Sandy Creek Golf Course Review

Sandy Creek Golf Course
Monroe, Michigan

Overall Grade: B
Value: C+ ($34 with cart!)
Walkability: A+
Course Conditions: B+
Course Design: B
Practice Facility: C
Food: C nothing fancy.
Teacher’s Comments: Fun. I’d go back.

Sandy Creek is a very pleasant course just off the beaten track near Monroe, Michigan. Like so many Southeastern Michigan courses, it offers good conditions, a reasonable challenge and decent prices.

From a design point of view, Sandy Creek has a number of challenging holes. The ninth and tenth, in particular are doglegs that require precise tees shots. Water is present on eleven holes, often in the form of a creek crossing the fairway at a critical juncture. That makes distance control off the tee an important issue. I also liked the fact that it finishes with a strong par 5.  The course has a nice mix of doglegs, straightaways, target and muscle holes.

My favorite hole was the par five third. It’s framed very nicely with trees on both sides, and has just enough of a bend to make the proper placement of the tee shot useful but not critical. I enjoy par 5s because they allow me to play my favorite club—a TaylorMade TP 3 Wood—off the deck, and because they often offer me my best chance at a birdie (or better). I’m good with that three wood.

Course conditions on the day I visited were terrific. The local guy I played with told me that the course originally was a sod farm, and that the owners maintain operations nearby. If so, it shows. Fairways were lush, as were the greens, with none of the typical late summer brown spots. The rough was dry in many places, but that’s to be expected. With all of the water in the area, I was surprised to find very few damp spots on the fairway. The drainage systems must be very good.

Another great feature: this course is exceedingly walkable. Tees follow closely on greens, and it’s absolutely flat. It’s one of the few courses I’ve seen where walkers outnumbered cart riders. Ahead of my group were two foursomes of ladies-of-a-certain-age, all walking, and moving on at a fine clip.

The owners of Sandy Creek also deserve props for running what appears to be a very nice junior program. One of my playing partners actually was waiting for his sons to finish their juniors group lesson, following which the large group of kids went out to play nine holes. 

There’s an awful lot to like about Sandy Creek. Although it’s about 45 minutes from GolfBlogger World Headquarters, it’s a course I intend to visit again soon.

You can see more photos here.