Deer Creek State
Park Golf Course: Make Yourself Comfortable
By Carl W. Grody,
TravelGolf.com Staff Writer
MT. STERLING, Ohio - The closer you get to Deer Creek State
Park Golf Course, the less you expect to find when you get there.
That just makes the experience of playing Deer Creek that much better.
Deer Creek is located in the heart of Ohio's farm country. In fact, the
area is so rural that on your way, you'll likely pass Bubba's Convenience
Store, Bambi's Farm Market, and Fred's Feed Store. Everywhere you look,
there are country roads and farm fields, and it's easy to get lost because
there aren't nearly enough signs to the park.
When you finally find the park, you'll find many things you don't normally
associate with a good golf course - 232 campsites and the firing range
come to mind - but you'll also find a 110-room lodge overlooking the lake,
a marina, and seven miles of horse-riding trails (but you have to bring
your own horse). The golf course was built in 1982 by Jack Kidwell, who
designed many of the courses in central Ohio.
The area is beautiful even if you don't like farm fields. The park,
which opened in 1974, contains second-growth woods and wildflowers galore.
There's plenty of wildlife and even a few prairies. But golfers mostly
care about one thing - the course - and Deer Creek holds up well in that
respect, too.
The staff is among the friendliest you'll ever meet. The woman in the
pro shop laces her sentences with "honey" and "sweetie"
the same way Bobby Knight drops profanities on reporters, and everyone
seems to smile when they see you.
Before you tee off, you'll be able to practice each area of your game.
Deer Creek has a driving range, a practice bunker with a very steep lip,
and a putting green. The best part about the putting green is that it
may be one of the only ones you'll see at a public course that doesn't
prohibit chipping. Of course, it's probably the only you'll ever see with
a plastic deer in the middle, too, but you can overlook that.
What you see from the first tee is pretty much what you're going to
get at Deer Creek. The first hole is 410 yards from the white tees with
a soft dogleg to the right. There are bunkers on either side of the dogleg,
but they're far enough away from the fairway that you can miss a shot
a few yards to either side and still avoid the sand.
If you can ignore the first-tee butterflies - and more importantly,
the first-tee bees feeding off the flowers beside the tee box - it's a
fairly simply first shot.
If you're looking for a lot of variety in course design, Deer Creek will
disappoint you. Each of the par fours is a dogleg either left or right,
and there are bunkers at the corners of each dogleg. The course does feature
water hazards, but they're almost always blind; often, they're behind
the greens, and you don't know about them until it's too late.
Because of the water lurking behind several of the holes and the fact
that the greens mostly slope from back to front, you'll want to hit your
approaches below the hole whenever possible.
Deer Creek is also a fader's golf course. Only four holes turn to the
left. Everything else is either straight, fades softly, or actually makes
a dogleg turn to the right. Deer Creek fits the fade so well that you
can imagine Jack Nicklaus doing well here (of course, Nicklaus would do
well on any public course, but you get the idea).
If you're a big hitter, Deer Creek will suit your game. It plays 7,116
yards from the blue tees with a rating of 73.7. From the whites, it's
no picnic, either: 6,663 yards with a rating of 71.2. But most of the
challenge comes from the distance.
The fairways are well-kept, especially for a course that charges less
than $25 on a weekend, and the greens putt nicely. You'll come across
an occasional four-foot divot left by raccoons and skunks digging for
food in the fairways, but besides that, the course is green and lush.
There's a fair amount of room on either side of the fairways to play
from, but if your shot strays too far, you'll be in the prairie grasses
that define the holes.
If you're lucky enough to find your ball in those weeds, the best you
can do is hack out and live to play another shot. Try something heroic,
and the grass is strong enough to turn your clubface, hooking your next
shot hopelessly farther into the weeds and flowers.
Another factor that favors the big hitter is that most of the trees on
the course are young trees. They're only big enough to bother you if you're
right next to them, so they don't pose a threat to your shots. A few years
from now, when the trees grow to a fearsome height, this will be a different
golf course, where the accurate driver will be rewarded. For now, it's
like a driving range for the big boppers.
And being able to bop the ball will help on the par fives. Unlike many
public courses, Deer Creek features four legitimate par fives. From the
blues, they play 508, 575, 549, and 567 yards. From the whites, the seventh
hole plays a relatively easy 473 yards, but after that it's 554, 531 and
521 yards. Even the longest hitters would be challenged to hit these greens
in two.
The wind also plays a factor at Deer Creek. The first two holes play
considerably longer than the card says - 410 and 396 yards from the white
tees - because of that wind, and there's a definite smell of fish from
the lake while you're waiting to play. But most of the day, you play with
a crosswind; only on the 18th hole does the wind give you a real boost.
And because so many of the trees on the course still need to mature,
your ball is exposed to the wind on almost every shot.
The par threes may be the most impressive part of the course. The third
hole is a 154 yard tee shot to a two-tiered green protected by bunkers
short left and right. If you come up short, you have to pitch uphill between
the bunkers; go too long, and you're left with a downhill putt, especially
if the pin is on the lower tier. And as is the case on most of the holes
on this course, you're dead if you fly over the green.
The par three eighth hole should be a simple 161 yard shot, but there's
trouble everywhere you look. The high grass will catch any shot mishit
to either side. There's a bunker to the right of the green and a pond
behind. If you can block all of the trouble spots out of your mind,
it's not a hard shot, but you have to be mentally strong to make a
good swing.
The par-three 11th is also an intimidating shot. It's only 166 yards
from the white tees, but the green is tucked behind two bunkers. There's
a pond short and left, and if you carry the ball too far, you're stuck
in several of the small trees. This is another shot where you have to
trust your swing.
The final par three, the 169 yard 15th, is protected by the grasses
down the right side of the hole, a large pond on the left, and a large
bunker left of the green. But this shot isn't that intimidating. Besides
the bunker, the trouble is far enough away from the hole that it shouldn't
enter your mind, and you've already had this distance on the last two
par threes.
The most interesting hole on the course is the par four 12th. It's just
391 yards, but the trees pinch the rolling fairway. If you hit the ball
well, your tee shot will roll down a hill to the 150 yard marker; in fact,
my shot funneled onto the 150 yard marker and settled there. From there,
you have an uphill shot that requires two extra clubs to a two-tiered
green.
You almost have to bail to the right on your approach shot because to
the left of the green, just a few feet from a greenside bunker, is the
forest. It hovers over the left side of the green like the woody maw of
a monster, and if your approach goes in there, you'd be better off writing
X on your card and moving on to keep up the pace of play.
The oddest aspect of the course may be the 150 yard markers on the sides
of each fairway. Plumes of native grasses are used, and from a distance
they look like a cross between a pineapple and Don King on a bad hair
day. But you need to keep them in mind when sizing up your approach shots;
besides the cement blocks at 200, 150, and 100 yards, the Don King grassy
clumps are the only yardage markers on the course.
All in all, Deer Creek is a good value. It's a well-kept golf course,
as evidenced by the fact that the fairways were still lush in late August,
when Ohio summers typically turn the ground into a concrete-like runway
of dry dirt.
The pace of play is also excellent; even on a Sunday afternoon, the only
wait to hit a tee shot came because two parents were teaching their kids
to play, and they waved us through as soon as possible.
Deer Creek is worth all of the distractions you encounter trying to find
it. Just be careful of the shooting range on your way in, and tell Bubba
that I said hello.
Deer Creek State Park
20635 Waterloo Road
Mt. Sterling, OH 43143
Phone: (740) 869-3088 www.visitdeercreek.com |
