Marsh Oaks
by Art McCafferty

The new Marsh Oaks golf course in New Haven is truly a family affair. Jim and John Amatangelo and their fathers took over the Oak Ridge Golf Club in 1990 after running Salt River for 20 years.

After settling in, they picked up a 120 acre parcel next door and hired Design 3's Bruce Matthews III to design a second course, Marsh Oaks. As the name suggests, Matthews had to provide some fancy footwork to get the course in and keep the DNR happy. He did this by redesigning some holes on the original 18 in order to pick up enough room for starting holes one and two.

The course had a soft opening last fall, but the family and many of their customers are looking forward to the advent of spring. "We have already signed up a number of leagues," said Jeff Sobczak, Oak Ridge professional. "We had a tremendous summer and we need the course badly."

Matthews and his Design 3 crew have done a nice job in transferring the marshy land into a first rate course. They have created a lot of ponds to help with the drainage and did a considerable amount of mounding to dispense with the pond excavation. There are five tee areas on most holes.

What you have is a course that has its share of water hazards, but the placement is not as punitive as it could be. Each hole is unique, as the course meanders through woods, marsh land and meadow.

The front nine has some real eye pleasers in holes 2,4,5 and 6. They will be hard pressed to pick a signature hole. The back nine features a well bunkered 10 and a nicely trapped 11. The 18th hole offers a nice finishing hole challenge with a soft dogleg left guarded by a huge oak.

Oak Ridge offers its customers 36 holes of excellent golf, a revamped driving range and a comfortable grill and banquet center. It is another one of those expressway courses that's easy to get to.

Jeff Sobczak has been the head pro for four years and Glen Korhorn is the course superintendent.

Marsh Oaks at Oak Ridge is located at the 26 Mile Road exit on I-94. North of Mt. Clemens. 810-749-5151