Jeff Gorney

Gorney opened his design business in 1988 after more than 15 years working in the maintenance side of the industry. His first project was a nine-hole addition at Meceola Country Club in Big Rapids. After his Fox Run Country Club opened in Grayling in 1990, Gorney hit the jackpot with the Little Traverse Bay Golf Club in Harbor Springs in 1991. It was a dream site with views of Lake Michigan, hardwood forests, and heaving terrain.

Gorney was one of a handful of Michigan architects to lead the charge in the go-go 1990s. He handcrafted the linksy Heathlands in Onekama in 1996. The Dream in West Branch in 1997 led to a second project working with the Courtemache family, the addition of the 18-hole sister course, The Nightmare, several years ago. Gorney%u2019s legacy, though, will be his family-friendly, affordable efforts at Scott Lake, where he built a nine-hole addition in 1998; the Colonial in Hart; and Hessel Ridge in the Upper Peninsula.