Frankfort, MI
Crystal Downs Country Club
Walkley Ewing incorporated Crystal Downs in June 1927 after assembling property beside Lake Michigan. An initial nine-hole course by Eugene Goebel opened that year, but Ewing believed the dunes offered more. He sought advice from golf writer Robert Hunter.1
- Location
- Frankfort, MI
- Course
- 18 holes · par 70
- Club website
- Visit website
A second chance on Michigan’s dunes
Hunter’s recommendation brought Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell to Michigan in October 1928. Their visit redirected the young Club’s plans: the existing course would give way to a new eighteen-hole design.1
The course
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Continue through the archive
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Sources and editorial notes3 references
Sources for this story
- Crystal Downs David M. Rosenberger, Club Historian / The Alister MacKenzie Society
Club incorporation, Eugene Goebel nine, Ewing’s account of MacKenzie and Maxwell, construction through 1933, wartime closure and 1947 reopening.
Consulted 2026-09-17