The Mines Golf Course makes an Impact
Will host the Thirstbucket, a joint outing between No Laying Up and The Fried Egg
A trio of public golf courses in the Grand Rapids area, Pilgrim’s Run, Diamond Springs, and The Mines, all have seen their regional and national profile elevated in the past few seasons, thanks in part to the efforts of two media companies in the golf landscape, No Laying Up (NLU) and The Fried Egg (TFE). This June, both groups will be returning to Grand Rapids where they will be teaming up to host a 27-hole event at The Mines called the Thirstbucket. If you are familiar with the work of either NLU or TFE you are likely a part of the inside joke of the oddly-named Thirstbucket. But if you are not, stay tuned until the end and I will fill you in on the joke.
Early in 2020, Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg introduced a series titled “Eggsplorations”, which featured an affordable golf trip centered around these three public gems in the Grand Rapids area, all designed by renowned architect Mike DeVries. Andy, a native of the Chicago area, is a major proponent of public golf in the Midwest, and visits the state frequently to shine a light on the state’s abundance of great golf architecture. It was Andy, then, who encouraged the No Laying Up team to visit each course of the DeVries trio in Grand Rapids for their Tourist Sauce travel series through Michigan, while also making a guest appearance in the Grand Rapids episode.
“It was Andy who turned us onto the Grand Rapids trio of courses,” said Tron Carter of No Laying Up, adding that Andy helped him plan out the episode in which the group splits up to play Pilgrim’s Run and Diamond Springs, before convening at The Mines for a twilight round. “Andy was a big influence on NLU swinging through the area,” said Will Knights of The Fried Egg, “so it was fun to see him on Tourist Sauce with the guys. Combining his architectural expertise with their entertainment value seemed to be received very well by the audience.”
At the Mines, the addtional attention from NLU and the Fried Egg “has certainly raised our reputation,” said course owner Chris Sobieck. “We have added a considerable amount of traveling groups that are visiting the area and I’m certain the work that TFE and NLU has done is a large reason for the uptick.”
Sobieck, a Michigan native who has had a long career in Michigan’s golf industry, purchased the course in March of 2021. He has worked on the public side of golf for most of his career, with stops in Novi, Walled Lake, Monroe, and Grand Rapids, to name a few, but he says as of late that he really wants public golf to be the main focus of the latter portion of his career. “I love daily fee golf and the golfer,” Sobieck said. “The Michigan Golfer is the best golfer. What other state has so many league players? We are the recreation state and we love our outdoor activities regardless of the weather.”
In addtion to owning the Mines, Sobieck splits his time as a golf coach at multiple levels of competition. “My main passion as I start to twilight my career is to develop new golfers. I’ve spent the last 5 years coaching JV Girls golf. You want to talk about starting from the beginnings of the game for players, JV golf is one of them” Additionally as an assistant coach for the Men’s Golf team at Davenport University, his team recently won the GLIAC Championship as an underdog. “What a great experience! Golf provides so much for so many people, and I just love being able to be a part of it every single day.”
Having previously spent 20 years at Thornapple Pointe in Grand Rapids, the ownership opportunity at The Mines, with its close proximity to downtown, was incredibly appealing. “The location being so near to the city is really cool,’ he said, “and a unique feature that I love and helps generate many golfers that live nearby.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt having a course designed by someone with the reputation and name recognition of Mike DeVries, either. The design of the course, he says, combined with the natural topography makes for a fun round for all skill levels.
Sobieck’s relationship with Mike DeVries did not start the moment that he purchased The Mines, however:
I knew Mike before purchasing the Mines and actually hired him for a master plan project with my previous employer, so I had some familiarity with his work. My favorite architect is Alister MacKenzie so the fit with Mike is pretty much ideal. Mike and I have already met to discuss making changes to the Mines to evolve the course to the next level. In typical Mike fashion, during our conversation I asked him about “upgrading” the course and adding some additional features (the course was originally built on a tight budget) and he looked at me like I was crazy saying the course was “great the way it is”, which I wasn’t arguing, just offering the opportunity to revise to advance.
