Sage Run Golf Club
Have you heard about Sage Run Golf Club yet? If not, you should know about it!
With the rate of new course construction slowing, it tends to be big news when a new build is announced. There’s been a number of huge additions to Midwestern golf over the last several years, with Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes in Wisconsin, and Stoatin Brae and the Arcadia Bluffs South Course opening to fantastic reviews. Sage Run opened in Bark River, Michigan in July, 2018 – essentially due to demand for more high quality golf at the Island Casino & Resort in nearby Harris. The resort decided to build based on the success of Sweetgrass Golf Club and re-enlisted the duo of Paul Albanese and Chris Lutzke to come up with an entirely different challenge. Well, they did it.
Sage Run sits on about 300 acres of glacier-carved land. Much of the property is relatively flat except for, well, the drumlin. What is a drumlin? Let’s get used to that term. Short version, it’s a large ridge formed by moving glaciers that looks kind of like an upside down spoon and makes for an awesome feature to build a golf course on.
The architects have mentioned their intent to build a natural, minimalist course, and I feel they’ve succeeded. They drew inspiration from legendary golf courses like Northern Ireland’s Royal County Down. I had visited RCD only a few months ago, so I’ll try and point out spots where I think they got ideas from as we go. This place has a couple daring design choices and unique features that some might grumble about, but I happen to love it. Hop on and let’s give it a go!
The Holes
The Front 9
First tee box, first impression – this is not your traditional flat lie, squared off tee box. They are more like “tee areas,” and they were shaped in the same way the greens were. Pics here don’t convey the feel of it. It’s something you’ll have to pay attention to the whole day, and sometimes you need to wander around in order to give yourself the lie you want. I’ve read some early reviews and comments floating around the internet complaining about it. Stop it! This course is unique and fun so try something new for once! Most of these folks probably played Sweetgrass the other day. The tee boxes there are flat and perfect – like teeing it up on your living room carpet.
Number one is a mid-length par 4 that sweeps down and to the right. You can cut off the dogleg some, then hoist a short iron onto the big, wide green. Here’s a Royal County Down feature – big greens with lots of ripply contours. Not a lot of huge slopes, but everything will have a just a little more movement to it than you’d expect. You’ll see a convenient aiming tree where the fairway runs out, so start on that line and let it drift to the right.
The second hole plays a “short” 490 yards, but if you’re brave and take on the huge bunker, you can cut off some of the right to left dogleg. The photo below shows some of the off-the-green area still growing in, and that front bunker creates a semi-blind approach. Cool hole, big challenge.
Hole three gives you your first look at scoring – a mid-size par 5 where you have to figure out how much of the cross bunkers you feel like carrying. You then have more cross bunkers in front of an elevated green. Hit a good wedge and make your birdie here.
The fourth will be your last hole in this flat part of the property. Again you have to smartly place your drive in a somewhat tight fairway. It’s all in front of you, you can see it, but it dares you to hit to the right spot. Imagine what a swirling wind will do to you… that’s some more Royal County Down.
Drumlin time. The fifth asks you to add two or three extra clubs in this severe uphiller. The architects carved out a generous landing area that you can see exactly none of. You’re in big trouble if you come up short, but you’ve got plenty of room to bail and a flat green if you manage the tee ball well.
We head back down the drumlin on the 473-yard sixth. You’re elevated from the tee and will get some roll on the fast and firm bluegrass fairways. Avoiding the bunkers that pinch in will let you hit a short iron into a green that you must predict where it’ll kick your ball.
Take a bit of a breather here on seven, as you’ll have a mid to long iron into a flat, contoured green on this par 3. The relative lack of features here, and wide open horizon, could cause some depth perception issues.
We now approach the potentially drivable eighth – a 298-yard, uphill, tree-split fairway with a backstop green. It’s a great hole – one that forces you to decide if your best odds are to lay up to the right or give it a go. Well, I didn’t drive 350 miles to hit an iron, so I gave it a whack and ended up tracking the pin until my Slazenger landed conveniently in the last bunker. Use the backstop to move your ball to the pin if you need to. While very challenging and strategic, I can’t stop myself from groaning when I see the visually invasive cart path that gets you up the hill. Ugh.
