One of two University of Michigan golf facilities, Radrick Farms Golf Course is a mid-1960s Pete and Alice Dye design that’s situated to the east of Ann Arbor with 107 acres of turf maintained inside a 275-acre former gravel quarry.
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One of two University of Michigan golf facilities, Radrick Farms Golf Course is a mid-1960s Pete and Alice Dye design that’s situated to the east of Ann Arbor with 107 acres of turf maintained inside a 275-acre former gravel quarry.
Radrick Farms Golf Course
There are numerous universities in the United States that have one or even multiple courses of architectural note, but it’s doubtful any can match the University of Michigan for combined notability and variety in the architects responsible for its two courses. The University of Michigan's original route was designed by Alister MacKenzie, and the second layout — Radrick Farms — is a Pete Dye creation.
Although MacKenzie was at his peak when the former emerged, Dye was very young in the field. The university president had happened to play one of his few routes, however, and the rest is history. The “farm” was actually a former gravel mining project, which had been restored and donated to the university by an alum. Its former purpose is evident in the more than 100 feet of elevation change across the property.
The result, although far from the elaborate nonconformities Dye would create across the next 50 years, features several amorphous greens. Players may see Munch’s “The Scream” in the No. 14 green, and they may sympathize if it results in a three-putt.