Sugarcreek is a course that COULD be borderline great but falls pretty short when it comes to the overall execution. The course lays out around a seemingly abandoned park with a good variety of holes. I think the par 3's are really the gems of this park in its current form. The par 4's and par 5 are conceptually interesting but this course could use hundreds of trees removed from the "fairways" here. All to often, you are throwing a full power shot on the longer holes, only to have your well-thrown shot end up crashing into a tree and shooting off into the abyss. The par 3's could be seen as simple but the execution is what counts. There are actual lines that reward accurate shots and the greens on most par 3's are also very unique and fun. There is a fun island hole, a par 3 with the basket hanging from under a small, old pavilion, and another the the basket is suspended between a set of three trees.

The course also is nice due to few people being here and therefore pace of play is never an issue due to long back-ups.

I don't blame anyone for this but again, the longer holes are largely throw and hope holes. I never played Moraine or Deer lakes 15 years ago but I have a feeling that some of the holes there were very unfair early on due to the excessive trees and undergrowth in the fairways. The tee pads are also very, very bad when wet. I have seen more than one person slip and fall when throwing drives. This course is too crowded with vegetation to really be considered a fair test,

Sugarcreek seems to be a labor of love and hard work by just a few people. I applaud them. Few have the vision, time, and effort to craft a really solid course with so much potential to improve over the years. I would be surprised that in a few years, this isn't one of the better and more popular courses in the area, once the fairways get cleared up and possibly concrete teepads get installed.

This reminds me a of a great older home that was neglected for a long time. It has amazing bones and fantastic character and memorable features but still has awhile to go before reaching a Moraine or Deer level of quality.