A dedicated group breathes new life into Warren Valley Golf Course, designed by Donald Ross.

Jason Pearsall and his partners with Revive Golf Management are doing everything they can to take full advantage of what he says is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”  They are working to restore a golf course that was designed by legendary architect Donald Ross in 1922 and opened for business the following year. The site is Warren Valley Golf Course & Banquet Center, a public golf course in Dearborn Heights, Mich. that is 10 miles from Detroit Metro Airport and 19 miles from downtown Detroit. The Rouge River runs throughout a good portion of the golf course and is in play on seven of the 18 holes on the West course.

After operating with 36 holes (with an East course and a West course) for 90-plus years, Warren Valley closed in 2022 to undergo heavy renovation work. In April 2023, the 18-hole West course was reopened. Golfers are pleased with the hard work done by Pearsall’s team to get the course back to a solid playing condition. But Pearsall and his crew are quick to note that there is a long way to go to get the course back to a championship-level condition. The employees who spoke with Club + Resort Business understand and appreciate the fact that they’re working on a course that was molded by one of the game’s great golf course architects. As a result, they consider it a labor of love.

“When you take over a Donald Ross golf course, you almost have this duty to do right by it,” says Pearsall, who is Managing Partner for Revive and is also CEO of Club Caddie.

There is a lot of camaraderie among the employees, too, according to Bryan Bedsworth, Golf Services Manager at Warren Valley.

“What you’ll find is a group of guys that love each other, work hard and we love the game,” Bedsworth says. “It’s a way of life for us.”

Michael Rawlins, Director of Golf at Warren Valley, says golfers should remember they’re “going into a place that has so much history.”

Pearsall formed Revive Golf Management with a couple of friends who are golf course superintendents and a couple of friends who are PGA professionals.

While Revive is operating the golf course and pro shop in cooperation with the city of Dearborn Heights, Issa Brothers LLC is constructing a banquet center, restaurant and lounge that its firm will oversee.

When all the work is done—hopefully in late spring of 2024 — Wesam Issa of Issa Brothers LLC says “It’s going to be untouchable.”

100-year history includes several different ownership arrangements

In its 100-year history, Warren Valley Golf Course has gone through a number of different ownership arrangements. Robert Nollar in 1922 brought in Ross to design the layout, according to information on Warren Valley’s website.

The first 9 holes on the west side of the course — which was originally named Hawthorne Valley Golf Club — opened to the public on June 30, 1923, while the second 9 holes opened two days later. In April 1925, the east side of the course with 18 more holes opened to the public. One year later, the property added dining, dancing and banquet halls to its offerings. 

In 1929, the east and west sides were split into two different organizations. The east side became Thorncliffe Country Club, an exclusive private club for members that was intended to subsidize the west side course, which remained a public facility operating under a reservation system. The land then reverted back to Nollar and the name of the site was changed to Warren Valley Golf Club in 1934. Wayne County purchased the course from Nollar in 1944.

After many years of struggling to keep Warren Valley Golf Course financially afloat, Wayne County in October 2005 paid Torre & Bruglio Golf Course Management Inc. to run the golf course. Operation of the course then switched from Torre & Bruglio to Oneida Golf Management Inc. in 2016. In September 2018, the city of Dearborn Heights purchased Warren Valley from Wayne County to save it from a proposed development. In February 2022, Oneida turned over possession of the course to the city of Dearborn Heights.

In August 2022, Dearborn Heights City Council approved a contract that allowed Issa Brothers LLC to operate the banquet hall, restaurant and lounge, and allowed Revive Golf Management to run the golf course and pro shop. 

Due to poor conditions, Warren Valley’s two 18-hole golf courses were closed for the entire 2022 season. Revive’s crew had their work cut out for them as they set out to restore the West course so it could open for play in 2023.

Greens, bunkers, drainage improved

“It was not a golf course…Greens were burnt out and dead,” says Rawlins. “[The] grass was 4, 5, 6 feet tall in the fairways.”  He notes there was no sand in the bunkers.

“It took me all fall [of 2022) to get the fairways down to a half-inch,” adds Chris Nixon, the course’s Assistant Superintendent. “…I recut some of the original Donald Ross bunkers, which was incredibly humbling to try to interpret his vision after 100 years.”

In addition, Nixon says his team “ brought in the best sod you can buy…007 BentXL.”

Pearsall explains there were a couple of reasons they used this particular type of sod.

“We are in a floodplain and [007 XL is] super disease-resistant,” Pearsall said. “The size of the blades are smaller, and so it rolls quicker…[they’re] just really good greens.”

Another priority, Pearsall says, was addressing drainage problems that regularly occurred on the course.

“[We] redid a ton of drainage and that was really a focus because this course has historically flooded,” Pearsall says. “If you get a half-inch of rain, you’d shut down for three days.”

The drainage system was unclogged and additional drainage was installed on nearly every hole in the form of trenches with peat rock.

Pearsall adds that the fairways and tee boxes were re-seeded and some more grass seed was added to areas of rough around the course.

Heavy rainfall in the spring delayed the completion of the cart path project by about two months. With that work not being finished until the end of June, Pearsall says they’ve held off on putting out new grass seed and sod near the cart paths.

