Elk Rapids hired Donald Ross in autumn 1922 after village voters approved a $9,000 bond to create a lakefront “Golf Park” that could anchor a new tourist economy. Ross dispatched his associate J.B. McGovern to evaluate potential sites; on October 11, 1922 McGovern advised the committee that the 60-acre Gumbert farm offered the most suitable terrain for a nine-hole course, flat in places but promising pleasurable golf “according to the plans.” Surveyor’s blueprints of the Ross layout were received November 9, 1922. Construction began May 10, 1923 and proceeded quickly on the lightly-altered lakefront ground; the course opened with a community picnic on July 15, 1924, widely reported in the local press.
Two realities shaped Elk Rapids from the outset. First, the club’s finances were thin: the bond covered land and basic construction but not the full suite of Ross “special features,” notably the strategic bunker scheme shown on his course illustration. Second, although the course remained in steady use, the club mislaid its Ross documents for decades; by the late twentieth century, occasional alterations were made without reference to the original plan (including a now-abandoned notion in the late 1990s to reroute the fifth hole). Beginning in 2010 the club’s History Committee combed board minutes and outside archives (including the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst). The rediscovered Ross illustration clarified that the 1920s work had omitted many bunkers, and it provided a definitive template for any future restoration.
In 2016 the Greens Committee engaged architect Bruce Hepner to prepare a master plan grounded in the Ross sheet. Hepner’s plan, completed in 2017, called for installing long-missing bunkers in their intended locations, adjusting teeing grounds, and re-establishing fairway lines to appropriate widths and diagonals. Construction followed in spring 2018. Contemporary coverage noted that Hepner personally shaped bunkers to emulate period forms while working to integrate them with the course’s short-grass surrounds. Philanthropic grants from the Donald Ross Society Foundation in 2019–20 supported tee work, tree management, and additional course clean-up consistent with the Ross plan and the newly adopted master plan. Non-architectural site improvements (removal of overhead power lines along the seventh fairway and clubhouse/patio upgrades) followed in 2019–24.
Unique Design Characteristics
Several holes at Elk Rapids read almost as case studies in how Ross intended this compact site to play—now more legible since the 2018 completion work matched bunkering and mowing patterns to the surviving plan.
The most distinctive is the lakeside par-3 fifth. Ross placed the tee hard by Elk Lake and set the green into a right-sloping hillside about 170–185 yards away, the putting surface itself tilting toward the water. Club history describes the hole’s built-in demand for a right-to-left shot to hold the slope and its short-grass run-offs on three sides for misses. The course’s restoration left this hole largely bunkerless, consistent with the original concept that used terrain, wind, and contour rather than sand to exact precision. As a single feature, it remains the clearest surviving expression of Ross’s intent on the property.
The short, uphill par-4 seventh—photographed during 1923 construction—uses a natural rise to create approach uncertainty from a modest tee shot. The restored fairway widths now allow players to choose lines left or right to change angles into the elevated green. The revived bunkering around the seventh complements the landform rather than dominating it, highlighting the hole’s origin in the site itself.
The outward stretch includes an opening par-5 that doglegs right, now guarded by restored fairway and greenside bunkers arranged to influence line and lay-up. The fourth, playing back toward the lake, retains a partially blind approach down to a green that accepts a running shot—an effect heightened by fairway cut and contour management reinstated in 2018. The final par-5 ninth bends left toward the clubhouse; with a restored inside-corner bunker and a green that sheds marginal approaches, it frames the course’s “out-and-back” rhythm while leaving strategic discretion to the player.
Together these holes show how Elk Rapids works through subtle contour, diagonal hazards, and short-grass fall-offs rather than brute length; crucially, the 2018 project re-located and re-sized bunkers to the positions and scales indicated on Ross’s plan, making their influence felt at modern mowing heights without overwhelming the modest property.
Historical Significance
Elk Rapids is a rare instance of a small-town, community-founded Ross course whose original routing survived intact while its intended hazards lay dormant for nearly a century. The rediscovery of the Ross illustration and the decision to complete the course as designed—rather than to “modernize” it—give Elk Rapids unusual documentary value: it presents a compact 1920s Ross scheme in which sand placement, short-grass movement, and topographic nuance can be read at their designed scales. The course’s designation as a Michigan Historical Site (marker no. 2264) underscores the civic narrative that led to the club’s creation and its role in local redevelopment. While the course does not appear in state or national championship histories, internal records and local media emphasize its community role; the centennial celebrations in 2024 marked continuity of play on Ross’s routing and the conclusion of long-delayed construction called for in the original plan.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and greens. The nine-hole routing remains as laid out in 1923, with greens occupying their original sites. The fifth green’s hillside setting and the seventh green’s elevation are particularly faithful to period photographs and club description.
