Fox Hills Golf Club & Banquet Center Making Improvements
One year after the sale to Heritage Golf Group, upgrades are adding to the golf experience
By Tom Lang
Change is not always needed, but oftentimes change reveals very positive results when fresh eyes get involved.
That has happened at Fox Hills in Plymouth over the past year, after the Dul family managed and greatly expanded the property for nearly 50 years. The family created a wonderful legacy, taking the original Fox Hills Country Club founded in the 1920s, to the current day 63-hole mega golf site, which was purchased in mid-2022 by Heritage Golf Group.
Regulars who play at Fox Hills might not notice a lot of change – it’s the subtle things I noticed on a recent visit to play the Golden Fox. My first impression pulling through the gate off of North Territorial Road was seeing Strategic Fox to the left filled with adults and children playing the 18-hole short course, and seeing how the playing conditions seemed noticeably improved.
I then ventured deeper and found the parking lots full on a Wednesday morning, and wondered if the pace of play would be stifling. Not every golfer will agree, but for me, it was so cool to see the three Fox Classic 9-hole layouts bustling with a ladies’ league, a bunch of kids walking and playing, and lots of senior men enjoying themselves. While the course and clubhouse areas were packed with people, never once did I see slow play or golfers waiting – everything was properly spaced and moved well. Later that day I played Golden Fox and had the same good pace for the entire round.
Playing Golf at Fox Hills:
The Strategic has always been a fun course that is great for beginners and intermediate players, but if experienced players join them there is plenty of challenge from the back tees. It’s a great course to practice the short game or introduce others to golf – a perfect family venue. What is distinctive is almost every short course I see developed is 9 holes – this one is a full 18 with yardages ranging from 195 yards (holes 13 and 18) down to 50 yards from the front tees on hole 8.
An extra bonus is that Strategic Fox was one of the first courses in Michigan to offer FootGolf, and it remains strong today. The two forms of play are intertwined on this course.
Fox Classic is rooted in the original course going back to 1927 when it was the Fox Hills Country Club. After the Dul’s built the final 9 holes in the early 1980s, the Classic offers 27 holes of solid golf across rolling hills, between trees lining some fairways, and with ponds and lakes upon the property.
The three courses are the Lakes, the Woods and the Hills. All three have what are called ‘friendly’ tees designed for beginners and older folks, that start play in the fairway.
When writing about golf courses, I like looking at and assessing them by seeking the best grouping of 3 consecutive holes, while using no particular set of standards to make that distinction.
On the Lakes course, I like the first three holes. No. 1 is a stout par 4 with three huge, signature willow trees and a pond on the right when approaching the green downhill. No. 2 is an uphill, well-guarded par 3, followed by a long par 4 that bends a little to the right. Overall, it’s a challenging start to any day.
The Woods course has three nice holes in the middle of the round, holes 3-5, all with trees coming into play (hence the Woods). Hole 3 is an uphill par 3 with a key bunker to clear. Hole 4 drifts down hill on this par four that turns left with trouble awaiting if going long. No. 5 is another par 3 to a slightly elevated green.
On the Hills course, I like the closing three holes, Nos. 7-9. Each are parallel-running doglegs, with rollercoaster fairways on 7 and 8. Overall, Hole 7 goes downhill turning to the right, with a big valley on the green approach. Hole 8 goes back uphill and turns left but is shorter, measuring just 309 yards from the tips. Hole 9 is a sturdy closing hole at 400 yards, going a little downhill and turning back to the right.
The Golden Fox is the bedrock course that most people want to play and it handles many of the charity outings that want to give the guests a top-notch experience. Designed by Arthur Hills across three pieces of land that used to be farms filled with rolling hills, a few water features and a line of trees woven into a wonderful links format – this championship level course eventually became the 2002 National Golf Course of the Year named by the National Golf Course Owners Assoc.
Holes 7-9 also make an enjoyable series of connected holes. Hole 7 is a long par 4 that turns slightly left, followed by the par five 8th hole (front cover image) that has water guarding the front of the green requiring the age-old question of ‘should you lay up?’ Hole 9 is a short par four with a tree in front of the green set slightly right, forcing chip shots to stay low and accurate to make up for the shorter overall length of the hole.
The famous Fox Hills Performance Learning Center offers top PGA and LPGA certified teachers for kids’ programs, adults and even wounded military Veterans. The Performance Center building, at 6,900 square feet, offers six indoor bays for teaching that are equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Programs include V1 Analysis software, TrackMan, FlightScope, SAM Putting Studio, and BodiTrak Performance Pad. It’s open year-round. There is a huge double-ended outdoor range and chipping greens as well.
The 2021 U.S. Amateur champion James Piot was raised at the Learning Center, and every year many local and regional high school players going after their college dreams can be found on site.
“That’s one of the best legacies the Dul sisters left us, what they built in supporting junior golf and general golf instruction,” said general manager Bill Durham. “We have an opportunity to add to that and take it to another level.”
A Shifting Focus:
Durham said the focus the past year has been putting golfers first, in part because they host 750-900 golfers per day. Changes have been made by adding sleek new carts with GPS to the Golden Fox, plus replacing seven HVAC systems to keep everyone comfortable inside the expansive clubhouse. He added that Heritage Golf has invested a great deal of capital for facility improvements needed for the kitchens, building mechanicals, resurfaced parking lots and such.
“Those little things are boring, but they sure can make a difference in comfort for people,” Durham added.
“I hear people are very supportive of our changes. We had many leagues the last couple years where players were not sticking around after golf and socializing here, but now we are keeping the lights on for them and they are staying later, which is great to see; people enjoying the facility and the service.”
He noted that more than 1,000 golfers are in leagues that call Fox Hills their home.
“We’re definitely a golf operation first and want to make sure our customers know that and feel that in their experience with us,” Durham said. “We are a very busy event facility, but we don’t want to take our eye off the hundreds of golfers that visit us every day.”
