UPDATE: Fox Hills has indeed been sold to Heritage Golf Group. Here is a screen capture from Fox Hills’ Facebook page:
The original story from this post follows:
Brian Cairns, PGA teaching pro at Fox Hills in Plymouth, Michigan has tweeted that the 63 hole facility has been sold.
A later tweet suggests that the buyer is Heritage Golf Group, a “country club lifestyle company.”
The “sisters” in the tweet are Kathy Dul Aznavorian and Sandy Dul Mily. Their parents purchased the original Fox Hills Country Club in 1974 and over the years have grown it to one of — if not THE — premier public golf facility in southeast Michigan.
Fox Hills has three nines of the Classic Fox (two of which were designed by Wilfried Reid, the upscale Arthur Hills’ Golden Fox, the Strategic Fox short course and an expansive teaching facility.
I hope that the new owners are as serious about advancing public golf in southeast Michigan as the Dul family was.
Original Post published July 7, 2022 on GolfBlogger.Com
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Heritage didn’t buy Fox Hills to continue operating it as a public facility. There’s is a full-service club level membership progam. Take a look at all the clubs they operate now on their website for evidence. My guess is they’ll shut it down after this season and begin a major renovation. Expect a lavish clubhouse to be built in place of what’s present, an aquatics facility, pickleball and tennis courts, banguet facility and perhaps an equestrian facility in order to provide the full country club experience. The real question is what becomes of the courses? I’ve never been a big fan of any of them. The Golden Fox is the best of the bunch, but it’s just another run of the mill Art HIlls track. There’s nothing special about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if they bulldozed them all and started from scratch with one or two big name architects and built two 18 hole championship courses and short course. The courses there now are on good, but not great land. However, were you hire someone the likes of Mike DeVries, Andy Staples or Tom Doak, you have the chance to create something truly special. The goal, obivously, is to attract the well-to-do from the Plymouth, Canton and east Ann Arbor areas where there really isn’t a great private course option available. It’s a smart move by Heritage from that standpoint and they would be wise to retain Brian Cairns as the head pro, as he’s good people. I used to caddie with him at Oakland Hills back in the day.
You are likely correct, but I hold out hope for their keeping it public. My impression is that Fox Hills is a busy course as a public facility and I hate to see the loss of public golf.