Barton Hills emerged during the development of the Barton Hills village north of Ann Arbor. The club opened in 1919 with initial golf on the property and then undertook a major expansion in 1922, when Donald Ross was engaged to lay out a full 18; the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s profile of Barton Hills notes the 1919 opening and the 1922 enlargement “to which noted golf course designer Donald Ross contributed.”
Ross’s planning and field work therefore date to 1922, with construction following that same season as the club converted the early golf into a complete course.
Evidence from the Donald Ross Society’s directory indicates Barton Hills appears twice in his ledger—first as a new 18 in 1922 and again in 1925 as a revisit/remodel—suggesting Ross returned within three years to adjust features after the course had seasoned.
Club history materials confirm the club’s long self-identification as a “classic Donald Ross” course dating from the early 1920s, aligning with the 1922 plan/construction window.
Ross’s design intent at Barton Hills can be inferred from the site and from surviving plan references: he organized the routing as a traditional double loop, returning near the clubhouse at 9 and 18, and he left the option of a short inner loop that turns back to the house after No. 13—an arrangement noted in modern analysis of the original layout. This reveals a deliberate accommodation of member play and walkability on a rolling glacial property rather than a single out-and-back march.
The same thread also points to a 1922 Ross plan, reinforcing the timing and his hand in the course’s structure.
The mid- and late-20th century brought waves of remodeling by other architects. Top100GolfCourses identifies William Diddel, Bill Newcomb and Arthur Hills as remodelers “down the years,” a summary that matches archival records at Michigan State University showing Arthur Hills performing remodeling work in 1983 (and other sources indicating a 1994 return).
These interventions, while typical of the period, compromised portions of Ross’s original green pads and bunkering. In 2012 the club commissioned Ron Prichard to restore Ross’s work. Contemporary accounts describe rebuilding five greens that had been altered in the early 1960s, expanding many greens back to their Ross footprints, re-establishing bunker forms, and executing a long-term tree-management program accelerated in part by the club’s documented Imprelis herbicide losses.
Golf Digest subsequently highlighted the restoration by singling out the “restored camel bunker” on the opening hole, a visual/strategic emblem the club uses in its logo.
In 2025 club leadership stated publicly that Andrew Green had been retained for forthcoming course work in parallel with broader facility upgrades as Barton Hills prepared to host the 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Those statements came via an industry interview and coverage in Club + Resort Business; project scope and timing were discussed as under way, but the precise architectural extent for the course has not yet been documented in technical detail.
Several holes at Barton Hills still present Ross’s hallmark use of angle and contour in ways that are specific to this property. The fifth, a mid-length par 3, defends par with encircling, deep bunkers and a canted putting surface that sheds shots toward the front-left—an arrangement that forces precise aerial distance control typical of Ross’s one-shot problems here.
The seventh’s approach plays into an undulating green fronted by a false front; players who miss on the wrong tier face exacting recoveries.
The ninth has become Barton Hills’ signature study in interior contour: the club describes a unique raised plateau in the center of the green—“the Top Hat”—that divides putts into distinct lobes and makes wedge-distance placement from the fairway critical. The feature’s presence today reflects the 2012 restoration’s emphasis on returning Ross’s lively interior contours.
Ross’s diagonal and cross-hazard ideas appear on multiple holes. The tenth—the shortest par 5—uses cross bunkers pinched at the crest to force a decision from the tee, then asks for a precise second past flanking hazards to set an angle into the green.
The eighteenth reprises the theme with three cross bunkers within the first hundred yards, then a broad, uphill approach to one of the course’s largest greens—classic Barton Hills cadence: hazard, position, then a demanding elevation-change approach.
False fronts recur, including at the thirteenth and sixteenth, where fronting slopes reject indifferent approaches; these are not generic Ross tropes but observable traits tied to the specific pads and grades at Barton Hills. The routing’s double-loop organization—still readable in modern aerials—remains one of the clearest surviving expressions of Ross’s plan-level thinking at this site.
As for which holes best preserve Ross’s intent today, the fifth and ninth are often cited by observers because their green surrounds and interior contours rely less on tree framing and more on ground movement and recoveries—qualities that the 2012 work purposefully recaptured from Ross’s original pads. The restored first-hole bunkering, including the “camel” form, similarly conveys Ross’s hazard placement strategy on an uphill opener.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Michigan and Great Lakes portfolio, Barton Hills belongs to his early-1920s cluster of commissions (with Oakland Hills, Franklin Hills, Monroe, and others), a period when he was particularly active in the region and often worked on glacially rolling sites near Detroit and Ann Arbor. The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s timeline places Barton Hills squarely in 1922, marking it as part of that productive phase.
The Donald Ross Society’s listing of a 1925 revisit underscores that Barton Hills was not a one-and-done plan but a course he tuned after initial play—a dynamic found at some of his more intensively curated projects.
Barton Hills has been a recurrent USGA host. Grace Park won the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur here; official USGA championship records confirm the venue and result. The club also staged the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (won by Joan Higgins, who at 52 became the championship’s oldest winner to that date); USGA records and contemporary reporting document both the site and the age record.
The USGA selected Barton Hills again for the 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, citing the club’s “recently renovated facilities” and history with national competitions—affirmation that the course retains sufficient championship character in its restored Ross framework.
In reputational terms, Barton Hills continues to appear on Golf Digest’s “Best in State: Michigan” lists; the current cycle (2025–26) shows it among the state’s ranked courses, with recent movement around the mid-20s.
