The Coyote Golf Preserve in Tyrone Township is the twin brother of the Coyote Golf Club in Wixom and is a very difficult course where you can score but you better play your level best in order to do so.
Clubhouse view from 18th fairway
The Coyote Golf Preserve was designed by the King of golf and no I am not talking Elvis. Like Elvis you will be ‘All Shook Up’ if you hit errant shots and playing solid golf for all 18 holes is a challenge for skilled golfers but he does not design golf courses but Arnold Palmer does and the King designed a dandy here. This course plays from 5563 to 6912 yards but seems to play longer as its rolling hills, long carries and undulated greens challenge your vision and keeps you to the edge of your abilities. The topography features rolling terrain with elevation changes and incredible views. Carries over wetlands, ravines, depressions and water hazards are plentiful and reasonable.
My review starts on the brilliant second hole. This is a true strategy hole. It plays only 324 from the blues (where myself and my partner played) and many of the holes give the course a much different look depending on where you decide to challenge yourself. The second hole has sand traps dab smack in the middle of the landing area but the fairways fan out both right and left around them. The left side gives you a better place to work your ball into the green but slopes more than the right. The right side has less slope but a large tree will block out some approach shots if you do not place your driver. Trees do guard the hole on both sides but only come into play for poor shots. There is sand to the left of the flag and the greens are very tricky at this course. My drive was excellent but not bombed and my chip was short left. Still, I putted for par from six feet and I missed as was the theme for the day. I am very disappointed to not have a picture of the second hole but will if I play it again.
Third Hole
The third hole is a severe dog leg right with a pond, a huge tree guarding the fairway following your carry and woods if you try to cut the hole too much. I went long and down the middle and my playing partners tried to cut the hole of this 380 yard par four. My second shot went left to a grass collection area to the left of the green and my outstanding playing partner hit it to within four feet of the pin from about 130 yards. He made birdie, I chipped to within a foot and parred out. The other fella is still playing the hole.
The fourth hole is a golfing adventure. It has a long carry over wetlands and no way you are retrieving an errant golf shot here. It says it is 380 yards but the tees were placed back and it played more to 420. The carry is about 200 yards give or take a few and slopes uphill. My second shot was hit to the front side of the green and my chip was above the hole about 15 feet. The putt made me a believer to how difficult this hole is. It subtly slopes downhill and I barely touched my putt and blew by the hole a good ten feet. Yes I barely touched it. RRRrrrr. My comebacker was uphill and still three feet away. I finally holed out but not before I put my nerves aside to hit the ball. For the rest of this round I was never sure what to do on putts and I will be sure to use the practice greens before I play here again.
The fifth hole is truly a golf shot placement hole. It slopes downhill from the tee box of this 447 yard hole and there are bunkers left to collect your tee shot and woods to the right and the fairway slopes from left to right and then down the hill into a pond that guards the green. All three of us played the hole within ten yards of each other on our drives and and darned if all of us did not club down one and put it on the green. That is not an easy thing to do. Two of us two-putt and we just missed birdies but the third guy Lou who works there had a birdie. Well done.
Fifth Hole
We move to the eighth hole. How this hole is not on the best list for tough holes in Detroit is a crime. This devilish par three (214 to 148 yards) has a valley in front of the tee box and has a series of very deep and tall bunkers guarding the green. It is very steep to to all sides and driving it left of the green is certain to be a bogey as you have to chip blindly to the pin. I pulled the pin out of its placement to help out a fellow golfer to put the pin within some semblance of a target for him. The other fellow Jack went into a bunker and it too all of his strength to blast it out of the sand. Oh, I did not tell you about the right side of the green. Go there and its woods time and I’m not talking about Tiger. By the way, its not just woods but about a 50 foot drop that goes straight down and is not noticeable unless you walk over there and I did when I parked my cart. I putted my 15 footer and blasted it by the hole barely striking it. It went 3 feet by and as putting adventures continued, I achieved a par and feel fortunate. I want my certificate the next time I come.
The back side is just as interesting and perhaps more. The 11th hole is a 417 yard dandy from the blues and has several traps guarding the fairway and I thought I could drive over them. I just missed doing so as my driving was accurate but short this day. My ball was not in the sand but I had a poor lie as it was in a side slope and my second shot was not much more than a pitch unless I struck it accurately. I didn’t and hit it right side of the green. My playing partner told me to not go right on this hole as it slopes severely to the right and all balls hit short will feed there and he is right. His drive was perfect and down the middle but the slope did kick it right some. His play was great and he just missed birdie while I had to settle for bogey.
The Coyote Preserve will come out and hit you with a baseball bat and perhaps a couple of times if you do not play your best golf.
Tee box from blues on 15 15 Green from about 120 yards
The final three holes are very tough finishing holes and if you are not careful, your scorecard will be finished after playing these three holes of golf. Playing 16 is a very tough hole. First there is the carry. It is 150-170 yards but should not come into play if you hit your driver the way you should. The landing area is wide and slopes slightly downward so you can feel like a pro if you crush it. Short tee shots or those hit right will go into the wetland/woods where my partner went. We caught the group in front of us about three holes previous to this and they were slow but nothing like the group in front of them. After hitting our tee shots we waited and waited and waited and (well you get the idea) and it took us 45 minutes to play this hole. I hit the fairway and was not sure how to play it as it is shaped like the letter C. Only big bird wasn’t there to guide us so I drove up to see where the trouble was. There was plenty. It sloped plenty on this 575 yard par five and there were fescues and sand guarding it short. The yardage stakes were not a huge help and this course is largely well marked but the blind and difficult shots on this hole kind of neutralized them. I will make an excuse here. We waited so long to play this shot that I lost my rythem and dubbed my shot about 75 yards. That brought the fescues into play and it was not a good percentage play so I laid up with my third shot to take my fourth from about 130 yards away. My fourth shot might have been my best shot of the year as the green is two tiered with a tough slope the right side. My shot hit that slope and rolled back to the pin crawling down and to the left and even from 130 yards away it looked like it might go in. It rested an inch from the hole and I tapped in for a par. What craziness this is and what keeps golfers addicted to this crazy game.
After that and I was out of gas.
The 17th hole is ranked by the Detroit Free Press as one of the toughest holes in the Metropolitan Detroit area. It is a par three and is a tree-lined left side with a pond that carries the length to the right side of the hole. Sand guards anything left and the fairway approaches the green the left side and anybody looking to fade it in will have to carry the bunkers but is the play unless you go right at the stick. I advise you to fade it in or go right at it. Miss your shot and a sand bunker guards any fades from reaching the green both short and long. I hit my shot into the water and then another. I was just worn out as we waited a good deal longer and my back told me “no mas.”
Here is the Skinny.
Customer Service- 8 - Staff Friendly and professional. I am nitpicking but a ranger would have helped push golfers along. The beer cart girls were nice and so was the staff. Course Markings- 9- Very good. Some suggestions on playing the course but I would have liked more as this is a huge local knowledge course and you need to play it several times in one season to get a good understanding of where to hit it. Markings at 100, 150, 200 yards and sprinkler heads.
Conditions -10 - Course in outstanding shape and the greenskeeper should be commended and so should the course pro Nicolas Thompson. He is a hands on golf pro that takes pride in a top of the line facility.
Playability 8- You need to be playing extremely well to score here. This is a huge local knowledge course and you need to play it several times to really understand the various ways to best play it. Greens are tough and not always readable and this is part of local knowledge. Many breaks are not readily apparant. Other than that this is a course that you must put on your to do list as much as possible.
Course Design- 10- The King caters to the better golfer and it is near perfect in design. The homes on the course do not come into play and that works out for everyone.
Pace of Play- 6
Rangers would help out at this course. There is too much difficulty on this course to not have them out there. Playing a hole in 45-minutes multiplied by 18..... and you get the idea. We did move well most of the round though. I did play in just under five hours but it took an hour and a half to play the last three holes.
The bottom line. I give it a 9.5/10 This is really quite a track to play and you really should give them a call to book a tee time. It is upscale, a super golf course for serious golfers and a memorable time.
Coyote Preserve Golf Club9218 Preserve Drive
Fenton Michigan 48430
810.714.3206 ~ Fax: 810.714.3207
email Coyote Preserve Golf Club
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