Bunkers. Prior to 2018, Elk Rapids lacked most of the sand features drawn by Ross due to 1920s budget limits. Under Hepner’s 2018 master plan, bunkers were installed or repositioned to match the historic sheet, with shaping intended to reflect early-twentieth-century forms. This work materially increased the course’s strategic integrity while respecting the scale of a 3,000-yard, par-36 nine.
Fairway lines and tees. Hepner’s plan reinstated broader fairway cuts and added or adjusted tees (including forward and back options) to restore angles and accommodate modern play. The club has continued tee renovation work since 2019 with targeted support from the Donald Ross Society Foundation.
Trees, views, and infrastructure. Tree mortality associated with herbicide damage earlier in the 2010s precipitated a broader tree-management program. Significant removals along the sixth opened lake views and turf health; removal of overhead lines across the seventh fairway eliminated a visual intrusion. Clubhouse and patio enhancements (2019) and a new pro shop (2024) improved the visitor experience without altering the course fabric.
What is preserved vs. altered. Preserved: routing, green sites and their characteristic slopes at 5 and 7, the essential out-and-back rhythm beside Elk Lake, and (since 2018) the intended bunker scheme and fairway geometry from Ross’s plan. Altered or recently added: sand features that were drawn in 1923 but not constructed until 2018; selective tee expansions; tree lines reduced from mid- and late-century planting; modern irrigation/pumphouse upgrades. The net effect is a course that reads more “Ross” today than at any point since the 1924 opening.
Citations and Uncertainty
Primary chronology at Elk Rapids is unusually well documented in club histories and local reporting, but several research gaps remain. The club’s website reproduces McGovern’s October 1922 memorandum and gives precise dates for receipt of the surveyor’s blueprints (Nov. 9, 1922), start of construction (May 10, 1923), and opening (July 15, 1924); however, original plan sheet numbers, the identity of the surveyor, and any Ross-signed correspondence have not been published online. The Donald Ross Society Foundation confirms that the bunkers shown on the Ross illustration were not built in the 1920s and that the club acted upon the rediscovered plan in the 2010s; access to the Tufts Archives plan (Ross & Associates illustration for Elk Rapids) would allow more precise statements about bunker counts by hole and any small green-pad adjustments since 1924. Hole-by-hole present-day descriptions cited here draw on a 2024 field-report style review; these secondary observations should be cross-checked against the Hepner master plan and as-built drawings from 2018 to confirm bunker placement and fairway widths by hole.
Sources & Notes
Elk Rapids Golf Club, 2024 Scorecard (PDF), lists par (36), total yardage (3,067 Blue / 2,840 White), and notes “Revisions Bruce Hepner, 2018.”
Elk Rapids Golf Club, “Our Course” page (course designed/built 1922/23; opened July 15, 1924; out-and-back character).
Elk Rapids Golf Club, “History” page, including McGovern’s Oct. 11, 1922 site memo; receipt of Ross surveyor’s blueprints on Nov. 9, 1922; construction start May 10, 1923; opening accounts July 1924; long-term omission of Ross bunkers; 2016–18 Hepner master plan; 2019–24 course and clubhouse improvements; statements on public play tradition.
Elk Rapids Golf Club, “Could a Golf Course Save the Village?” (club history PDF), reproducing contemporaneous reporting and the McGovern memo; confirms dates above.
UpNorthLive (WPBN/WGTU), “Golf course finally complete 96 years after construction began” (June 29, 2018), with interviews explaining that Ross’s bunkers were not built in the 1920s, that Ross plans were rediscovered, and that architect Bruce Hepner shaped new bunkers in 2018 to period intent.
Donald Ross Society Foundation, grants page noting 2019–20 support to Elk Rapids for tees, tree removal, and implementation of the Ross plan; contextualizes the rediscovery of plans at the Tufts Archives and long-unbuilt bunkers.
Michigan Historical Marker entries for “Elk Rapids Golf Park,” documenting the site’s state designation and summarizing the civic origins of the course.
Golfadelphia (Oct. 29, 2024), hole-by-hole observations (e.g., #1 dogleg right par-5; #4 blind approach toward lake; #5 hillside green with short-grass runoffs; #7 short, uphill par-4; #9 dogleg-left par-5) and note of on-site short-game/putting facilities; used here as a secondary, observational source for present-day play characteristics.