Top100GolfCourses also profiles Barton Hills explicitly as a Ross restoration, crediting the 2012 work with returning the course to Ross’s “former glory.”
Current Condition / Integrity
The course seen today is the product of a Ross foundation, significant mid-century remodeling, and a 2012 restoration meant to recapture Ross’s geometry. Top100GolfCourses summarizes the arc bluntly—“there wasn’t much left of the original Donald Ross course … until Ron Prichard restored the layout … in 2012”—and contemporary on-site commentary provides texture: green-pad expansions to historic edges, full rebuilds of five 1960s-altered greens, and the re-establishment of period bunker forms.
The restored “camel bunker” at No. 1 is emblematic: a feature with clear archival precedent brought back in a form that affects both line-of-play and identity.
Routing integrity is high: the double-loop structure referenced in modern analyses mirrors the 1922 plan, and hole corridors generally occupy the same rolling terrain Ross used, though tree lines and sightlines have changed markedly over time. The restoration era’s extensive tree management—partly necessitated by Imprelis damage—reopened many original playing vistas and restored the scale Ross exploited in his angles.
Material authenticity is mixed in the strictest preservation sense (given the Diddel/Newcomb/Hills remodels), but design authenticity—green sizes, interior contours, and bunker placement—has been deliberately re-established. Put differently, a substantial percentage of the present greens and bunkers represent reconstructed Ross concepts on original sites rather than untouched 1920s fabric.
Club communications in 2025 indicated that Andrew Green had been engaged for a new phase of course work alongside clubhouse and infrastructure projects. Because public technical documentation is limited and the club is simultaneously preparing for the 2026 Senior Women’s Open, it is prudent to treat this as an announced but evolving phase; forthcoming details will determine how much additional change—if any—occurs to restored Ross elements.
What has been preserved vs. altered
Preserved/recaptured: Ross’s two-loop routing structure; the strategic use of cross/diagonal bunkering on the opener, 10th and 18th; distinctive interior green contours such as the ninth’s “Top Hat”; and false fronts on holes like 13 and 16, all of which align with the restored Ross pads and are evident in current play.
Altered/lost and later recovered: Five greens that had been reshaped in the early 1960s were rebuilt to historic forms in 2012; widespread tree planting from the postwar decades narrowed corridors but has since been reversed through sustained removal.
Modern overlays: Select hazards and teeing areas reflect modern demands and event set-ups; the club and its consultants added length during restoration to host contemporary competitions.
Sources & Notes
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, “Barton Hills” (timeline notes 1919 opening and 1922 expansion with Ross’s contribution).
Donald Ross Society Directory (June 2023), entry showing Barton Hills as “New 1922 / Remodel 1925.” (Directory search result snippet). Note: While widely used by scholars, the PDF entry is a compiled directory; exact scope of 1925 work is not elaborated.
Barton Hills CC website, general club/course identity and scorecard page.
GolfClubAtlas forum, “Barton Hills CC, Ann Arbor, MI (Ross w/Prichard restoration) – A Photo Tour!!” (details on 2012 restoration scope, five 1960s-altered greens, tree-management context including Imprelis). Forum source; photographic and first-hand observations.
Golf Digest, “Best New Courses: 2013” (mentions the “restored camel bunker” at the opening hole). Note: Item appears within the magazine’s annual new/renovated coverage.
GolfTraxx, hole-by-hole descriptions (specific features: 5 encircled bunkering; 7 and 13 false fronts; 9 “Top Hat”; 10 and 18 cross-bunkering). Third-party compilation likely based on club materials; used here for hole-specific feature descriptions.
GolfClubAtlas forum commentary noting the course’s double-loop routing and an inner “10–13” return option, reflecting Ross’s plan-level intent as read on modern aerials. Analytical forum post; used to corroborate routing structure.
USGA championship archive, 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Grace Park champion) at Barton Hills.
USGA records for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: venue (Barton Hills 2008) and age record (Joan Higgins, 52).
USGA announcement (Apr. 2, 2025): Barton Hills to host the 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open; rationale referencing recently renovated facilities and prior USGA events.
Top100GolfCourses, “Barton Hills” (summary of remodeling history and 2012 restoration).
Michigan State University Libraries, Arthur Hills remodeling list (Barton Hills, 1983).
GolfClubAtlas thread listing Arthur Hills work at Barton Hills in 1983 and 1994 (corroborative). Forum compilation.
Golf Digest “Best in State: Michigan” 2025–26 page (current ranking status and prior rank for Barton Hills).
Club + Resort Business and associated podcast coverage (July 2025) quoting the club’s GM on engaging Andrew Green for course work alongside other renovations; status: announced; scope not yet independently documented in technical filings.
Disputed/uncertain points:
• Original build date vs. Ross date: Some media blurbs describe Barton Hills as “built by Ross in 1919,” but the more authoritative TCLF timeline identifies 1919 as the first golf with a 1922 expansion to which Ross “contributed,” consistent with Ross planning and construction activity in 1922. The Ross Society directory also anchors the design to 1922 (new) with a 1925 revisit.
• 1925 scope: The directory’s “1925” entry lacks detail; secondary sources do not specify whether Ross’s revisit involved green recontouring, bunkers, or tees. It is safest to treat 1925 as a light phase of adjustments rather than wholesale rerouting, pending archival plan confirmation.
• Modern (2025) work by Andrew Green: Reported by the club’s GM and trade press; until plan sets or construction records are publicly available, the extent of changes to restored Ross features remains to be seen.