The Matthews family’s huge impact on golf in Michigan
By Tom Lang
MI Golf Journal
Michigan has its Big Three automakers – but our state also boasts the Big Three legacy of golf course design – the Matthews family.
As much as the auto industry means to Michigan’s economy and worldwide identity, it can legitimately be argued the Matthews family has had a comparative impact on Michigan’s golf industry and the national admiration as a top golf mecca.
W. Bruce Matthews, Sr. started it all in 1925, fresh out of college at Michigan State. He was followed by his son, Jerry, who carried the bulk of the course design business with the many associates he hired, and on to grandson, W. Bruce III.
“No other family has had a wider reaching impact on the game of golf in our state,” Kate Moore, former executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Association once told me. “With course design and renovation as well as maintenance and development, the Matthews family has touched every corner of Michigan for decades on end.”
The state of Michigan has more than 800 golf courses across the two peninsulas, and nearly one-third of them have been original designs, expansions or renovation projects completed by one or two of three Matthews.
“They are certainly the most prolific course architects in the state of Michigan,” international award-winning course designer Mike DeVries, known for Michigan’s nationally-ranked Kingsley Club and Greywalls, told me. “They’ve had a tremendous impact on all levels; particularly they have contributed a lot in the daily fee and resort sector. They have really championed a lot of that area of golf, and that has had a profound impact on the everyday golfer.”
Paul Albanese, a disciple of Jerry who designed TimberStone, Sage Run and Sweetgrass in the Upper Peninsula, echoed similar accolades of how the Matthews family helped make Michigan the summertime golf capital.
“I think (the Matthews) are the reason golf grew so significantly in this state, because they created golf courses that were accessible,” he said. “That’s part of why we have more public courses in the state than anywhere else. If you ask how that came about, who designed all these courses? They helped the developers understand the type of facility they needed to build to keep their business going, to grow the game so more golfers will be out there and visit their facility. Jerry felt it was very important to not push people out of the game because the course was too difficult or too expensive. He wanted golfers to be out there and to grow the game.”
The praises don’t stop there....
Read the rest of the MI Golf Journal's article on the Matthews Family legacy at https://www.migolfjournal.com/featured-stories/100-years-a-family-golf-legacy-like-no-other.