Course Review:
The Preserve Golf Club

By Jason Scott Deegan,
Senior Contributor

FENTON, MI. - When the Preserve Golf Club opened to the public in May, 2001, it joined a crowded Michigan golfing landscape, and continued the golf boom in Livingston County, but the course and residential community is already attempting to set itself apart from the pack.

The Preserve has a leg-up on the competition for one reason alone - it is an Arnold Palmer signature course - giving it name recognition and a prestige that comes with the King's high standard of course design. Even though the course has plenty of room to mature, the wonderful topography of the land and its natural settings will ultimately make this 6,874-yard semiprivate course a treat to play.

The Preserve is located just off of U.S. 23 between Brighton and Flint. Because it is so new, the Golf Association of Michigan has yet to establish its slope and rating.

"Our property is a northern Michigan type of property right here in southeast Michigan," said General Manager Trey Tollstam. "It's as beautiful as any course I've been a part of in the state. I would put this up against any other course in the state."

The golf boom in the state has been going strong for more than a decade, but it began in Livingston County with the Majestic at Lake Walden, a 27-hole complex that opened in the spring of 1994. Investors saw the killing the Majestic was making and are still trying to emulate it today. The county's undeveloped, rolling land have made it ideal for course design.

At least 19 courses call the county home, with four opening in the last two years - The Golf Club of Michigan in Brighton, the Preserve, Moose Ridge in South Lyon and the Jackyl at Mt. Brighton. That's an astonishing number of courses considering the county's relatively low population. But with Livingston County's growth rate - it has been called one of the 10 fastest growing counties in the United States - and its proximity to a large golfing population in metro Detroit, there's no doubt the Preserve will see plenty of action.

The layouts at Moose Ridge and the Golf Club of Michigan, along with the Majestic, are serious competitors for the Preserve's business, but all the new additions are transforming the county into somewhat of a golf destination. There isn't the great resort life of northern Michigan, but there isn't the long drive for people in southeastern Michigan or travelers from Chicago, either.

"We could see that northern Michigan play was dropping slightly," said Tollstam. "With the building of quality courses here, we are grabbing the consumer's attention. This is a destination place. The Majestic has been a long-standing tradition. If we can start bringing in people from all over Michigan and Chicago, we can really grab some attention."

The amenities of the course are just starting to take shape. The 10,000-square-foot clubhouse opened in late June, but food service for the banquet facility (which seats 150-200 people) and the Preserve Grill and Bar won't be ready until fall. The parking lot has yet to be paved.

As for the course, players are asked to drive their carts on the path or in the middle of the fairways to allow the rough time to fill in. As of late June, some of the sod-faced bunkers were still taking shape, but the tees, greens and fairways were remarkably playable for so young a layout.

"The tees, fairways and greens - I would give them an A (in terms of condition)," Tollstam said.

There are advantages to playing this season, instead of waiting for full maturity. The prices will jump next fall, according to Tollstam, from $65 any day (including free range balls) to more than $70 on weekdays and $85 on weekends.

• Past articles by Jason Scott

Palmer and his design team went all-out in creating the Preserve. There are 81,000-square-feet of bunkers, including 14 sod-faced bunkers, a rarity in Michigan. All holes have at least four tee boxes to accommodate any player, and some have as many as eight to provide unlimited variety.

Most of the fairways are wide enough to hit, but undulating enough to create some tricky lies. Depending on what tees you play from, several holes have some ferocious carries over swampy wetlands. If you don't drive the ball well, the Preserve could eat up your supply of balls.

The first four holes climb brutally uphill to the course's apex at the fifth tee. The course starts out cruel, with a 566-yard par-5. The second hole, a 348-yard par-4, holds a huge bunker smack in the middle of the fairway, daring players to carry it or lay up. The 412-yard third and 396-yard fourth require tee shots over wetlands to the fairway.

The 447-yard fifth hole is the only questionable hole in the design, with a blind shot that plummets downhill to an uneven fairway. From a treacherous downhill lie in the fairway, players must hit over a pond to a skinny green guarded by three bunkers.

A 156-yard drop shot to the sixth green over a rock wall is the first of the course's great collection of par-3s. No. 8 is 214 yards, slightly uphill over two cavernous sod-faced bunkers and swampland. The fierce two-tiered green on No. 12, a 173-yard hole, is some 40 feet above the tee. No. 14 plays similar to 12, while water runs the length of No. 17, a 221-yarder that can play dead into the wind.

"The five par-3s we have are the best par-3s on one golf course in the Midwest," Tollstam said. "We have golf holes that are downhill, uphill and carry over water, boulders and sand. Our par-3s have no equal."

Besides No. 17, the course closes with a brutal stretch of par-5s holes, the 589-yard 16th and the 554-yard 18th. The 16th demands the longest carry of the day off the tee with an abyss of wetlands along the right side of the fairway. A sure three-shot hole, players must then cross the swampy hazard to reach the multi-tiered green.

Four bunkers guard the left side of the fairway on No. 18, while a creek and large tree protect the green. If you can survive the King's fantastic finish without faltering, you've played like royalty.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: The course's memberships are being limited to 120 families, including 72 reserved for people who buy homes on the property. Golfers will appreciate that almost all of the homes will be built well off the course to preserve (hence the name) the course's aura and beauty. Tollstam said 102 memberships "are spoken for" and that he could sell the other 18 by the end of the year. Initiation fees are $17,000 for families and $20,000 for corporate, with annual dues costing $1,200 per family and $2,000 for corporate.

The Preserve Golf Club
9521 The Preserve Drive, Fenton, MI
Phone Number: (810)714-3206 or 877-ARNOLD-1
www.thepreserve.org

Statistics from the tips:
Yardage: 6,874. Rating: Not yet rated. Slope: NYR. Par: 71

Year opened: May, 2001

Course architect: Arnold Palmer

Green Fees (2001 rates): $65 any time includes cart and range balls