Rawlins said the grounds crew worked to return the course to “‘[Donald Ross’s] original specs as much as we could.”

Course Superintendent Eric Goodman, Rawlins says, has “done a great job. He knows how to manage a team, especially at a busy course.”

So far, they’ve heard plenty of positive feedback about the course from the 200 to 250 golfers that play there each day.

Rob Kanibar, who’s played at Warren Valley for five years, told C+RB that the condition of the fairways, cart paths and greens have greatly improved.

While appreciating the compliment, Pearsall tells Kanibar and his playing partner, Moe Sayed, that the conditions “will get a lot better.”

Golf course rewards accuracy, soft putting stroke

Bedsworth gave a tour of the course and shares his appreciation for the challenging layout that Ross formulated more than a century ago. Long hitters will look at the modest distance of 6,127 yards from the back tees on the Par 71 course and think they will have a field day. Think again, Bedsworth notes. With many small greens that typically slope from back-to-front, have plenty of undulations and swales, and are guarded by bunkers or woods, Warren Valley rewards precision and a soft putting touch.

Bedsworth notes the Par 4, 385-yard 3rd hole has a lot of trees on both the left and right sides of the fairway that ends with a “beautiful little green down in the valley.”

“If you miss [the green] right, left, or long, good luck,” Bedsworth says. “…And this green’s slicker than snot…The key to playing a Donald Ross golf course, historically, is, you better be below the hole. Don’t be above the hole.”

On the Par 4, 318-yard 4th hole, Bedsworth explains golfers “have a blind tee shot somewhat and [the fairway] narrows as you’re coming up…if you get too far left here, you’re hitting a knockdown shot into a slick little pool table with bunkers on either side…you can’t even see the bunkers on the right.”

The course has just two Par 5 holes and only three Par 3 holes, but Bedsworth notes the design of the 189-yard, Par 3 7th hole represents “Donald Ross at his best…It’s uphill, it’s into the wind. Old guys like me [hit] driver and maybe I’ll get there…it’s a monster.”

Two driving ranges planned on property

For the first time in Warren Valley’s history, a driving range will be built on the property, along with a short game range with a green and a flag where golfers can practice shots from 100 yards or less. Lessons for golfers of all levels will be offered once the driving range spaces are finished, Rawlins says.

There is a passholder program and Dearborn Heights residents can purchase a discounted pass that can be used throughout the season. A majority of people who play the course live in Dearborn Heights.

There are currently about 12 to 14 leagues with approximately 30 golfers in each one. A golf outing celebrating the 100th anniversary of the course took place in early summer.

Clubhouse project eyed for completion in late spring 2024

While golf is the only activity happening at Warren Valley, next year promises to be filled with many more events. That’s because Issa Brothers is hoping to finish construction of a clubhouse with a banquet center, steakhouse, whiskey and cigar bar, and lounge in late spring of 2024. 

Wesam Issa says an addition is being installed that will bring the building 37 feet closer to the course. A patio will be constructed in between the building and the golf course.

“It will be a nice patio where people can mingle, eat, drink, smoke,” says Issa. “This is all getting cleaned up so you can see the [Rouge] River and the driving range…Spring, summer, it’s going to be beautiful out here. Even fall’s going to be nice.”

A second hall is being constructed and Issa says he will have a club operation in that space on weekends. During the week, the hall will be rented out for smaller events such as birthday parties or bachelor parties.

Course on track for 35,000 to 40,000 rounds in 2023

Pearsall says Warren Valley is on track to have 35,000 to 40,000 rounds played in 2023, which he noted is “excellent.”

“We’ll continue to assess the rounds and if the rounds suddenly get above 50[,000], we’ll probably have the justification to restore another 9 [holes], but I don’t think we’ll ever do a whole other 18,” says Pearsall, who also notes the final decision rests with the city of Dearborn Heights.

He adds he believes course officials would “restore 13 holes… and do some alternate rotations…[there will] likely [be] somewhere between 27 and 33 holes.”

‘Paying homage’ to Ross’s legacy

There will continue to be features added to the layout to remind golfers that they are playing on a course designed by Ross. When he and his team took on the project, Pearsall says he flew to Scotland and visited Ross’s hometown of Dornoch.

“[I] went to his house [and] the place where he started playing and went to St. Andrews, which is where he worked after Dornoch,” Pearsall says.

He notes they will plant and try to grow Gorse flowers, which are yellow flowers typically seen on the St. Andrews course during The Open Championship. Pearsall says he and his staff have some places where they’re going to put Gorse flowers out and put in some other Scotland-flavored features.

The intention is to pull out “all the Ross attributes and really paying homage to his legacy is our goal,” Pearsall says.

Even with all the work that’s happened so far and the additional labor that still needs to occur, Warren Valley staffers are ever mindful of the special ground that they walk on each day.

“I’m really just a humble steward of this land,” Nixon says. “… It’s just really humbling, a really awesome experience. I’ve got a great crew of guys around me, the management team’s awesome…We’re all golf nuts, golf historians, we know how special it is, and we’re not going to squander that.” C+RB