Sanctuary Lake Golf Course

This course has the perfect mix of elevation and trees!!

Golfing in Michigan after November 1st is a true blessing, especially for a Floridian like myself. I arrived in Troy, Mi a few days earlier and the temperature was in the mid to high 30's. No thoughts or chance for a round of golf, then the holiday miracule happened. Two day later as predicted the temperature in the area rose to 58 degrees, and it was off to the golf course for me. I arrived at Sanctuary Lakes Golf Course on a sunny day with a light breeze, and a temperature of 48 degrees to start my round. By the 7th hole the temperature had reached a pleasant 58 degrees, and I'm feeling really good about my game.

     Sanctuary Lakes Golf Course is a local favorite in the city of Troy. The course was in surprisingly good condition for this time of year, and the greens were relatively fast. Sanctuary Lakes is an 18 hole, links-style, par-71 golf course. The course is short by today's standards (6,555 yrds from the championship tees), but it is loaded with several unique features that make it difficult, challenging, and fun to play. It has severe elevation changes, with rolling, manicured fairways that are generously wide and treelined at different places. The rough varies in length and type of grass, which makes it brutal at times. The bushes are natural to the area, they vary in height and density, and are well placed. There are several marshy areas and forced carries to enhance the challenge and beauty of the course. The small, undulating, and fast greens makes scoring a unique challenge for weekend warriors. There are 80 sand traps on the course, which half are there to save you from losing a ball in the marshy areas and ponds, while the others are to test your bunker skills. There are a few holes that require you to hit over water, which is mind boggling at times. The real excitement comes in the form of the short par 4s that are reachable from the tee box. Of course, there is the small matter of Risk vs. Reward, but hey, you will never know unless you try. There are a few signature holes that will make you smile and are quite memorable. Take a deep breath, enjoy the view, then focus. I mean really focus on your shot, because you really don't want to mess this one up.

     Sanctuary Lakes Golf Course reminds me of a Michigan Wolverine. These animals are cute, small, fierce, rugged, and downright mean at times. This course is best played with someone with local knowledge or the second time around. It was chilly the day I played, so I moved up one tee box to the blue tees, which are 6,123 yds with a slope rating of 69.6 /127. My favorite holes are #9, #12, and #17. I should mention that there are a few blind shots designed into the course. Hole #4 is the perfect example, so beware of the dogleg even if you are a long ball hitter. The par 5, 18th is an excellent closing hole. The trouble on this hole can easily balloon your score and blow a good round.

     I really enjoyed my round. After the round, I stopped in the clubhouse and dined in the Piper's Grille. The food was good with value pricing. The atmostphere reminded me of the hit tv series Cheers; "Where everyone knows your name." It should be noted that the course has a driving range and practice putting and chipping green. I recommend this course for true and serious golfing fun.

One Happy Golfer

H. Bell (Golf Enthusiast/ Freelance Writer)

Visited: Nov 2017

Troy, MI

Nice practice range and the course was pretty good. I like the elevation tees.

The course is a very good challenge

Greens are a good speed and roll

Excellent fairways and stay on them or you won't find ball in the heather

Looking forward to playing again soon

Sanctuary always prepares their course perfectly. The staff is great, could use more visits from the beer cart, but if that's the only complaint I'm fine with it.

This course reminds me of a much nicer course you'd find on the west side or up north. Very well maintained. $35/18 holes on a Saturday.

My only complaint is the beer cart girl left at 5pm? We teed off at 345pm, and never even saw her. Didn't get a drink of any sort until the turn before 10.

What kind of golf course sends the beer cart girl home at 5pm on a Saturday?!?

Sanctuary Lake is welcoming golf course that is well-manicured. It is a really nice place to spend an afternoon.

My go-to course. Slower pace on the weekends but I know what to expect.

Beautiful day for a round of golf, however, had to wait on every hole. Hole #14 had four groups and the wait was at least 15 minutes for us!

We don't plan on playing the course again...much too slow.

I played here very early in the morning on a Monday, teed off before 6AM, quick 9 before work, the course was in immaculate shape, greens ran smooth and true. I started off the back 9, my only complaint is that I was following the grounds crew changing the hole placement, so nearly every approach shot I had to wait for the guy to finish. If the course knew that there were people playing that early off the back 9, and I wasn't the only one out there, they should have had the crew start on the front 9. or start on 18 and work backwards so you only run into him once. Other than that great job keeping the course up.

They're running specials for tee times before 8am, teed off at 7:16am and was finished by 9:30am playing by myself. Course was in good shape a little wet in the low areas. This course is tough when the winds coming out of the north/northeast. Would be in even better shape if other golfers were considerate and replaced their divets.

My son and I love playing this course. Close to home

This has been my "home" course for several years due to it's convenient location near my house. This was my first time playing it this year, and needless to say I won't be back anytime soon. My recommendation is to close the course for a couple days and repair the fairways and greens. It does not look like any repairation has been done to the course since it closed last year. I've put up with slow and crowded play here, but I'm not going to chip and put on what looks like an Elementary Playground.

For being the first week of April. Course was in great shape. Especially the greens. Look forward to going back once the weather gets better..

With temps on High 50's and open golf courses far and few between. Awesome that this course is open. Of course green could be better, not all holes playable, so what!! Who keeps score in March? Great opportunity to get clubs out, smash some drive, test irons accuracy, practice some chips, and enjoy the early play with other golfers, itching to get out of the house!! Can't wait to play this course again.

We played this course on 2/18/17 for $20 through GolfNow. Upon arrival, we see a sign on the clubhouse door stating that 2 holes were closed and 3 had temporary greens. We felt a little short-changed since this info was not given to us at booking but whatever...

As we approached the first tee-box, we immediately knew it was going to be a LONG day. At the top of the hill, there was a long line of carts (about 7-8) waiting to tee off with no ranger present. We were only able to play 9 holes and it took almost 3.5 hours! This is always the norm at Sanctuary Lake, even during the summer. They simply do an atrocious job at managing the course and pace of play.

Due to its layout, this course could be a lot more fun if it was managed better. No matter the time of year, pace of play is ALWAYS horrendous. I try to avoid this course like the plague.

The staff is extremely helpful and friendly; however, it is clear that there are simple issues management needs to address or else they will continue to lose customers. It should not take 6+ hours to play 18 holes.

All in all, the layout of the course is great and it would be an extremely fun course to play if it were managed better.

Playing in February so conditions with a grain of salt but seemed fairly nice. Two holes closed and three temp greens leave a little to the imagination still but I would return without a doubt.

We didn't know there were only 16 holes open, 2 were flooded. There were also 3 temporary greens. These conditions were not posted, so it was quite a surprise to learn about the condition, when checking in at the club house.

As all the other reviews say it's completly over booked. Paid for 18 to start at 3pm. Behind so started around 3:45 and it was so clogged we only got thru 9 holes, in 3 1/2 hours!!!! the course is a decent layout and could be fun to play if pace was better.