The ideal fit with Mike that Sobieck refers to is through a shared admiration of the work of Alister MacKenzie. DeVries grew up with the unique experience of playing golf with his grandfather and learning the game at Crystal Downs Country Club, a MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell design. He later completed a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Michigan. The golf course at U of M? An Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell design.
Beyond their bond through the works of MacKenzie, Sobieck and DeVries both also gravitate towards the same features, the topography and the location, to explain what they enjoy so much about The Mines. “I love the terrain that the course has,” DeVries said, “and always love how we were able to create a flow and continuity across/under a road, past huge power lines, and predominantly in an E-W orientation but still have the holes uniquely their own and feel a part of the whole course at the same time.” He added, “it is ‘up north’ golf in downtown Grand Rapids, only 5 minutes from the heart of the city and that really shocks people the first time they play it.”
Despite being a frequent traveler, and currently being embedded in the 7 Mile Beach project across the world in Hobart, Tasmania, DeVries mentioned that he has felt the increased attention and buzz being generated at The Mines and at his other courses in Grand Rapids. While a lot of the audience for NLU and TFE tends to be those who are a little more interested in golf architecture, Mike does believe that the enthusiasm “filters out to the general golfing public and they are recognizing the courses more for that.” That’s not to say, however, that the locals did not already appreciate the great public golfing options available to them in the area. “Michiganders have the Midwest sense of hospitality,” DeVries said, “and that seeps through into the golfing scene. Michigan is blessed with great terrain and lots of sandy soils that are perfect for growing quality turfgrass at an affordable price, so that helps to get the numbers out and we have great participation in golf throughout the state. I think it is awesome that the Fried Egg and No Laying Up teams are coming back more frequently because there is a lot to share and Michiganders are eager to welcome the golfers.”
The quality of Michigan golf, and the enthusiasm of the Michigan golfer, is one of the things that brought NLU back to The Mines, and which brings The Fried Egg back to the state year over year, with three TFE events taking place in Michigan this year at The Dunes Club, Meadowbrook Country Club, and The Mines. “Michigan golfers love showing off their golf courses,” said Will Knights, adding, “there is a deep bench of great golf courses in both the public and private space in Michigan and the locals know it. Michigan is the only state on our schedule that has more than two events and it's for great reason, there is so much to see!”
Tron Carter, who is facilitating the setup operations for the event on the NLU side, made three separate golfing trips to the state in 2021, and calls Michigan the most underrated golf state in the country. He attributes this to the different styles of golf, different landscapes, and the variety of play between top private courses, great public and municipal golf, and the highly ranked resorts in the state. He also remarked on the passion of Michigan golfers, who make up for a shorter season with an intensity during the longer days of summer that “you don't see as much in places with longer seasons. I'm from Georgia originally, and people in the south tend to take the number of available golf days for granted.”
Those three trips to the state in 2021 allowed him to “really embed and play the stuff outside of the resorts,” including a full tour of not only the Mike DeVries courses, but his design influences, as well. “I felt like I understood Kingsley, Greywalls, Pilgrims, Diamond Springs and The Mines much more having played both the UM Course and Crystal Downs and seeing firsthand what DeVries gleaned from MacKenzie and applied to his own philosophy.”
Of all of the places that NLU visited in 2021, what went into the decision to choose The Mines as the place to return to for an event? “The proximity to downtown Grand Rapids,” said Tron, “the unique nature of the course itself (wild land, fun flourishes, the DeVries element), and the ability to offer to organize and offer an event for price-conscious folks among our audience.” The organization of the event is a huge testament to Chris Sobieck and his team:
Chris and his team have been exceptional to work with. Between our event planner, Erin, and Will Knights, who is handling the majority of the details on the Fried Egg's side of things, they've had nothing but great things to say. Well-priced food and beverage, flexibility for food trucks in the evening in the parking lot, connections to local breweries, ability to do a variety of formats for the golf, etc. We're keen to show off places that are approachable, affordable and ingrained in the local community and The Mines checks all those boxes. I'm sure Chris appreciated the exposure for the course, but all told I'm not even sure they really need it given how busy they are on a daily basis.
