East at Orchard Hills Golf Club

The East Course at Orchard Hills Golf Club in Shelbyville, Michigan, was designed by Arthur Young, a regional architect active in the Midwest during the mid-twentieth century. The course occupies rolling terrain characteristic of southwestern Michigan, where glacial topography creates natural elevation changes and the landscape transitions between open farmland and wooded corridors. The routing takes advantage of these features, with holes moving through mature tree lines and across gently undulating fairways.

The design reflects the practical, playable style common to Michigan daily-fee and semi-private courses of its era, emphasizing strategic variety over severe difficulty. Golfers encounter a mix of hole lengths and angles, with greens that incorporate modest contours and greenside bunkering that rewards accurate approach play. Water features appear selectively throughout the layout, typical of courses built in this agricultural region where natural drainage and small ponds are part of the landscape fabric.

Orchard Hills serves the Shelbyville area and the broader Allegan County golfing community, situated in a rural setting between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. The club offers a traditional Midwestern golf experience, where the course conditions and maintenance reflect seasonal variations and the layout provides accessible golf for a range of skill levels. The East Course shares the property with additional nine-hole layouts, a common configuration for clubs in smaller Michigan communities seeking to accommodate member and public play.