Maple Lane West Golf Course Review

Maple Lane West Golf Course Review

Maple Lane West
Sterling Heights, Michigan
Grade: D
Teachers’ Comments: The bones of a decent course are here.

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Maple Lane West is one of three courses at the Sterling Heights facility. The course has been in operation since 1926. The architect credited with Maple Lane is Clarence Wolfrom. The original eighteen were incorporated into the other courses as the facility expanded.

Wolfrom is Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member for his contributions to the development of Michigan turfgrass. Known as the “Dean of Growing Grass” in Michigan, he developed the “Maple Lane Spiker,” a tool now widely used in golf course maintenance.

Unfortunately, the current state of Maple Lane does him no credit. More about that later.

Maple Lane West is a parklands design, with back-and-forth tree lined holes. The course is very flat, with the exception of a couple of holes toward the end. Almost every hole is a straight shot from tee to green — or very nearly so. Two doglegs are the exception.

The course also is very tight. Were it not for the lanes of trees, it would be a shooting gallery. Maple Lane West is about as straightforward a course as one can imagine.

Maple Lane West is a par 71 that tips out at 6, 066 yards.

Tee	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Red	6, 066	68.4	111
Blue	5, 733	66.7	107
White	5, 319	64.7	103

The course is on the short side, and not particularly difficult.

My favorite hole was the eighteenth, which is one of the few holes on the course with some elevation change. Eighteen is a dogleg par four that starts out flat, then dives into a low area that was obviously carved out by nearby Red Run before 14 Mile was elevated, separating the creek from that part of the course.

The green is perched on high ground above the depression, presenting one of the Maple Lane West’s few “thinky” situations.

Conditions on the day I played were not good. The fairways were thin, hard and dry. There were weeds — small trees even — growing in the bunkers.

The bones of a good course are here. Unfortunately, those bones have been picked over by crows.

And yet, the parking lot was full, and the course was packed on a midweek summer day. The weekday rate with a cart for seniors is just $28 in the summer of 2022, so that likely explains a lot.

For my part, I can’t really recommend Maple Lane West. It has the potential to be a pleasant and very pretty course, but is held down by conditions.

The post Maple Lane West 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 West follows: