KINGSLEY, Mich. -- Defending Peninsula Cup Senior Flight champions Ron Gelatka and Mike McBride and defending Mid-Amateur champions Chris Vozza and Mike McBride won’t find The Kingsley Club fairways as biscuit brown as those in the British Open at Hoylake but host professional David Plassman said “They will play fast” for the second running of the event.
More than 30 two-man teams from 14 states will compete Aug. 3-5 on the five-year-old Kingsley Club course that Golfweek magazine ranks 19th of the 100 Best Modern Courses built since 1960.
Traverse City architect Mike DeVries designed The Kingsley Club with the same idea as the legendary British Open links – big rolling fairways with nature’s own humps and bumps and open-fronted big greens that welcome bump and run shots.
The grass is green, unlike drought-dried Hoylake, but it’s springy fescue turf and the roughs are tall fescues that wave in the winds.
“The course is intended to play firm and fast to not only allow the contour of the ground to be an integral part of the play but to demand that players use the ground game under certain conditions,” DeVries said.
Gelatka, a member of Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Ind., and McBride, of Bob O’Link Golf Club in Chicago, solved the conditions for rounds of 69-69-70—208, five under par, to win last year by a stroke over Al Reigley of The Kingsley Club and Denny Spencer of Sylvania, OH.
The home-state team of Vozza, 23, the 2005 Michigan Amateur champion, and Spencer, 34, of Oakland Hills Country Club, combined for 17-under-par better-ball 65-63-68—196 and won by two shots over Michael Wharton-Palmer and Mike Craven of Texarkana, AR.
Vozza, of Traverse City, is a member of the University of Michigan golf team and he and partner McBride had good showings in the recent Michigan Amateur Championship at Boyne Highlands. Vozza lost a tight 2-1 second round match to medallist and 2002 Amateur champion Korey Mahoney while Spencer went to the third round before losing to Casey Baker of Ypsilanti’s Miles of Golf.
The teams will find something new this year. A grove of trees that separated the 10th and 18th holes was removed over the winter and a string of deep bunkers was placed along the right side of the 10th fairway.
The removal also permits better air movement and turf condition on the 10th and 17th greens. A number of other trees that restricted air movement and limited sunshine were removed on the second nine. Consequently, the nine blends better with the open first nine.
The Kingsley Club is a private club in the village of Kingsley, south of Traverse City, where the emphasis is on golf – no swimming pool or tennis courts. It has an extensive practice area, range, short game and putting green. In the tradition of the old links, it is walkable and there is a caddie program. Also, there is cottage housing on the grounds for the use of all members and guests. A limited number of annual guest rounds are made available for players who enjoy and respect the traditions of the game. To learn more about The Kingsley Club, or to arrange a visit, call 231 263-3000 or visit www.kingsleyclub.com.
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