Zmistowski:
Then in the fourth round he faltered as a result of injuries sustained in an infamous altercation the night before arguing with Ted Ray in their hotel dining room at the Copley Plaza and finished tied for 16th.
I had to know more about this, and luckily I found it while researching the connection between Wilfrid and modern LPGA star Mel Reid (they are distant relatives). Near the end of his career prior to retirement, Wilfrid penned a letter that recounted that incident with Ted Ray at the 1913 US Open (note the mention of Alex Smith, who designed Waswashkamo on Mackinac Island):
It’s funny how some things remain in your mind, while more important ones are sometimes forgotten. I recall looking for Ray at the 1913 Open and found him in the bar of the hotel with Alex Smith. They were having a big argument about socialism. Then I had to open my big mouth. I said, “Ted, how the hell can you argue in favor of socialism when you make as much money as you do?”
Well, Ted really got angry at that, really upset, and he punched me right in the face and knocked me clear over the table. My face was swollen clear out to the ear, and the next day I had a devil of a headache. Vardon was very upset and said he was going to withdraw, but I talked him out of it.
Recovering nicely from that encounter, Reid officially emigrated to the US in 1915 at the age of 30. He would play in several more major tournaments throughout his career, with his best finish coming in the 1916 US Open with a T4. Once arriving on American soil for good, he quickly settled into a life as a teaching pro and golf architect, making several stops on the east coast before finally establishing himself in Michigan in 1922.
Wilfrid accepted the role of head professional at the Country Club of Detroit that year, marking the beginning of a decade span that saw him become a major figure in Michigan golf. While in Detroit, he voted to establish the Michigan Section of the PGA, later serving as President from 1928-1930. Along with Walter Hagan, Reid became one of Michigan’s prominent golf professionals, winning the Michigan PGA Championship in 1926.
The golf boom of the 1920’s coincided with the peak of Reid’s golf design career, a fortuitous occasion for Michigan golf, as he would go on to design or renovate over 20 course in the state. Not to be overlooked for his role, Reid’s longtime design partner in the state was William Connellan of Grosse Ile. Connellan was a turf farm owner and golf course contractor, previously working as a course superintendent in New York and as a construction superintendent for Donald Ross.
Between Reid and Connellan, you might say they were one of the first design-build firms in the state:
The partnership provided complete design and construction services with their experienced construction crews, extensive grading equipment, teams of horses, turf farm, trucks and trailers, drainage and irrigation system expertise, project management and technical skills required for building a golf course. Reid was the active, on-site designer and strategist working directly with the crews. He did not draw plan drawings which were sent out to surveyors, engineers or draftsman after he had done the on-site routing, staking-out all the holes, tees, turn-points, bunkers, hazards and green sites. However, he was well known for his artistic talent drawing freehand sketches. This was his method of effectively communicating with the crew doing the grading, earthmoving and shaping of his envisioned design features, shaping, hazards, concepts and strategy.
After serving as the pro at CC of Detroit until 1924, Reid and Connellan both transitioned their focus to the development of the Indianwood Club in Lake Orion, which would become their lasting legacy in the state. The property at Indianwood was the family farm of Frank W. Blair, the President of Union Trust at that time, and the man responsible for the creation of what would go on to become the Guardian Building in Detroit. Wilfrid Reid would serve as a co-founder of the club along with Blair, living in a large house across the street from the club entrance as he constructed the course and later served as the head professional until 1932.
Walter Hagen, Tommy Armour and Horton Smith would become regular visitors to the club at Indianwood in the 1930's, while Ed Furgol, the 1954 U. S. Open Champion, developed and refined his game there. Under Reid’s direction, Indianwood would host the 1930 Western Open, won by Gene Sarazen. The Western was considered a major championship in those days, and the third most prestigious world event behind the US Open and the Open Championship. After the Western, Indianwood would go on to host three more major championships, including the 1989 and 1994 US Women’s Opens, and the 2012 US Senior Open.
"The spotlight of the golf world turned to the little village of Lake Orion in 1930 when the Western Golf Association brought the third largest major tournament in the world to Indianwood".
In addition to their work at Indianwood, Reid and Connellan had their hands in the early design or remodeling of numerous prominent clubs in the Detroit area, including Birmingham CC, Plum Hollow, Tam O’Shanter, Orchard Lake CC, and Meadowbrook. And while it was their most successful original design, Indianwood still became a victim of the stock market crash and Depression in the early 1930’s. The club was taken over by the Union Guardian Bank of Detroit after failing, and Reid lost his new home while watching his golf course design career come to an abrupt halt.
Indianwood eventually survived in part to Carl Ruebelman, a local Lake Orion businessman, who purchased the club in the 1940’s and brought it back to prosperity after renovating the clubhouse and making it a year-round country club. The club was sold again in 1981 to Stan Aldridge, whose family still owns the course today. He initiated a further restoration of the clubhouse (bringing Zmistowski into the story) as well as a restoration of the golf course. Aldridge’s revitalization of the course helped secure the 1989 US Women’s Open, and place Indianwood back in the spotlight.