In addition to Tron Carter for NLU and Will Knights for TFE, the third main organizer behind the Thirstbucket is Erin Gregory who founded Private Collection Consulting in 2016. While she doesn’t have the public following that the team at No Laying Up has, she is integral to all that goes into putting on several of their events and making them great experiences. “She's handled so much of the behind the scenes set up work and has been incredibly helpful,” said Knights, who has been coordinating with Gregory on many of the event details, adding that she deserves a ton of credit for how much work she has put into organizing the event.
For the Fried Egg events team, choosing The Mines as a venue for hosting their third Michigan event of the year was an easy sell. “The Mines is such a fun place,” Knights said, “and its proximity to downtown Grand Rapids makes for the perfect event site. It's rare to find a public golf course that is as entertaining as the Mines and boasts such a great set of green complexes. The course also offers such great variety in terms of course set up, as changing the tees and pins can really change the holes out there. We're particularly looking forward to having fun with Nos. 6, 11, 13, and 15 to give players some different looks at those holes.”
Taking the time and putting thought into the course setup for an event like The Thirstbucket, says Knights, is a big part of what goes into making a successful event. “We really try to make the golf as fun as possible, even on difficult courses. That means setting up fun pins and tees and putting a lot of thought into how the holes play. Playing multiple rounds really gives us the opportunity to show off these designs in different ways and get people thinking about strategy.”
A good relationship with the course and it’s superintendent goes a long ways, giving the TFE team a lot of freedom in how they choose to setup the course. The vast majority of superintendents are “very accommodating,” Knights said. “We either have a relationship with them beforehand or know the GM who has put in a good word so they almost always trust us for pin placements. I don’t know that we ever surprise them but there are plenty of times that I can think of when they’ve been thrilled we tried a certain pin or tee setup. We have a lot more freedom in our setups than they do most times because they either have to get around hundreds of public golfers in a day or their membership is used to seeing the course play a certain way”
For those attending their first NLU or TFE event this year, they should expect a well-rounded experience from beginning to end. “We try to make our events a mix of golf and people,” Tron said. “If it's too much about the golf or the competition then you lose the ability to have fun and meet new people, and if it's too much about the social element and the golf gets lost in the mix then you're missing out on maximizing a great golf course.”
“Making an event a success is really about ensuring that the experience is enjoyable throughout the entire day,” Knights added. “Obviously you want people to feel that they are getting bang for their buck in terms of tee gifts and food, but the events are really about enjoying the golf courses and our crowds are always focused on that.”
While NLU and TFE both put on their own events throughout the year, the Thirstbucket is a unique collaboration between the groups, allowing for the rare summer event from the NLU team without losing any of the quality of the event. “We struggle to concept/plan/host solo events during the summer season as we have a lot of other balls in the air,” Tron explained, “so it's nice to partner on this and generate a ton of excitement while at the same time having a partner to take some of the load off, both planning and hosting. It ensures critical mass, plus it's just more fun for everyone involved.”
Now about the name. In 2021 the PGA Tour introduced it’s Player Impact Program, financially rewarding the players in the game “who generated the most positive interest in the PGA TOUR over the previous year.” Following that announcement, the Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson and Shotgun Start podcast co-host Brendan Porath noted that the social media presence of several players, especially Justin Thomas, became over the top and “thirsty”, prompting a weekly Thirstbucket of the Week award being doled out by the podcast. At the end of the year, of course, Tiger Woods won the award despite playing in only a single tournament. Justin Thomas finished sixth.
While Thomas, the original Thirstbucket, is not scheduled to make an appearance at The Mines, the inside joke will live on in Grand Rapids for at least one more summer.