Michigan Golf Journal June 2020

11 June 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com said about removing the ‘hidden’ moniker. “The course has always competed more at a local level instead of at a regional level. With a marketing expert on our team we’ll do more social media marketing. “And Livingston County is one of the fastest growing places in Michigan – so I tell people the course is not as far away as it used to be.” High Quality Design: The Links at Hunter’s Ridge was designed by Jerry Matthews and Paul Albanese, the latter who was onsite almost daily for two years overseeing the construction in the mid-1990s on the Miesle family farm. The layout was constructed on a large parcel dating back several generations to the 1870s. Within a few years of opening it hosted a U.S. Open qualifier. My favorite stretch of holes on the front nine are holes 4-6. The 4 th is a short par four that goes a little uphill and slightly to the right. The 5 th is a downhill par 3 over a marsh to a thin front-to- back, but wide green. Then comes No. 6, a long par five that has a creek cutting across and one of the few large trees on course to navigate around. Perhaps the crowning jewels, though, are the closing holes. The 17 th tee is the highest point on the property from where you can see the entire course and drops 45-60 feet to the par three green. Then 18 is a par 5 risk-reward hole with water guarding the right side of the three-tier green complex. “I love that course,” Albanese said. “It’s one of the first designs I did with Jerry; one I was always proud of. Jerry and I had a fun time doing it.” Making Changes: The ownership group of friends were all were watching the MSU/ U-M basketball game in February of 2019, when Eric Nichols, also a co-owner, suggested the idea that their group could purchase the course that he had been eye- balling for about a year. Three months later the group made the deal. Another owner, Luigi Folino, who works at Ford Motor Co., said they hired Albanese to create a master plan to guide the next few years of upgrades. “Our first improvements were the greens, last year,” he said. “We spent a little money to get the greens back in great shape. We worked on some of the bridges that needed