Spring Creek Golf Club Location » Gordonsville, Va.
Phone » (540) 832-0744
Fees » Weekday $70; Friday-Sunday $95
Par/Yardage/Rating/Slope
72/7389/76.6/151
Conditions »
Layout »
Facilities »
Value »
* out of a possible five golf balls
Description » Spring Creek is a four-year-old course, 15 minutes east of Charlottesville in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has achieved swift acclaim as one of the top tracks in the state. Tree-lined, muscular beauty with wide fairways, sprawling bunkers and big greens, it has plenty of undulation and forced carries.
Reasons to play »
Pristine bent grass conditions and a spectacular setting in a gated housing development, with homes visible on only three holes. In 2007, Spring Creek was ranked No.?1 in the nation among new, affordable courses (Golf Digest), with Ron Whitten writing, “Spring Creek has the look and feel of a course with twice the admission price.”
Designer » Ed Carton collaborated with Tom Fazio on 40 courses, and also worked with Sam Snead on his last (and perhaps best) design, Poplar Grove in Amherst. Carton, who has also worked with Gary Player and Ray Floyd, designed Spring Creek with the goal of making it playable for high-handicapers and challenging for those trying to break 70.
High definition » Spring Creek is visually stunning. Most holes are completely visible from elevated tees and there is little mystery thanks to clearly delineated hazards. Bunkers have sharp edges and most slope toward the player, enhancing visibility. Rough is thick and penal, helping further define holes.
Happy Trails » Spring Creek is part of the Virginia Golf Trail, a loose affiliation of privately owned courses in Virginia, many of them upscale including Cannon Ridge (Fredericksburg), Blue Ridge Shadows (Front Royal), Westfields (Clifton), Virginia National (Bluemont) and Stonewall (Gainesville).
« Signature hole
No. 6, par 4, 415 yards
This majestic hole is Spring Creek in a nutshell — everything visible from the elevated tee, daunting bunkers framing a wide fairway, a sprawling green with multiple pin options, suggesting to the player the proper route from the tee.
Toughest hole
No. 3, par 4, 471 yards
The longest par 4 at the course is wide open, but huge bunkers guard the fairway and Spring Creek — outlined by a stone wall — must be carried on the downhill approach to a push-up green. Most will have fairway woods or hybrids in hand on the second shot, even those playing one set of tees forward, the marble, at 430 yards.
Changes in latitudes
No. 11, par 4, 430 yards
Tall pines, offset from the fairway, give this hole a Carolina feel. No. 12, a par 5 where players watch their shots disappear over a wide fairway ridge, feels like Augusta when you reach the upslope and see the muscular hole stretch out below.
– Kevin Dunleavy
Brute or breather?
No. 15, par 4, 420 yards
There are few courses with as much disparity between the championship tees (7,389 yards) and the next longest set (6,654 yards). Several holes are entirely different tests. An example is No. 15, Spring Creek’s shortest par 4 from the marble tees (342 yards). But played from the tips (420 yards), which are perched above the previous green and behind a road, No. 15 is an intimidating tee shot.
