This past weekend I got the chance to play Tobacco Road in Sanford, North Carolina. I was blown away by the course – the strategic elements were everywhere. Having only played it once, I can’t even begin to fathom what I missed, which is scary. The course is better and far more interesting than Pinehurst and Oakland Hills.

The day started out finding the place, which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which adds to the adventure. Driving between the asphalt mixing plant and other industrial businesses, it’s a sign of the rough and ragged course that’s about to unfold. Arriving at the clubhouse, it’s minimalist – like everything at Tobacco Road. You get a free yardage book in exchange for your address and e-mail. Take them up on the offer – or pay the $4 for it if you’re one of those overly sensitive people handing over some personal information (Or simply lie about your address…) . It’s, to make an understatement, absolutely necessary.

The first hole is among the best – it’s a purely psychological game that architect Mike Stranz is playing. The best thing to do is to take the driver and pound it since the fairway is incredibly wide beyond the mounds. It’s an incredible par 5 – tons of strategic elements. A good drive leaves even more decisions – layup or go for it? Layup isn’t simple because there’s another set of mounds that pinch the fairway at 100 yards. Miss the green right and the up and down is really difficult. And that’s just the first hole.

It’s tempting to write about every single hole – and perhaps that would be a good set of blog entries in the future. Let me speak a little “generically” about the course. The par fives are all really good – incredible risk/reward elements on each one. Heroic elements and strategic elements. The par threes are shortish, but the greens on all of them are either 75 yards (or more…) wide or 50 yards deep. Meaning that they’ll be completely different holes for each of the three pin positions that they use.

Stranz’s mix of strategic elements and routing ability reminds me a lot of Pete Dye. The most obvious are “the shoves” – where a fairway starts out in one direction for a stretch, then is shoved between 20 and 40 yards over. His greens are huge and undulating, but totally fair.

There are no sand traps on the course, which when the starter tells you this, just suppress a laugh. There is LOTS of sand – but it’s all played as a waste area. They play a local rule that you can lift and improve your lie in them. The reason they allow you to do this is because there are no rakes – you walk and even drive through a lot of them.

The course does have some weaknesses, however. It is mostly an aerial game a Tobacco Road – it’s strategic, but it’s also a lot of target golf. You need to be able to carry a lot of hazards – the ground game opens up a little around some of the greens, but most of the greens do not allow for a shot to land short. Many of the greens play uphill too, which is somewhat repetitive. The day I played, it was soggy – really soggy. It had rained the day prior, but around the greens, it was ridiculous. I could (and probably should) have played casual water on five shots around the green. It appears they may have some drainage problems in some areas that keep these places wet. There are a lot of low area where balls tend to collect, leading to some pretty worn out areas. The tees on several holes are too small for the amount of play this course get. It takes at least 5 hours to play because of the difficulty – it can take a decent amount of time to find a golf ball even struck slightly offline because of the number of blind shots and waste areas with love grass. There are a lot of places for a golf ball to hide on this course.

Those are really minor quibbles in the grand scheme of it. The cliche is that this is a love/hate golf course – and it appears that a lot of people love it. I really feel sorry for those who hate this golf course. They are really missing some truly brilliant golf because they think the course is unfair. Yes, there are a number of blind shots, but so what? No, the course isn’t “all right in front of you”. You actually have to use your brain, and anybody with half a brain and even a small funny bone will find this course to be not only fun, but a great mental test.

I debate how to compliment Mike Stranz because he died at such a young age and left too few courses for us to enjoy. Obviously, the loss to his family is immeasurable. I think that the best way to compliment him, though, is to say that his loss to golf, while on a totally different level, is immeasurable. I can’t wait to play his other courses because he was quite clearly a genius of golf course architecture.

(Image credit – skeevo)

The course features Engh’s distinctive mounding and bunkering. The bunkers are one of two styles – a serpentine, skinny bunker with massive “muscle” mounding around the bunker or a perfectly circular, pot-like bunker. The muscle mounding also appears around the greens and frames the course’s water hazards – many of the creeks have had their banks graded to this style of mounding. The mounding gives the course a very distinct appearance – an aggressive, imposing look that mentally intimidates. Inside one of the cavernous bunkers, it’s a lonely feeling – if you’re fortunate to have a level stance, there’s likely a long carry to escape. But you’re likely to not have a level stance – the width of many of the bunkers is only a few paces, so any shot not in the center of the bunker means one or both of your feet could be around your shoulder.

The course also has a lot of width off the tee – something that is rare in the southeast for any number of reasons. Many of those reasons having to do with the fact most new courses are part of residential development and more width in the golf course means fewer lots on the ground. The width allows for the introduction of a number of strategic golf course design elements. Chief among them are numerous centerline hazards. At least half the holes at the Creek Club incorporate either bunker or water in the middle of the hole. Options abound off the tee – the first timer at the course will greatly benefit from the direction of a member who has been around the course a couple of times.

