Plans are progressing for an exclusive golf club to be designed by the architectural team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner near Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The new private club, called the Frontier Club, is planned for a 333-acre piece of land in Lodi Township. The land's owners last month filed a preliminary site plan with the township, in seeking a special-use permit for the property. They aim to break ground at some point this fall and are eying an April 2028 opening for the club, which will include 18 holes, a 12-hole short course, a clubhouse, a driving range, 11 guest cottages and a maintenance facility.
The club will be private with plans to limit the membership to 300, most (at least 80%) expected to be from outside the area - jet-setters who would
fly from around the country for two- or three-day stays at the club. In that regard, Frontier Club would take on much the same model as the renowned Kingsley Club near Traverse City.
The property, which includes 13 parcels, is located south of Pleasant Lake Road, between Alber and Zeeb roads.
The property owners, Wayne Jones and son-in-law Scott Kovanda of Ann Arbor-based Jones and Jones Leasing LLC, have commissioned Hanse, who lists the project as "on the drawing board" on his website. Hanse, who works in tight partnership with Wagner, is one of the most sought-after architects in the business, having renovated several major championship courses in recent years, including Oakland Hills Country Club's famous South Course in Bloomfield Township.
In addition to his many restoration projects, Hanse has built more than 30 original courses around the globe, but this could be his first new build in Michigan. He also was announced as the architect for a new semi-private course to be built at Forest Dunes in Roscommon, called SkyFall, though ground hasn't yet been broken on that project.
The Frontier Club project is expected to cost $32.19 million, according to documents filed by owners with the township. Nearly $25 million would be for buildings and other structures, nearly $7 million for site improvements and nearly $400,000 for landscaping.
The Frontier Club plans to have 40 to 50 employees on a mostly seasonal basis, according to plan documents, including management, ground crew staff and caddies.
Officials with Lodi Township, with a population of about 6,400, are expected to consider the proposal this month.
What are the plans for new golf club near Ann Arbor?
According to documents filed with Lodi Township in late July, Jones began acquiring parcels on the property in 1998, with plans to build a personal residence as well as to pursue farming and land preservation. Jones then asked Kovanda, his son-in-law, to come up with a long-term plan to preserve the property.
Kovanda deemed the property's natural landscape features, including water and rolling hills, as the ideal setting for a golf course. The property wouldn't require significant land movement to build out, allowing it to adhere to the township's "green and pastoral landscape," according to site-plan documents.
Kovanda eventually hired Hanse and Wagner, who have a lengthy resume of restoring many championship courses, including several sites of past and future U.S. Opens.
According to site-plan documents, "Hanse immediately fell in love with the property, and, fitting the minimalist golf architecture style he has become known for, found it ideal for laying out a golf course that incorporates the land's existing natural features without the need to move any significant amount of land."
Additionally, according to site-plan documents, Hanse's company focuses on long-term land sustainability, using the minimum amount of water – mostly only on greens, tee boxes and fairways, while allowing the rough to maintain natural characteristics. According to plans, indigenous plants and wildlife would continue to inhabit the property.
Any tree removal that's part of the construction would be offset by the planting of trees elsewhere on the property.
Plans also call for minimal impact on the small community, including traffic. Plans call for shuttle vans to be available to transport members to and from Detroit Metro Airport, Willow Run Airport and Ann Arbor Municipal Airport. There also would be no negative impact on the community in terms of noise or pollution, the owners said in site-plan documents. The property would be discrete with no entrance signage. The golf club wouldn't be visible from the road, with a berm planned for the front entrance, and cornfields bordering the golf course.
Messages from The News to Lodi Township interim supervisor Jacob Schaible and Kovanda weren't immediately returned late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
What are destination private golf clubs?
Plans also call for a two-level clubhouse with men's and women's locker rooms, a kitchen, bar, large dining space, a wine cellar and a pro shop, as well as guest cabins and a wellness cabin that will surround a large Himalayas-style putting green – all to be located right off the first tee and 18th green.
Details on membership costs weren't included in the site plans submitted to Lodi Township officials.
The national destination private club model has become an increasingly popular trend in the golf industry, especially in Michigan and especially in recent years. The most notable example in Michigan is Kingsley Club, which opened in 2001 and recently announced plans for a second 18-hole course, set to open in late 2028 or early 2029.
Other such clubs in Michigan include Traverse City's High Pointe Golf Club, which closed in 2008 as a victim of the recession but reopened in 2024 after a $24 million renovation; LochenHeath Golf Club, also in Traverse City; Lost Dunes Golf Club in Bridgman; and True North Golf Club in Harbor Springs.
Frontier Club plans further cement Michigan as one of the nation and world's top destinations for golfers, with more than 800 golf courses, including more than 100 that are private.
Washtenaw County, one of the most affluent counties in the state, has several private golf clubs, including Travis Pointe Country Club, Barton Hills Country Club, Polo Fields Golf & Country Club and Radrick Farms Golf Course, all in Ann Arbor. Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti was a private club before becoming public in 2020.
Frontier Club would become the first new course to be built in Washtenaw County in recent memory. Golf course construction was booming in the late 1990s and early 2000s before that bubble burst in Michigan. New builds have made a comeback in recent years, during the post-COVID golf renaissance in Michigan, which has boasted record play for several years running. In 2024, Saint John's Resort in Plymouth Township opened The Cardinal. This summer, Pine Trace Golf Club in Rochester Hills debuted its new 18-hole course. Kingsley Club and Forest Dunes plan new private courses, and many courses across the state have built short courses, a new fad in golf, including Arcadia Bluffs and Boyne.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Famous designers plan new $32 million golf club in Michigan
