Maple Lane East Golf Course Review

Maple Lane East Golf Course Review

Maple Lane East
Sterling Heights, Michigan
Grade: D
Teachers’ Comments: As I found it, Maple Lane East has a long way to go to realize its potential

Read all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan Golf Course Reviews at the link.

Maple Lane East is one of three courses at the Sterling Heights Maple Lane golf club. The club has been in operation since 1926, expanding to three courses over the years.

Clarence Wolfrom, a Michigan Golf Hall of Famer, is credited with the original design. Wolfrom’s Hall of Fame entry is based on his work in the development of turfgrass in Michigan. Known as the “Dean of Growing Grass” in Michigan, he developed the “Maple Lane Spiker,” a tool now widely used in golf course maintenance.

If only Wolfrom were around to see the Maple Lane’s maintenance today.

Maple Lane East is a parklands style course, with tight fairways lined by mature trees. In summer heat, it was a pleasant walk.

The routing of Maple Lane East feels forced, and I would not be surprised to learn that it was the last of the courses squeezed onto the property — or that it was cannibalized to make room for longer West and North courses. At 5, 319 yards, it has an executive course feel. The two par fives average just over 400 yards. The par fours average 236 yards.

That’s perfectly fine. Shorter courses are all the rage these days. Golfers should know what they’re getting, though. Maple Lane could jump on the “short course” bandwagon and advertise it as such.

Overall, Maple Lane East is a par 70, with four par 3s and just two par fives. Its rating of 64 reflects the relative lack of distance.

Tee	Yardage	Rating	Slope
White	5, 319	64.7	103
Yellow	4, 713	66.1	106

My favorite hole at Maple Lane East wasn’t a single entry, but rather a tryptich. The tenth is a 232 yard par 4 over Red Run. A good tee shot is needed to clear the creek and keep it in play.

The eleventh is a par three back across Red Run to a green perched on a hillside. The twelfth is a par three back to the clubhouse.

It was actually a fun sequence of holes.

Conditions on the day I played were not good. It was one of the few times where I’ve felt conditions at a course seriously detracted from play. I am not a conditions snob. I don’t mind clover and other weeds on a course, as long as they are mowed. I don’t give brown or dormant grass a second thought. I do ask that some sort of vegetation cover the fairways.

Playing in the afternoon after a morning round at Maple Lane West, I found the course nearly empty, save for a couple of large family groups. They seemed to be having fun.

I can’t recommend a round at Maple Lane East based on what I found. Perhaps management was going through a rough spot and things are better in the future. I hope so.

The post Maple Lane East first appeared on GolfBlogger.Com. It is based on notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2022.

A photo tour of Maple Lane East follows. Apologies for not having a complete set. I had somehow bumped the settings on my DSLR and did not notice until later. Many came out too dark to be recoverable, even in Lightroom or Photoshop.