ANN ARBOR, MI — A new golf course designed by a famed course architect could be built just outside Ann Arbor.
Plans are underway to open the Frontier Club in 2028 in Lodi Township, southwest of Ann Arbor. Golf architect Gil Hanse — who designed the golf course at the 2016 Rio Olympics and significantly renovated the Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield — is expected to design the course, according to membership documents obtained by MLive and confirmed by a person close to the project.
But Lodi Township hasn’t received a zoning application for the project, Township Supervisor Jan Godek said. She said she’s had only brief, initial conversations about the proposal and said she could not comment further without a formal submission. Courses near Lodi Township include Traverse Point Country Club, Lake Forest Golf Club and Stonebridge Golf Club.
Most members of the public won’t be able to play the Frontier Club, though. The course will not be open to the public and it will not have commercial access or outside events, according to documents. The proposed club would be initially limited to 50 members, by invite only.
On-site lodging and dining are expected to be a part of the club. The club is aimed at exclusive, national membership. Members would largely fly into either Detroit Metro Airport (29 minutes from the proposed location), Willow Run Airport (24 minutes away) or Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (11 minutes away) with final destination transportation as a part of the club amenities.
The documents did not disclose an investment price or any potential price for members. There are three other private courses within miles of the proposed club: Travis Pointe, Polo Fields and Barton Hills, along with several high-end private clubs in Metro Detroit.
The last public golf course to open in Washtenaw County was in 2020, when the Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti shifted from private to fully public under new ownership. Prior to that, there had not been any new public golf courses opened in the area in several years.
Hanse is also designing another private course in Michigan, a new course called SkyFall, announced last year at the Forest Dunes resort in Roscommon, 190 miles northwest of Detroit.