The Golfland Story

The year was 1958. There was a total eclipse of the sun. The New York Yankees won the World Series and Arnold Palmer won the 1st of his 4 Masters Championships. And while the first satellite from the United States was launched into space, the first golf ball was launched from Carl's Golfland.

Starting as a small driving range on the outskirts of Pontiac, Michigan, Carl Rose and his wife Donna opened the original Carl's Golfland. Golf was a little known sport back then. But the Roses had a dream.

As the game of golf grew so did Carl's. In 1962 Arnold Palmer won the Masters for the third time, the Yankees again won the World Series and Carl's Golfland moved to what would be our present location in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. What started out as a 750 square foot building, has grown to our present capacity of over 20,000 square feet of store plus a 15-acre-world-class practice facility.

Carl's Golfland is proud to be the only off-course golf store to be named to the prestigious Golf World Top 100 Golf Shops every year since the award started in 1985. In addition Golf World named Carl's Best of The Best in 2006.

The Legend of the
Orange Bag

The icon of Carl's Golfland is a symbol of golf around Southeast Michigan

There's a little golf tournament in Augusta known for its green jacket. A burger stop gained worldwide fame for its golden arches. And when a little blue box from Tiffany & Co. shows up, recipients are happy even before they open it. Well, since 1958 Carl's Golfland has had its own icon: the orange and black merchandise sacks and boxes.

Some mega retailers and corporations hire outside gurus to develop an image, but the color choice for Carl's Golfland was much less deliberate. "Dad was a graduate of Pontiac High School, and the school colors were orange and black. It was that simple," explains Carl Rose.

Carl's Golfland started out as a small driving range on the outskirts of Pontiac, and moved to its present location in Bloomfield Hills in 1962. Rose recalls that early on, the orange theme even carried over to painted bathroom doors and exterior trim on the outside of the building in the ‘70s.

Today, Carl's Golfland has a 20,000-square-foot Bloomfield Hills location, plus a 15-acre, world-class practice facility with heated tees for year-round access. In 2000, Carl's added a second location at the St. John's Gold and Conference Center in Plymouth. It also has a full practice facility featuring grass and heated tees, plus a putting green, sand bunker and chipping area.

But as much as some things change, other remain the same: The orange and black color scheme lives on a symbol of golf around southeast Michigan – in the bags and boxes, on gift certificates and even the new Carl's gift cards.

And that won't change anytime soon. Explains Rose: "A lot of our long-term loyal customers claim that it wouldn't feel like Christmas – or Father's Day – without getting to unwrap our distinctive orange box."