Last, but certainly not least, the greens at the Creek Club are entertaining. The greens combine the previous two elements in a very interesting fashion – width and mounding. The greens are typically either very wide and shallow or very narrow and deep. Two greens at the Creek Club are in excess of 60 yards long – the second and thirteenth. Most of the greens are very undulating, and some like the ninth and eleventh greens having severe slopes that are in eight to ten feet in difference if you’re on the wrong shelf. Overall the green speeds were slow – much slower than I would have expected given the lack of rain. They aren’t mowing them as low as the other courses at Reynolds and that may be due to the severe undulations – they could become unplayable at higher green speeds. I, however, found myself repeatedly having trouble getting the ball to the hole because I couldn’t convince myself to hit a putt that hard.

There are certainly areas where the course is open to some criticism. The course is repetitive in the sense that nearly every tee shot is played downhill, and many second shots are played uphill to the green. As mentioned earlier, the green speeds are slow – they could be faster without the greens getting out of hand. Nearly every green is in an amphitheater setting and the perimeter grading funnels nearly every ball back into play – it’s hard to find yourself in much trouble even on bad shots. (That’s not really a bad thing – but the funnel effect does add to the feeling of repetition.) Also, for the older members, because of the amphitheater greens and funnel effect of the fairways, it’s a very steep walk back up to cart paths. The course is walkable – one member in our foursome walked the course only hitching rides between a few holes because of the distance from tee to green. The course is also missing a good, short par 4. The second hole could play this role, if it is played from the three tees at 306 yards, but at 352 yards (uphill) from the one and two tees, it doesn’t offer many to be able to reach with a drive. Finally, there are few holes without trouble in the front of the green meaning that there is little opportunity for a ground game.

The Creek Club has four sets of tees – 7,079 yards from the one tees, 6,215 yards from the three tees, 5,489 yards from the three tees and 4,737 yards from the five tees. Even though there are four tees for each hole, the course setup allows for six tee combinations. The “two” tees are actually a mix of 12 three tees and 6 one tees that gives a yardage of 6,490 yards. There is also a combined 11 five tees and 7 four tees that gives a yardage of 5,044 yards. We played the two tees, which, in addition to the designation on the scorecard, is defined by the location of split log benches. It’s an interesting way of cutting down on the number of tees that need to be maintained, but giving the course several options from which it can be played.

The course conditions are good for being so young. Fresh sod can be seen in several areas and the lack of rain has caused some of the grass to show signs of severe stress or, in some areas, the sod has died.

The Creek Club is an excellent addition to the courses of Reynolds Plantation. It was something that Reynolds needed – something different. While the course is artificial, it’s not a bad artificial. The course is quirky, but it is eminently fair. It also is a fun course to play – one you’ll look forward to playing again because of the options off the tee and different course you’ll because of depth of the greens. (What was a 9-iron on one day may be as much as a 5-iron the next, and vice-a-versa.) The Creek Club is certainly one of the more interesting courses in Georgia and is an important course for the southeast for the simple reason that it is different in a good way. Hopefully this will inspire those who build courses in the southeast to take risks in their selection of architects to give the area more diversity in design styles.

Holes of note:

The par 4 second. 352 yards/306 yards/264 yards/211 yards

The hole is short and very wide. The play is up the left side to allow for a view of the green, which is 60 yards deep. The bunker in the upper right is in play, but there is plenty of room to the right of it for the drive.

The par 4 fifth. 474/413/355/297

The hole features a creek as a centerline hazard. Playing the hole to the right side didn’t leave as clear a view of the green as I thought it would.

If the pin is located to the right, the right fairway is the play. If the pin is center or left, the left fairway seems the better option.

The par 4 ninth. 404/337/287/244

This hole is notable mostly for its incredible green. Two distinct tiers, separated by a huge slope make the second shot a very interesting and challenging iron selection.

The par 3 eleventh. 233/199/166/134

Another hole with a huge green – very wide. If the pin is on the far right, it’s a blind shot over the hill. Your target, however, would not be the pin – it’s just to the right of the bunker. The slope in the green will feed the ball right to the pin location.

The par 5 twelfth. 569/512/469/410

A centerline water hazard forces a decision off the tee. Left is the easier driving location to hit away from the water – but will require you to carry the water hazard even with a lay up shot. Right leaves a much easier second approach, but brings the water hazard into play because of the slope.

The par 5 eighteenth. 557/502/454/416

A unique hole because it has three separate greens. Left plays the longest, then middle and finally right. The yardages listed above could vary as much as 40 yards depending on the green and pin location used.