I stopped for a quick nine holes –- about 90 minutes without anyone in front of me –- at the Creek Golf Club in Spartanburg, SC. It was a good test for a balky back I’ve been nursing and a nice run-up to six straight days of golf I am looking forward to in the upstate of South Carolina.
Russell Breeden designed the Creek Golf Club in 1966. Except for the par 3s, the layout at Creek is substantially routine, with a few tilted fairways and doglegs that lent a little extra challenge on a course that played just 6,131 yards from the back (blue) tees (rating 69.0, slope of 118), although the scorecard indicates non-existent gold tees at 6,625 (and a rating of 71.1. and slope of just 120). The greens were oddly crusty in some spots –- like stepping on three-day old cotton candy -- and yet fast in others, so that even flat putts required accommodation of different speeds along the way to the hole.
The best holes by far were the two par 3s on the front nine. The 4th hole, a 185-yarder, played uphill to a hit or miss green. Miss it short, and your ball will roll well down the hill leaving a difficult straight-up pitch. Pulling or pushing your tee shot left or right leaves a chip shot across the back to front slope of the green. And a shot over the green leaves a tricky chip shot straight downhill. Good hole.
The 4th at Creek Golf Club is a classic uphill par 3, with trouble all around.
The 8th hole is shorter but another slightly uphill shot that makes club choice a bit of a challenge. An odd relic of a former bunker at the right front of the green now presents a sloping face made entirely of railroad ties. I had the pin-ball consequence of hitting the wall in mind when I pulled my tee shot just left of the green.
The most interesting hole, a blind, straight downhill 300-yard par 4, is also the quirkiest, and one I would like to try again. The “Warning” sign at the tee box advises a 175 yard shot to the perfect spot in the fairway for a 100 yard or so approach rather than going for the green (a “safety” issue, the sign assured). From the tee box, the trees that encroach on both sides seem to occupy the entire horizon; how can there possibly be a green down there, I wondered? I squibbed a hybrid shot down the middle and, sure enough, it wound up 100 yards away from the green straight below, making the shot effectively more like 70 yards. On my next visit to Creek Golf Club, I will pull out the driver for a rare, but reasonable attempt at a par 4 green in one less than regulation.
From the tee box on the par 4 6th hole, it appears the trees straight ahead can be reached but they are actually behind the green, 300 yards away. A "safe" 175-yard tee shot leaves a straight downhill approach that is one or two clubs shorter than the distance.