Willow Creek Golf Club – Played March 2020
- Rankings: None of my four lists
- Location: 205 Sandy Run, Greer, South Carolina
- Year: 1995
- Architect: Tom Jackson
- Course Access: Public
- Walking Rules: Carts Available
Score Card Information:
- Gold: 6,890 yards, Par 72, 71.9 Rating/137 Slope
- Blue: 6,378 yards, Par 72, 68.8 Rating/129 Slope
- White: 5,749 yards, Par 72, 65.9 Rating/122 Slope
- Red: 4,951 yards, Par 72, 68.5 Rating/122 Slope
Willow Creek Golf Club will always hold a special place in my heart. I spent all my summers in New Hampshire and between the ages of 9 and 12, I started to play golf while there. Once I turned 12, I determined I wanted to play golf all year. It became my main focus.
Willow Creek was the chosen location to play the game in South Carolina. Thankfully, they had a generous junior membership program that some friends helped out with. An additional bonus was an incredible staff that always looked out for me and made sure I was staying out of trouble.
Many stories around golf share similarities to mine. None are as important as our own though. Willow Creek Golf Club became my home away from home. I spent afternoons after school and all day on the weekends practicing and playing.
I got opportunities to play with strangers and meet all kinds of great people. It was definitely a different time as I can’t see kids doing that nowadays. But it helped me learn to meet new people and interact with them, so I cherish that time.
Moving on to the golf course. The course is pretty forgiving off the tee and requires multiple clubs. It was a great place to learn the game because I felt like I could shoot good scores and learn to make birdies. When I was there, the bentgrass greens were always in great shape.
After playing it again this year, it seems the course has been through some rough patches. They underwent a greens replacement where they switched to Bermuda. When I played, they were a bit slow and bumpy. I am hopeful that I caught it on a bad day.
It was a fun bit of nostalgia to return to Willow Creek Golf Club after years away. I will always have fond memories of one of the places where I learned this great game.