History

A History of Warren Valley Golf Course, One of Michigan's First Donald Ross Designs.

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1922: Robert Noller engaged up-and-coming Scottish Golf Course Architect Donald Ross to design Warren Valley (then Hawthorne Valley) in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

June 30, 1923: The first Nine Holes on the West Side of Warren Valley opens up to the public, then called “Hawthorne Valley Golf Club.”

July 2, 1923: The second Nine Holes on the West Side of Warren Valley opens up, completing an 18 holes course measuring over 5,000 yards in total.

August 29, 1923: Warren Valley holds Caddie invitational and awards prizes for gross and net scores.

April 11, 1925: The East Side of Warren Valley Golf Course opens to the public. Warren Valley now offers 36 holes. (page 44)

April 10, 1926: Warren Valley opens to the public for the season with dining, dancing, and banquet halls. Buses leave from Junction Avenue and Warren every 1.5 hours and drop patrons off at the club.

February 16, 1927: Wayne County Board of Supervisors votes to sell an acre of property to Warren Valley Golf Course for $5,000.

May 18, 1927: Warren Valley starts selling Playing Privilege passes for $200 per year. The Club’s number was 0069.

January 4, 1928: Warren Valley is one of two locations determined to be ideal for Detroit’s first airport. Fortunately, the course was preserved, and Detroit City Airport Terminal was built 20 miles from Warren Valley on Detroit’s east side.

February 3, 1929: Warren Valley’s East and West Side are broken into two clubs. The East Side is relaunched as Thorncliffe Country Club and is an exclusive private club for members. The member-owned, private side was organized to subsidize the West (public) Side of Warren Valley because it lost money five years after it opened. The West Side of Warren Valley is kept open to the public on a reservation system.

April 20, 1929: Warren Valley is marketed as the “World’s Largest” public “pay-as-you-go” golf facility.

June 26, 1929: By 1929, over 50,000 golfers have enjoyed playing at Warren Valley, and the cost per round is $1.50.

August 18, 1932: Club Pro Robert Gray Jr. sets the course record with a seven-under-par score of 64.

March 18, 1934: Warren Valley’s land reverts back to the original owner Robert Nollar. Nollar hires Jack Elphick as head professional and announces plans to turn the East and West Side private.

April 8, 1934: The club that was initially built as Hawthorne Valley, then renamed Thorncliffe County Club, then renamed Detroit Fields Club, and then renamed Old Hawthorne opens the 1934 season as “Warren Valley Golf Club.”

December 17, 1941: Warren Valley changes management. Golf Professionals Jimmy Johnson and John Noller, son of the owner Robert Noller, take over club operations. Johnson was a decorated golfer who was the first public links player to win a Detroit District Title.

August 3, 1942: Warren Valley wins Michigan Golf Association’s team title.

February 11, 1943: Club Professional Jimmy Johnson leaves Warren Valley to work in a WW2 defense plant, and Jack Pritchard, Johnson’s former caddie, takes over as Warren Valley Club Professional.

December 27, 1943: Good ice skating is reported at Warren Valley Golf Course.

1944: Wayne County buys Warren Valley Golf Course from Robert Nollar. (Page 93)

May 13, 1949: Thieves steal the bent grass sod from the fifth hole green at Warren Valley.

August 23, 1950: Founding member and first president of the LPGA, Patty Berg, competes at Warren Valley.

1955: 87,000 rounds were played at Warren Valley Golf Course, the most rounds of golf in the WVGC’s storied record. (Page 93)

May 15, 1966: Women’s rights spread to Warren Valley, where women become starters.

June 28, 1968: Wayne County Road Commission sponsors junior golf clinics at Warren Valley.

October 25, 1975: Tenured as the golf professional at Warren Valley for 28 years and a PGA member since 1922, beloved club professional Ted Peterhans dies at 73, three years after retirement.

April 18, 1984: Wayne County Road Commission struggles to run Warren Valley profitably, and the golf course opens late in the year after golfers walked on for free all Spring.

January 18, 1985: Wayne County Road Commission offers cross-country skiing at Warren Valley.

March 13, 1986: Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority prepares a report suggesting that Warren Valley has too many holes and is too large to maintain.

December 12, 1986: Wayne County Recreation Department resolves to build a new clubhouse for Warren Valley – with a “clubhouse/banquet facility.”

October 6, 1996: Wayne County operates Warren Valley Golf Course at a deficit and begins exploring turning Warren Valley over to private management.

May 4, 2003: Momentum grows for Wayne County Parks Department to privatize Warren Valley.

October 7, 2005: Wayne County votes to approve paying Torre & Bruglio Golf Course Management, Inc to run Warren Valley and Inkster Valley Golf Courses.

October 2016: Oneida Golf Management takes over Warren Valley Golf Course, succeeding Torre & Bruglio.

February 28, 2017: Developers explore converting Warren Valley Golf Course into a gated residential community.

September 30, 2018: Dearborn Heights closes on a deal to purchase Warren Valley Golf Course from Wayne County, saving it from a proposed development project.

February 17, 2022: Oneida Golf Management turns possession of Warren Valley Golf Course over to the City of Dearborn Heights.

February 21, 2022: Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi announces Dearborn Heights will seek a new management company to take over the golf operations of Warren Valley.

August 4, 2022: Dearborn Heights approves a deal with Issa Brothers, LLC (Banquet Hall) and Revive Golf Management (Golf Course) to renovate and take over operations of Warren Valley.

September 21, 2022: Having been closed for the 2022 golf season, the playing surface begins to re-emerge at Warren Valley Golf Course as Revive Golf Management lays new sod and begins restoration efforts.

January 24, 2023: Warren Valley remains on track for its centennial with a Spring 2023 planned re-opening.

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A History of Warren Valley Golf Course, One of Michigan's First Donald Ross Designs.

HAVE AN ARTICLE TO ADD TO OUR ARCHIVES? We’d be honored to share it. Please e-mail Jason@WarrenValleyDH.com

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