Sanctuary Lake Golf Course

Sanctuary Lake is an excellent golf course built on an old trash dump. The only problem we have encountered is the pace of play. There are a lot of people that they send out too close together and the course backs up often. We have played 5 hour rounds many times, which is why we will only go if we are one of the first groups out. This is a true link style course that is maintained very well. On a hot summer day you can definitely smell the trash but it isn't too bad.

In order to score here you must put the ball in the fairway, the heather is penalizing and the greens are much more receptive if you are able to put spin on the ball. This course has a good mix of holes that are target golf and others where you can bomb it off the tee.

I've been playing Sanctuary Lake since it opened a few years back and I'm a big fan of the course and layout.  I've played it at least 20 times and this time combined all the things that are wrong with this place.

I booked an 11:16 hot-deal time for a twosome ($31 each for 18 w/cart) - that's about the most I want to pay to play almost ANY course in the area, there are too many good courses and good deals to pay the full rates that many courses charge.  

Key items:

1)  Called at 10:30 AM and was told that it was "quiet/not busy until leagues this afternoon" - arrived a little late at 11:25 and worked our way up to the 1st tee to find that we were behind 2 other foursomes who were waiting for 2 other groups to clear the 1st hole.... and it was stacked ahead of them too.  4.5 hours later we finished our round.  The "ranger" (very nice guy, btw) came by several times and chatted us up but like any other public course in the area, did little actual "rangering" afaik.

2)  The greens were aerated - I know I should ASK this time of year, but other courses will often volunteer that information.  On the bright side, they only aerified HALF of each green, and placed the pin on the other half.  I appreciated that... however, the greens were in ATROCIOUS shape.  Old ball marks and green divots EVERYWHERE, including surrounding the pin positions (4-5 ball marks within 1 foot of the flag) - the ball marks were clearly there when the cup was moved.

3)  The course mandated cart-path only, and I know we got a lot of rain the night before but there was NO reason to not allow 90 degree cart usage.  I play 60-80 rounds annually IN MICHIGAN all times of year and I understand not wrecking a course, but there was no good reason for this mandate on that day.  There was no standing water in ANY fairways and aside from a couple of squishy low-lying areas, the fairways were firm.

4)  Many bunkers were washed out, consistently, with no power-raking done that day in any way.

5)  At the turn, we had time to kill so we ordered food - we were told it would be 10 minutes for our chicken wrap and chicken tenders.  20 minutes later we were handed our food.

***

This may sound like a lot of complaining, and it is - but the organization and management there consistently presents an attitude and pricing structure that puts them in a category that implies service, facilities, and maintenance that are on a par with other nice courses in the area.  They consistently do not provide it.  The course is "local" and the convenient location is it's primary selling point - but I would much rather drive a little extra distance to Blackheath, Devil's Ridge, Boulder Pointe, or Twin Lakes to the North -- or west to Lyon Oaks or Coyote and pay LESS rates for MUCH BETTER MAINTAINED COURSES where the staff seem to appreciate that you're playing there.  

Sanctuary Lake, you disappointed me horribly today.  I should never have to play a 4.5 hour round at 11:30 AM on a weekday in September with such sub-standard course conditions.  Straighten up and put some of the money back into the course.