2005 Jazzy Awards -Best Classic Private Course: Crystal Downs C.C., Frankfort, MI

2005 JAZZY AWARDS – BEST CLASSIC PRIVATE COURSE:

CRYSTAL DOWNS C.C., Frankfort, MI

“We don’t often have seventy degree days in October, Jay” said Tom Doak I his usual matter-of-fact timbre. Confident but reserved, Doak doesn’t turn cartwheels down the fairway or “have fits of hysteria on every tee box” as his idol Mackenzie would say, but his love of his home course, the delightfully relaxing Crystal Downs – crystalline at times, verdant and idyllic at others – is palpable and infectious. “I fell in love with course from the first time I saw it while at Cornell.”

You can see why Doak moved here after returning from his scholarship tour of the UK’s greatest courses. Alistair Mackenzie’s design is still a textbook in waiting for would-be-designers. “Mackenzie knows how to make 6,500 yards feel like 7,000…wish I knew how he did it.”

We both know the answer to that question – it’s a par 70 which means several par-5s are masquerading as par-4s…about 450 yards in cases. Nevertheless, Crystal Downs is the essence of a truly great country club…it’s peaceful and restful, it’s not too crowded, the course is the star (and what a star it is) and everyone is friendly with one another.

2005 JAZZY AWARDS -BEST REDESIGN: MONTEREY PENINSULA C.C. SHORE COURSE BY MIKE STRANTZ.