Course Review: Cherry Creek in Shelby Township
By Tom Lang
I unexpectedly found myself playing at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Macomb County this summer, and I unexpectedly enjoyed it.
My overall impression of the property was its aesthetic appeal and beauty – which doesn’t come often in a high traffic area like those bordering the M-53 highway running north and south. Yet that is what I found when playing in a media and sponsors event the week of the Cairns Cup, an international match play tournament for adaptive golfers with various handicaps like missing limbs, blindness and neurological challenges. By the way, the U.S. team won for a second year in a row, with almost half of the national team members coming from Michigan.
In general, I really enjoyed the course. My notes indicated that some of the holes are rendered to target golf to avoid a fair amount of water on the course.
The overall land is also flat, making for a very walkable course if you so choose, but very nice man-made shaping added to the beauty of the challenges. It’s a Lanny Wadkins/ Mike Bylen design.
I also recall that the greens had much less break to them than the eye test revealed, so take that into account when lining up putts.
No. 8 was fun as a drivable par 4 dogleg left (not drivable for me), but with an over-abundance of sand traps protecting the green.
The sister courses in the Cherry Creek portfolio include Pine Trace and Shepherd’s Hollow – a very nice collection of properties. If you haven’t tried it, Cherry Creek needs checking out.
Watch action of the Cairn's Cup here:
