“Phenomenal,” “innovative” and “great business people” were just three ways architect Ray Hearn described the staff at Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Center. Fox Hills, previously known as Plymouth Country Club, opened in Plymouth, Michigan, as an 18-hole facility in 1927. The original course was designed by Wilfrid Reid, but in 1982, Jim Lipe designed an additional nine holes, finalizing the 27-hole Fox Classic course. The three nine-hole sets are named the Hills, the Woodlands and the Lakes, and blend the original layout with modern changes.
In 1989, the southeastern Michigan facility added the Golden Fox, an 18-hole Arthur Hills design. By 1999, Hearn began working with former owners Sandy Mily and Kathy Aznavorian on a par-3 course plan.
The owners gave Hearn a lot of free range, with just a few requests. “Make it really, really good, and make it so it’s fun for the beginner, fun for people that it’s their first time on a golf course, fun for the core golfers that never get enough golf,” Hearn says. “And then if the pros come out and want to hone in their short game, they could go out and feel challenged.”
Hearn’s response? “I was like, OK, giddy up. Here we go.”
Early in Hearn’s career, he decided he wanted to make his design the most detailed process in the business. For the Strategic Fox, the architect and his team started walking the site over and over, taking inventory and analysis of the land. Next came what Hearn called “chicken scratch” plans, drawing sketch ideas while on property. At the time, Hearn’s office was just a 15-minute drive from the course, giving him the opportunity to make as many course visits as he wanted throughout the process. Soon after, Hearn developed four possible master plans and dialed in on one final plan, comprised of pieces of each of the options.
Following the master plan finalization, Hearn worked on strategy and feature development, placing bunkers and getting exact tee sizes and developing construction plans. “Literally, by that point in time, I hit 30 site visits, from office to site, office to site,” Hearn says. He added another 30 visits during the site inspection process.
By fall 2001, the par-3 course opened for play. The short course came long before the boom of par-3 courses the golf industry is seeing now. “We were in uncharted waters,” Hearn says, “but I felt confident.”
The course remains one of the country’s few 18-hole par-3 courses. Hearn says most courses build anywhere from 6 to 12 holes, instead of a full 18.
The design and construction process didn’t bring many challenges, as most often do. Construction moved without a hitch, with little to no delay. “The stars aligned on this project,” Hearn says. “This thing was so fantasyland. It was weird. It was silky smooth the whole ride.”
Working with Fox Hills’ staff certainly assisted in making the process cohesive.
Hearn considers Aznavorian and Mily, who sold the club to Heritage Golf Group in 2022, to be among the smartest folks in the Michigan golf community. “They’re just great people,” he says. “Fun to be around, very innovative and progressive, willing to take risks, and great businesspeople. I couldn’t say enough about them.”
Mily and Aznavorian no longer run Fox Hills, but the current regional director of agronomy, Eric Niemur, worked plenty of seasons with them. Niemur was 17 when he started working at Fox Hills, helping his dad move golf carts. When he turned 18, he joined the grounds crew and started working at the course throughout his summers. He started college as a business major but changed routes and transferred to Michigan State University, where he graduated from the turfgrass management program in 1995. Following graduation, he was hired as an assistant superintendent and has continued to move up in leadership. After the course was sold to Heritage, Niemur officially earned the director of agronomy title.
When Strategic Fox planning began, Niemur was the superintendent of the Golden Fox course. He assisted with the grow-in process of the short course, and worked alongside his boss, former director of grounds and facilities Bob Mateja. During construction, Niemur eventually became superintendent of both Golden Fox and Strategic Fox.
Hearn credits Niemur for such a successful opening and continued joy for the course. “When it opened, they were like, ‘Oh, my goodness, not a blade of grass is out of place.’ And that’s the genius of Eric and his crew,” Hearn says. “He is a superstar in his field.”
When construction was completed, Hearn provided Fox Hills with an 18-hole par-3 course with hole yardages ranging from 91 to 195 yards from the back tees. Bunkers, wetlands and a waterfall dot the course, which features three tee options per hole.
One of the first holes to come together during construction, No. 13, is a memorable course feature for Niemur. The yardage measures 195 from the tips and 135 from the front tees, with a bunker backdrop. Hole No. 17, another of Niemur’s favorites, is a mid-yardage hole, teeing off across a portion of the pond with mounding behind the green and a bridge across the water.
Maintenance for the course differs slightly from Golden Fox and Fox Classic. Jeremy Powell now works as superintendent of the Strategic Fox, after working as Niemur’s assistant. The short course brings increased maintenance on filling divots and ball marks, and slight changes to input plans. Prior to Powell’s hiring, Dennis Nordling held the position as superintendent of the short course. Nordling retired but still works at the course several days a week. “It’s been a good transition for Dennis,” Niemur says, “to be here to kind of help teach him some ropes and understand the irrigation and those things that he was less experienced on.”
Before COVID-19, Strategic Fox saw around 10,000 rounds a year. Post COVID? More than 20,000. The club also implemented an 18-hole FootGolf course on the property, which brings in about 1,000 more rounds.
The layout is unique in that it’s built like a championship course. “Especially in this area, there’s not a lot of par-3 courses, but it was built to stand out like a championship course,” Niemur says. “Nice bunkering, large tees, large greens, nice, bigger approaches. I’d say more of a high-caliber par-3, that’s how Ray always termed it, sort of this championship par-3 course.”
The Strategic Fox provides an opportunity for families, friends and golfers of all levels to come together to play the game. “It’s still a really nice par-3 course, and people really like playing it,” Niemur says. “And if dad or mom’s a really good golfer, and they’re playing with their kids that are learning, it offers kind of that enjoyment as well. I think that’s kind of what the overall goal was.”
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