Meadowbrook Country Club | Meadowbrook Golf Course

Meadowbrook Country Club, is a Private, 18 hole golf course located in Northville, Michigan.

Meadowbrook Country Club first opened for play in 1916 with 6 holes. Originally designed by Willie Park, Jr, it consisted of just 6 holes and 125 acres.  Now, with over 180 acres and remodels done by storied architects such as Donald Ross, and most recently Andy Staples, Meadowbrook remains one of Detroit’s elite clubs.

The club hosted the PGA Championship in 1955 and four editions of the Motor City Open (a PGA Tour event held at various Detroit clubs between the late 1940s and early 1960s) were also held at the club, with the longest (11-hole) sudden-death playoff in Tour history taking place at the conclusion of the tied 1949 tournament.

The course closed at the start of 2016 for an 18-month renovation by Arizona-based Andy Staples. The reputed five million dollar upgrade involved the rebuilding of tees, bunkers, and greens, the re-turfing of fairways, and the installation of new drainage. An important part of the improvement program was the preservation of the original Willie Park Jr holes at the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 10th, 11th, and 18th.

The renovation strategy for the holes that Park did not originally design was to integrate as many of the Scotsman’s features into these holes as possible to provide overall coherence. A research trip to London to visit Huntercombe and Sunningdale provided Staples with all the inspiration he needed.

Highlight holes on the refurbished layout include the left doglegged par five 4th (rated stroke index 1, with water to the left of a fairway that plays to a domed green), the wonderful short par fours at holes 9, 10 and 14, and the par-five 17th which features a raised, square-shaped putting surface with a crowned center to throw off imprecise approach shots.

The course re-opened in July 2017.

The green shapes are very geometrical with many (if not most) being rectangular or at least squared off in a few corners. The bunkers are also geometric in shape, with flat sand at the bottom and grass slopes on the sides. The land is undulating.