Links of Novi Golf Course Review

Links of Novi
Grade: B-
Teacher’s Comments: A pleasant course, if nothing special.

The Links of Novi is a pleasant, playable course. It’s well kept and has just enough variety to be interesting.

The Links of Novi has three nines: East, South and West. On the day I visited, I played the East and South. The West course was being used for an outing.

Standing on the clubhouse porch, if you squint your eyes, you can see the farmland that this once was. The holes on the front of the property are open and relatively treeless. Nowhere near a links style, though; still too many trees, especially around tee boxes and holes. Toward the back, fairways are cut through trees along wetlands. The entire course slopes downward from front to back.

From the tips, the East/South combination plays to a 68/118 and stretches to 6, 014 yards. The middle tees are at 662/114 and measure 5,653. This is a relatively easy course, and the bogey golfer should be able to card a good score.

Most of the holes on the course are relatively straightforward affairs. Interest comes from the slope changes. Holes toward the clubhouse are generally uphill. Those moving away play down.

My favorite hole was the par five nine on the south. It had a little bit of everything the Links of Novi has to offer. It starts with a tee shot through a wooded opening. From there, it bends right and heads back up to an elevated tee near the clubhouse.

Conditions on the day I visited were very good. The fairways were lush and virtually weed free. Greens were smooth and well tended. The rough had some holes. I gave the course a grade boost largely because the Links of Novi was in  good shape, even after a week of rain. I expected swampiness and concrete bunkers, but was pleasantly surprised.

If I have a complaint it is that the wooded areas at the back of the course needed to be trimmed back; they looked shaggy compared to the neatness of the rest of the property and detract a bit from the feeling of quality.

I thought that the greens fees for the Links of Novi were reasonable. The price during the week is $45, including cart, and $55 on the weekends. A nine hole replay is $15. So, you could play 27 holes for $60, which averages out to $20 a side. The relative shortness of the course and its rather straightforward play, however, mean that you can likely find a better value elsewhere.

The Links of Novi golf course review was first published June 26, 2015. See the gallery for more photos below. Click on them to enbiggen: