Ute Creek - Detail
This review was written from the blue tees, the shortest ones, which only play 6196 yards. This is a comfortable length for the Bogey Golfer, but you could also reasonably aspire to the Gold tees at 6750. Leave the Black tees (7167) for the experts.
This is a par 72 course, but the configuration on the back nine is a bit unusual. Instead of the normal 2 par 3s and 2 par 5s, there are 3 par 3s and 3 par 5s. Like I said, a bit unusual, but I like it. For the Bogey Golfer, the lengths are short enough that they all represent scoring opportunities.
The greens each have six pin positions, as indicated on the back of the scorecard. Figure out what number pin position they're using before you tee off, and this will be a very reliable guide to pin placement.
#1 is a par 5, which I think is a great way to start a round of golf. If you flub a shot, you can still recover from it. This hole is not that long, but the fairway is irregularly shaped in order to bring the rough into play as a defense. Favor the right side off the tee, which will give you a chance to play to the middle on your second shot. This hole is a scoring opportunity - take advantage of it!
The second hole is a short par 4 with a sharp dogleg left over a bunker complex. The greedy approach is to cut a huge chunk off the corner by hitting a big drive over the bunkers. This strategy almost never pays off for the Bogey Golfer because we're all too unreliable off the tee box, and wind up in the sand (or short of it) more often than not. Play a long iron down the middle, stay outside the sand, and you'll have an easy wedge or short iron into the green. By the way, the green is a real piece of work -- it's elevated and protected all around by bunkers. The high soft shot is definitely the way to go. Bogey is a good score if you miss the approach -- no easy up-and-downs...
#3 is a hard hole, just because it's long and uphill. Keep it in the short grass to minimize the length (hacking out of the deep stuff makes it play really long). Bogey is a good score here.
#4 is back down the same hill. This one has some additional defenses in the form of a bunker on the right side where an offline drive will get caught, and a pond on the left if you get too greedy off the tee. The pond also constricts the fairway severely down next to the green, pretty much taking the low running shot out of play. And the green has a ledge -- the back left is a good two feet lower than the rest of the green. Having said that, if the pin is back there, it's almost impossible to land it there if you're 150 yards out -- bunkers and that pond to worry about... Bogey is a pretty good score here, too.
#5 looks very intimidating from the tee because of the way the bunker complexes are organized. Take a careful look though, and you'll realize that the one on the right is completely out of reach. Aim directly at it, and ignore the one on the left. Suddenly, you realize there is all the room in the world in front of you. Depending on how well you hit the tee shot, you'll either be positioned for an easy high and soft shot into the green, or a layup. This green is tough to hit with a fairway wood or a long iron because of the huge bunker you took aim at from off the tee, and because the green is elevated. The green is also huge, so play attention to pin placement.
#6 is a formidable par 3, especially from the back tees. Even from the Bogey tees, you've got your work cut out for you. There are massive bunkers on both sides of the green, and a huge ridge running down the middle of the green longitudinally. Bogey is a good score here, par is a great score.
#7 is a par 5. Like the par 4 fifth, the fairway bunkers look intimidating from the tee box. However, unlike the fifth fairway, this one is a little tighter. If you're confident you can hit your driver straight, draw a bead on the far bunkers in the middle of the fairway. If you're not all that confident, use an iron or a fairway wood -- remember it is a par 5. On your second shot, hit just enough club to clear the fairway bunkers in the middle, and set up a an easy approach with a wedge. This green is also elevated and protected with bunkers, so you're again looking for the high soft shot.
#8 is a short par 3 (from the blue tees). It's an easy par if and only if you can hit a high soft wedge or short iron relatively straight. It wraps around a pond on the left, and has a bunker to catch wayward shots to the right. Remember, the bunker is not a good bail-out because your next shot will be a blast out of the sand toward the water! If you're going to bail out, make it short and right.
#9 is another long uphill par 4 to an elevated green protected by bunkers (a recurring theme). This one doglegs right around the OB line against a row of houses. The teebox sets up to make you want to cut this corner to shave some distance. Resist this impulse, and hit it down the middle. There is lots of room in the fairway, even though you can see the pond coming in from the left. Bogey is a good score here, so don't get greedy!
#10 is tricky. Your tee shot is over a wide swampy creek to a fairway that runs right to left. So any shot that gets topped or chunked is gone, and isn't an option. Since you have no miss to play, the shot is all about the hit. How much of the fairway to bite off? Too little and you can run out of fairway and roll into the rough on the far side, and be left with an impossibly long shot to the green. Too much, and you might not even reach the fairway, and fall into the swamp. Just right, and you have an easy 150 yard approach shot. There's a scrawny little tree just off the far side of the fairway. If you can hit it about 230 yards, mostly in the air, aim for it. If you don't think you have quite that much carry, stay to the right of it.
#11 is also tricky, but it's a par 5, so you can bring some course management skills into play. Work this one backwards from the green. There's a creek (complete with swampy rushes) that runs diagonally across the fairway in front of the green. It runs from short left to long right, so a shot to the green that misses right is wet. One that misses left will at least easily clear the junk. So you want to be making a shot from inside of 150 to minimize the chance of missing right, and you want to come in from the right side of the fairway, so that you cross the junk from a less oblique angle. How do we get there? Looking back toward the tee box, we see there's a bunker directly on the line we want to take. Since we're Bogey Golfers, going straight over the bunker is a bit chancy. Since we have two shots to get where we want to be, play conservatively off the tee. Hit an iron (or a fairway wood if you prefer) to land someplace in the middle of the fairway - don't take the agressive line over the bunker. Then hit a short iron or mid-iron to the right side of the fairway for the ideal approach over the creek. If you flub one of these first two shots, lay up, for crying out loud. Remember, we're okay with a bogey, but landing in the creek is going to cause some larger numbers...
#12 is almost an exact replica of #8. A pretty par 3 over a pond on the left with a bunker on the right. Play it the same way. Hit the green, or miss short right.
#13 is a short par 5 with a lot of defenses up around the green (bunkers, elevation). A bogey golfer can reasonably aspire to a par here, as long as he/she stays out of trouble on the approaches. There are bunkers left and right off the tee. Big hitters can clear the left side bunker, but a long iron down the middle works just fine. Hit a clean mid-iron on the second shot to setup a short-iron approach to the green. Simple game, really.
#14 is a short par 3 with an elevated green. It is guarded by bunkers left and right, leaving a gap between for a low running approach. I recommend the high shot instead. Your yardage needs to be accurate because the green is somewhat shallow. However, this hole does represent a scoring opportunity.
#15 is a short par 4 (at least from the blue tees). The main trick here is to clear the fairway bunkers in the middle on your tee shot. 200 yards in the air is plenty of club. There's plenty of trouble short and left of the green in the form of sand traps, so favoring the right side off the tee will help some.
#16 is the the third par 3 on the back. It is defended by a pond on the right, fed by a steep bank off the side of the green. And inevitably, there's a bunker on the left. The green is pretty deep, so pay attention to the pin placement.
The seventeenth is a long par 5, but it's wide open off the tee. Use everthing in the bag here - distance counts! There are some bunkers pinching down the fairway about midway, but you'll never reach them off the tee. You certainly need to clear them on your second shot though, and favor the left side while you're doing that -- there's a pretty big bunker on the right that you can't see because of the crest of a small hill.
#18 is a stiff finishing hole. It's a long par 4 (especially from the back -- 470 yards! Whew! Even from the blues it's 426). It has a forced carry over an arroyo, and then a big pond opens up on the right. Furthermore, the fairway kind of tilts right, and balls will roll toward the pond if they get the chance. So either 1) hit a monster drive precisely down the left side to set up a mid iron or long iron approach to the green, or 2) pretend it's a par 5, and place three good iron shots back to back down the left. Bogey is a good score here, just stay out of the water!
There are some pars to be made on this course (1, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14), if you're able to avoid trouble (especially on the par 3s). Be patient and accurate on 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 18, and feel good about a bogey. This is a fun, challenging course. Good shots are rewarded with good lies. The greens run fast and true, but they can be subtle.
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