A new golf course, the Cardinal, will open in the spring of 2024 at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan. Designed by Raymond Hearn, the 18-hole Cardinal was laid out as an entirely new routing on land formerly used for a 27-hole layout at the Inn at St. John’s.
Alongside the new 18-hole layout will be a seven-hole short course, a two-acre putting course and a shortgame practice area. All that will wrap around the resort’s driving range and a Carl’s Golfland retail store.
It’s all part of a renovation to the property formerly owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The property was donated in 2021 to the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation and has been rebranded as Saint John’s Resort. The $50-million transformation includes updated rooms at the resort’s hotel, a 6,200-square-foot pavilion, a ballroom and more.
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The routing for the new Cardinal golf course at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan (Courtesy of Saint John’s Resort)
The Cardinal will be the first new high-end, public-access layout in the Metro Detroit area in more than 20 years.
“The land, with its natural glacier forms and beautiful 100-year-old trees, was a great foundation to work with,” said the Michigan-based Hearn. “We were able to save many of the old mature trees and create a routing that kept them in play around green sites and along fairways, which is a bit unique in today’s golf course architecture that focuses more on tree removal.
“This also allowed me to draw on my inspiration from previous Donald Ross, Tom Bendelow and Willie Park Jr. projects as well as one of my favorite courses, the Old Course at Sunningdale by Willie Park Jr. Our goal was to create a fun golf experience, and I believe we have achieved that and then some with this project.”
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