Mike DeVries

Kingsley Club. Photo by Larry Lambrecht

Profile

A native of Michigan and former associate for both Tom Fazio and Tom Doak, Mike DeVries is part of the new hybrid breed of modern course designers / shapers. DeVries prefers a minimalistic style, working as much as possible with the natural ground contours to produce layouts that are generally fun and attractive to play. He often builds his own greens and bunkers.

The Kingsley Club in his home state of Michigan was DeVries’ first solo creation, and it remains his most significant. The layout resembles the nearby Crystal Downs for the manner in which the opening nine covers the open dunes, and the back nine rollicks across more heavily wooded slopes. DeVries is a member at Crystal Downs and that old Dr. Alister MacKenzie course heavily influenced his design. The top few holes at Kingsley are excellent, as are some of the greens and bunker shaping work.

Also in Michigan, and by DeVries, are Greywalls at Marquette, The Mines and Pilgrim’s Run. Greywalls was a difficult project on steep rocky ground, but is a fine semi-private facility that gets high marks for being both an inexpensive build and a course that carries genuine strategic interest.

Mike DeVries’s most notable international project is Cape Wickham Links in Tasmania, which he helped create in collaboration with local course designer Darius Oliver. DeVries spent the first three and a half months of construction living on King Island, and had a hand in the design of several holes at Cape Wickham, including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 16th.

In 2016 DeVries announced a trans-Atlantic partnership with Dutch designer Frank Pont, and in 2019 the pair joined forces with Australian Mike Clayton, to form the CDP Golf company. In 2021 Clayton and DeVries were appointed to design the Seven Mile Beach golf course near Hobart in Australia. Until that appointment the CDP Golf business had focused more on the restoration of classic old golf courses.

For an independent assessment of Mike DeVries and his suitability for your project, please contact the Global Golf Group.