Haven't played here in a few years. I called the golf shop and asked about conditions, and specifically, the greens. The person in the shop assured me the course was in nice shape and that included the greens. My observations below.
Tees - very good to excellent
Rough - excellent, plush, well maintained
Bunkers - very good to excellent considering the hurricane
Fairways - good. A little fuzzy, but no complaints. Well differentiated from the rough.
Waste areas - need some TLC. There's a lot of weeds/grasses coming up in the waste bunkers. I'm not sure if they want to grow some of them in or what they are doing with them.
Greens - It's important to me to be objective and to provide as accurate of a report as possible. I would call the greens borderline. On nearly every green, there are sand spots, tire marks, punch marks, weird divot marks, and bare areas. They were very soft that day. Some of my approach shots left small craters for ball marks. With that in mind...I will say I did not have a putt that I could complain about having the ball go offline because of rough spots. I did, on two putts, have to move my ball a few inches left/right to avoid rough spots so I wouldn't have to putt over them. The speed was good (around 9 to maybe even 10 by my estimation) and the ball rolled true enough (all four in the group agreed on this) as long as it didn't hit a rough spot. Some of the pins were kept away from the rough patches, but not all of them.
If greens conditions are a sticky point (they are #1 for me), I would avoid Crow Creek at the moment. If you're willing to put up with what I described above, the rest of the course is in very good shape. I generally hope they can improve the coverage and conditions of the greens. I also hope they will be honest with their customers when discussing course conditions over the phone.
One funny story, and very fitting for the name of the course...I ordered a sandwich at the turn and left half of it in my cart while I putted. I was about 50 yards away from the cart and heard what sounded like tearing Styrofoam. I turned around to see a crow pecking at my container and trying to steal my sandwich. I ran back to the cart in time to chase it away. You just can't trust those birds!
Nice and honest report my friend, thank you!
Denis Gilbert
Quebec City, Canada
Crow Creek wanted to be different, so a few years ago they upgraded to a new heat
tolerant bent grass on the greens (instead of an Ultradwarf like most) and added
new undulations.
It sounds like the new bent isn't much more heat tolerant than old bent. This means
winter + spring will be the best periods, about mid Oct to June.
Thanks for reporting!
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Thanks for your report on Crow Creek, always a good place to play when we are down.
Our group is playing CC on October 12th. Hoping for the best conditions and decent greens.
Thanks for the CC update PK.
You play a lot of North courses for a guy that lives south.
Good to see you posting reviews.
Me and UGP played CC shortly after the new greens were opened, and they were just okay.
Hope it's not a chronic problem for them.
They sound playable though. 10 on the stimp and smooth is okay in my book.
jw11
"King Of The Mid-tiers"
Thanks for the CC update PK.
You play a lot of North courses for a guy that lives south.
Good to see you posting reviews.
Me and UGP played CC shortly after the new greens were opened, and they were just okay.
Hope it's not a chronic problem for them.
They sound playable though. 10 on the stimp and smooth is okay in my book.
jw11
Good observation about me playing North courses. My extended family vacations at OIB, so I usually end up making the trip north to play golf.
Thanks for the honest report! Glad that crow didnt steal your lunch.
Let the Big Dawg Bark!!!