The ninth is a gentle par 5 that tests to see how brave you are carrying a bunker, then pinches to a tight fairway for your second. This is a great green site where if you did fly it long, you can roll your TopFlite right up.
The Back 9
On ten, you will give youself a good look at a par or birdie. It’s a slight dogleg left with a bit of a blind tee shot. You’ll want to note where the pin was cut and play for angles into the green.
Eleven is perfect timing for your nasty snap hook, so duck it out there through another semi-blind fairway to a big, crumply green. (Take a look at the second pic below, this is a pretty common look for the bunkers right now. Everything is totally playable, but some of the whispy edges and details will look fantastic in a year or so.)
The par-5 twelfth has you challenging or wimping out on another landing zone bunker. Play short and you have two more bunkers in your next landing zone, or carry it and you’ll have no issues playing to a big elevated green. This is a good hole with lots of ways to play it.
Thirteen’s another brainy hole. A short, climbing left-to-righter where you can cut off a ton by carrying some deep bunkers, or put a long iron in hand if you don’t. You’re in for a severe green that’ll repel your ball in about three unfriendly directions if you miss. Don’t miss.
Number fourteen is kind of like a mirror image of the fifth, but twice as big and mean. They’ve built a tee box (tee area, sorry) that can go about 290. It’s up and to the right, and all carry. I somehow hit my best 4 iron all year and the ball never left the flag, landing about 8’ short. Nice par, bud. If you look left from the tee, you’ll get a good panoramic of the eighteenth. My afternoon was overcast and dark. Turns out smoke from the recent western Canadian wildfires had passed through northern Michigan… created a few cool photos.
The fifteenth is another drop-shot par 4. It reminds me of a few holes on the back nine of Tom Doak’s Lost Dunes in Bridgman, MI. Sure, you can rip it here, but if you get it off line, you’re going to run straight into a bunker or the woods. We’ll see another great green complex here too. Traps guard the sides and hide pin locations, so again be aware of what angles you’re leaving yourself.
OK, back up the drumlin on sixteen. Here’s another shorter hole. If you’re only able to get to the first ledge, you’re in trouble. Get to the second (and there’s more room than you can see), it’s birdie time. Excellent green! Lots of back-to-front slope, and if you’re a long hitter or crazy lucky, you can drive this one. Before you get up to the green, turn and look at what’s behind you. You’re not finding many better views. Just think of October and imagine how much the colors will pop. (Bonus pic of the fifth green, through the trees.)
You get up to the seventeenth, check the scorecard and see 139 yards. Rejoice, pull your pitching wedge or 9 iron, you’ll be tracking down a birdie here. Not so easy. A bunker short and left obscures your view and a long green demands a confident shot. There’s a bunch of trouble long, and if they’re kind enough to put the pin in the back, you’ll notice a little pimple or bubble that’ll lead to sure three putts. Even for me.
The “home” hole eighteenth puts driver in hand and calls for a big sweeping draw to a fairly narrow landing area. At 635 yards, few will get on in two, so another long layup is needed to position your final wedge. Get on the long, narrow green and you’ve just completed what I feel could be a top-15 course in Michigan.
Final Thoughts
Sage Run is rugged, raw, and textured which is a huge departure from its shimmering and pristine sister course, Sweetgrass. It’s a big hitter’s course at 7,375 yards, but flexible enough to vary the tee boxes and offer different looks each day. You’ll have some punishing shots and need to have control of your ball, but if you stay clear of the major trouble, you can escape without losing too many Noodles. This is a NEW golf course. It’s most definitely playable, but there are some scruffy and rough spots that need time to grow in. The greens and playing surfaces are stellar, but if you miss, you’ll encounter some rocky spots… so just move your ball. Don’t ding up your butter-soft Endo-forged blades you spent a mortgage payment on.
I wasn’t joking when I said this could be a top-15 course in Michigan. There’s no gaps in the Sage Run experience – there’s incredible variety in the design that will challenge your long game and ask you to hit precise short shots. It also manages to be really, really, really, ridiculously good looking.
