By Tom Lang
The most striking feature of the Western Golf and Country Club is the river basin the property runs through is absolutely nothing like the metro Detroit neighborhoods engulfing and surrounding this special, 100-year-old property.
For more than two decades I lived just a few miles away from Western, down Five Mile Road in Wayne County. People know the Redford and Livonia area for flat land, formerly all farms, now filled with row after row of suburban brick homes on a parallel grid of back and forth streets.
But drive through the ground level neighborhood surrounding Western and walk down to the first tee and both your golf game and eyes are in for a great treat. The Donald Ross design is routed through a gorgeous basin that supports a tributary feeding the Rouge River. You’ll rarely come in contact with the neighborhood perched above.
Ross’ routing down below street level with the creek running through is simply a beautiful maze of different channels, gorgeous dips and valleys, and runoffs God put there. It’s so clear to see that no earthmoving was needed other than contouring a handful of green complexes. It’s designed to incorporate elevated ground as tees or the end of fairway runoffs surrounding perched greens, in which natural dips in the land are required to navigate for approach shots on multiple holes.
The first three holes are flatter and a nice introduction to the course – with hole 3 first going over the creek as a par 3. Hole 4 is a medium length par four playing through the valley with its green located up high on a ridge that requires solid club selections to get the right distance for finding the blind-shot green. Number 5 also plays from elevated tees, but it goes right through a very natural valley below, then back up to a perched green.
Every green complex is very interesting with probably the star of the show the par 3 number 12 – a beautiful green behind a pond that sits on the right side. Not a single green complex is the same so the variation of green shapes and contours around them make for an eventful day. Several greens have classic Donald Ross ‘false fronts’ as well.
Both holes 15 and 17 look very nondescript from the tee, but both create quite the surprise – with big gully drop offs at the end of the areas where golfers generally land their drive. On 15 the land remains low after the dip, but has the creek running across the approach to the green. On 17, the land naturally drops down but forces coming back up to the elevated green. Love the way both holes play out, even though they start out looking rather plain from the tee.
The bad news/good news part of Western’s 100-year history includes the loss of the clubhouse by fire, June 1, 2018, followed by the celebration of the new clubhouse a few years later. The end result is arguably one of the nicest modern clubhouses in Michigan today. It’s perched on the high flat ground of the surrounding neighborhood south of Five Mile, overlooking the 10th and 18th holes below.
Horseback riding was part of the club in the early years with a former barn near the 9th tee. Hosting major events is also part of the history, including national pro Tour events like the Michigan Open (nationwide draw, not the Michigan-only players) in 1939 and again in 1951, then 1956 Motor City Open (which many suggest led to establishing the Buick Open two years later), and the 1960 Western Open.
All in all, Western is a classic asset in metro Detroit golf, utilized over the decades for many high-end pro and amateur events, plus weddings, charity outings and more. If you get a chance to play it, grab that opportunity full on.
