Tom Doak partners with enthusiastic investor to revive High Pointe in Michigan

There’s one thing about which Trump and Doak are not totally aligned. The renovated High Pointe will feature new bent grass greens that will provide much faster putting speeds than with the original course. Trump said Doak had to soften a few of the contours on the greens on the preexisting holes, and he is adamant that his sophisticated clientele prefers fast greens that roll around a 12 on the Stimpmeter. Doak isn’t so sure.

“Hopefully I’ll back him off that just a little bit,” Doak said with a laugh during an interview by phone from an airport on one of his frequent journeys to some far-off project around the world. “We still have plenty of contours in those greens.”

About the rest, the pair seems incredibly aligned. Trump said Doak has spent more time at High Pointe than at most jobs, frequently climbing onto the construction equipment himself. As with the first go-round at High Pointe, Doak is building the greens after practicing in New Zealand to reacclimate himself to operating a bulldozer.

“It’s fun,” Doak said of his work at High Pointe. “It’s a small dozer with an open cab, so I’ve eaten a lot of dust this summer. … I said years ago, I’m not the best bulldozer operator in the world, but I have a really good sense of when to get off the dozer because I have something that’s looking good.”

Doak frequently studies the best courses around the world, and he got his start as a professional working for Pete and Alice Dye, who weren’t afraid to manufacture interest in a golf course. And not just an architect, Doak is a frequent author and critic of golf design. In his first book, “The Anatomy of a Golf Course” published in 1992, he wrote that many of the world’s greatest courses were built by amateur or first-time designers. He cited Pine Valley, Merion, Oakmont, Pebble Beach and several others as examples. Does it hold true for his own first course, and can he recapture the magic instilled by the younger version of himself?

After all, High Pointe raised eyebrows among some players when it first opened. The combination of several difficult holes and the low-to-the-ground naturalistic design — which has come to be known by many as minimalist architecture — was nowhere near as popular in the mid-1990s as it is today. Would Doak do things differently now?

“The hardest part of the assignment for me is trying to get myself back in that mode, a second time around 30 years later,” Doak said. “That was my whole life when I built it the first time, and I didn’t mind being controversial at all. And I don’t really mind now. But the clients do, and I hear it more from them. They’re telling me to be more cautious about stuff, but when you have something really good, you can’t be afraid to build something really good because someone might make double bogey and not like the hole that day.

“When we first built the golf course, that client really wasn’t around that much when it was being built. When the first golfers started coming out and saying ‘That hole’s really too hard,’ or something, the owners listened because they weren’t part of it. I try to keep Rod out there enough, you know, so that if somebody is complaining about the 12th hole, he likes the 12th hole and he tells them … to get over it.”

The new land in use at High Pointe Golf Club in Michigan sits over a ridge from the original 18. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Doak is particularly happy about the chance for one do-over at High Pointe. He never loved the 18th hole, which had to be redesigned on the original course because state officials changed a wetlands designation midway through construction. The resulting uphill hole forced players to carry water with their second — or sometimes third – shots.

This time around, Trump purchased several acres from the hop farms to give Doak more room, and the adjusted hole will allow players to more easily go around the water instead of facing a severe forced carry. It will now be No. 16 before the layout climbs over the crest of the hill for the final two holes.

“I’m really glad, because that hole was very much out of character with the rest of the golf course,” Doak said. “It was the only water hole, and it was very penal with a forced carry on the second shot, which is really hard for the average golfer. With the new routing, we changed where the old 18th hole starts, and now you’re hitting the tee shot over the pond. And we can get them on the right tee.

“I had tried to modify it on the old course, but starting where I did, it was inevitable we were going to have a problem. I’m really glad I was able to find a new way for that hole to work, because it was going to hold the golf course back in some people’s eyes.”

Doak also has tried to re-instill several of the shots from the High Pointe holes that no longer exist and won’t be rebuilt. He cited a centerline fairway bunker on the old No. 2, which he will mimic on the new No. 2. Same for the nasty pot bunker that hid behind the old seventh green, which will be simulated on the new No. 5.

“There were some really good things on the front nine that are now under the hop farm, and I’ve tried to take little pieces of those holes and fit them in on the new golf course,” he said. “… It’s been fun to see if we can fit some of those elements back to the new land.”

Doak can’t wait to play it. He’s built famous courses around the world, with Pacific Dunes at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, Tara Iti in New Zealand and Barnbougle Dunes in Australia among the many to appear on best-of lists. But he lives in Traverse City. He would sometimes be spotted roaming the closed High Pointe.

“It felt like home to me, even though the golf course hasn’t been open in a while,” Doak said. “I’ve been in Traverse City since I built it 35 years ago. It’s important for me to have it back, and I think it will be good for the town, you know. And it will be nice to have one of my courses close to home. I’ve gotten to build some beautiful golf courses in other places, but it’s a long way to New Zealand to go and play them myself.”