Staples Golf to renovate Metro Detroit’s historic Meadowbrook CC

Staples Golf Design is set to renovate Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, Mich., site of the 1955 PGA Championship won by Doug Ford.

Meadowbrook, originally built as a six-hole course in 1916 by Willie Park Jr., will close in 2016 to rebuild all 18 greens, renovate all the bunkers and tee complexes, and convert more than 20 acres of maintained turf to native vegetation.

“The primary goal of the project is to restore the course to its classic 1916 design while providing more consistent, quality conditions on a daily basisfor our members,” says Joseph Marini, Meadowbrook’s general manager. “Like most courses in the area, our course was hit hard by the winter of 2013-14. This project allows us to upgrade while getting the most out of the property. This is an absolute game changer for us.”

Announced in a news release, Andy Staples, owner and principal architect of Staples Golf Design, says he spent most of 2014 working with the club to develop its Centennial Master Plan, engaging in member focus groups, town hall meetings and individual research and analysis. As a result, the plan was approved in May 2015.

To see the plan through, Meadowbrook has engaged course consultant Bradley S. Klein, Ph.D., and turf consultant Trey Rogers, Ph.D., to assist Staples in researching, planning, and proposing solutions and methods for some of the significant areas in need of attention — most notably the current conditions of the greens and fairways as well as the lack of family-focused forward tees. The team’s plan aims to improve conditions, increase strategy, accommodate tees to allow a more friendly entry to the game for kids and beginners, and it focuses on long-term sustainability.

Construction is set to begin by the end of 2015, with a planned opening in early spring of 2017. Staples will use the original Park design as inspiration for the rest of the course. All fairways are planned to be converted to bentgrass, according to the news release, and the outer roughs to a drought tolerant bluegrass-fescue blend. A native grass palette will also be integrated throughout the course in order to provide a contrast of textures while reducing the amount of maintained turf.

“I’m so excited to get this project underway,” says Mike Edgerton, Meadowbrook’s superintendent and GCSAA member. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m certain our members are going to be blown away with what is going to happen here.