The decline of Indianwood in the 1930’s was not the end of Wilfrid Reid’s story, however. Upon losing their home, Wilfrid relocated his family to Chicago, where he took a job as a teaching pro at Beverly Country Club while also working on remodeling the course. To make ends meet, according to Zmistowski, Wilfrid also taught golf at the downtown Marshall Fields department store**. In 1934, he would further cement his soft landing by moving his family to Colorado to accept the head pro position at The Broadmoor, while serving as the pro at Seminole Golf Club in Florida during the winter months.
As a final chapter in Michigan, Reid returned to Gaylord Country Club in 1949, a club that he originally designed in the 20’s, where he served as the teaching pro until retiring to Florida in 1954. He was inducted into the Michigan PGA Hall of Fame in 2015.
As a parting word, one of the best things about a Wilfrid Reid biography compiled by his grandson is that it includes tidbits that a typical biographer may be reluctant to include - claims that can’t possibly be proved or disproved, such as:
He estimated that he had given lessons for over 300,000 hours. Belgium's King Leopold II (at La Boulie), President Warren G. Harding (at Seaview), Winston Churchill and England's King Edward VIIl (at Bansted Downs), Joyce Wethered, the Duke of Windsor, Dick Chapman, Michigan LPGA standout and granddaughter Pat Devany, Ohio Governor Cox (at La Gorce), Harvey Ward (in San Francisco), Rhonda Glenn (at Palm Beach Par 3) were among his thousands of pupils. At La Boulie in Paris he also gave lessons to the mysterious Mr. Chesterfield (the assumed name of England's King Edward VII), many diplomats and possibly Baron Eduoard de Rothschild as well.
* All respects to Europe, but for our purposes here, I’m making a fairly big jump in time to get Wilfrid to the United States. That’s not to imply that nothing happened in Europe.
** What a wild thing to think about.
These are the most credible design credits in Michigan for Wilfrid Reid and William Connellan (in my opinion) that were included in Zmistowski’s biography:
Meadowbrook - Northville (1923 - added 9 or redesigned - 1916 Willie Park 1st 6 holes)
Brae Burn - Plymouth (1923)
Plymouth CC (now Fox Classic - 1923)
Indian River (originally Burt Lake - 1924 redesign)
Gaylord Country Club (original - 1924 & 1927)
Indianwood - Lake Orion (1925)
Plum Hollow - Southfield (1925 - completed 1921 Colt & Alison layout)
Huron Shores - Port Sanilac (1925)
Tam O'Shanter - Orchard Lake (1926 and 29 renovated - 1925 C.H. Alison)
Black River CC - Port Huron (1926 added 9)
Birmingham CC (1928 - added 9 and renovated 9 - 1916 Tom Bendelow original 9)
Orchard Lake (1928 - completed or redesigned - 1926 Colt & Alison)
Twin Beach - West Bloomfield Township (1929)
Bald Mountain - Orion Township (1929 - Closed 2015)
Flushing Valley (1930)
Considering all of the different courses that Wilfrid Reid worked on in Michigan and the outsized impact he had in the 1920’s, it made me think about who I believe are the most impactful golf architects in the state. Not necessarily who the best are, but who has had the most influence on what we have seen in the state throughout history that is still resonating today, for better or worse.
For some, it will simply be a matter of quantity. For others, they maybe didn’t produce a lot of courses in the state, but they are heavy hitters. I didn’t really plan on doing this, and this is my first attempt at the thought experiment, so it’s probably inconsistent. There is a delicate balance between weighting quantity versus quality that I’ll need to work out, but it’s a start.
Tier 1- Wilfrid Reid, Donald Ross, Tom Bendelow, Willie Park Jr, Harry Colt, Charles Alison, Jerry Matthews, Arthur Hills, Mike DeVries
Tier 2 - Willie Watson, Ray Hearn, William Newcomb, Rick Smith, Tom Doak, Bruce Hepner, Alister Mackenzie, Perry Maxwell, Jack Nicklaus
Tier 3 - Bruce Matthews III, Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Larry Packard, Rees Jones, William Langford, Theodore Moreau, Arnold Palmer, Ernest Way, Tom Weiskopf, Warren Henderson, Chris Wilczynski, Jim Engh
Tier 4 - Don Childs, Mike Husby, Dana Fry, Dr. Michael Hurzdan, Andy Staples, Craig Schreiner, Tom and Dan Courtemanche, Warner Bowen, Drew Rogers, Gil Hanse, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Keith Foster, Harry Bowers, Lee Stone & Jim Cole, John Sanford, Jeff Gorney, Erik Iverson, Don Placek, Brian Schneider, Brian Slawnik, Paul Albanese, Chris Lutzke, Lorrie Viola, Tom Fazio, Pete Dye
Who did I miss? Where am I wrong? Remember, we are talking about impact on Michigan golf only. Let’s hear it.
what a terrific read on someone i knew nothing about. Informative and entertaining. Well done!!