"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

June 26, 2001

Black Creek more than passed its first test as a championship-caliber golf course after it played host to the Tennessee Four-Ball Championship last week.

"We heard nothing but rave reviews about the golf course," said Mark Hill, the Tennessee Golf Association’s director of championships. "From [tournament director] Joe Chalmers on down to the players. We’re so glad that the folks at Black Creek let us play the tournament there and we’re glad to be going back next year."

Clearly, local knowledge was a key to success last week. Three of the four teams in the final four were comprised of Black Creek members. Ronnie Law, who partnered with son Kevin to win the tournament, is a Black Creek member whose game has reached new levels this season. Could his Black Creek experience be bringing out the best in him?

Clearly, few courses in the state have as many nuances as Black Creek. I’ve heard many members say they learn something new about the golf course every time they play it. I couldn’t agree more. If you can learn to play the particular shots Black Creek requires, you can elevate your game.

That’s exactly what Doug Stein, one of the principal shareholders in the course, likes to hear. As Stein has pointed out so many times, Black Creek is a course unlike any other in the state. Different shots are required there.

How different? How many times can you play a Texas wedge on any other course around town? I’ve putted from 30 yards off some of the greens. In playing Black Creek, golfers have to learn that a Texas wedge is a higher percentage shot than hitting a sand wedge off a tight lie.

Members should have a clear advantage in statewide tournaments played at Black Creek, at least for the next couple of years.

---

Area golfers will get to test another local course as a tournament venue on Saturday when the 36-hole Bear Trace Invitational begins play. The tournament will count toward the season-ending Chattanooga TPC, so a field of 115-120 players are expected to test the course designed by Jack Nicklaus’ company.

"It was all [Bear Trace assistant professional] Keith Burdette’s idea," said Robin Boyer, Bear Trace head pro. "He thought Chattanooga could really use another stroke play event. Our vision is to have a tournament as successful as the Signal Mountain Invitational has been."

Bear Trace can be set up to play as hard or as easy as Boyer and his staff want. Generally speaking, the course was designed to accommodate the average resort golf player. Fairways are generous and greens aren’t too undulating. But if the rough is allowed to grow, pins are tucked and the course plays to its full 7,000 yards, Bear Trace can offer a stern test for most accomplished players.

---

The History of Tennessee Golf, written by my friend Gene Pearce, will soon be available. Pre-release orders for the monstrous book are being taken now. The price is $59.95, plus tax, shipping and handling. Only 2,000 copies are scheduled to be printed, so the book will be something of a collector’s item. It will be available by Thanksgiving.

The History of Tennessee Golf is a 9 x 12 hardcover volume with dust jacket that includes more than 500 pages of text, more than 100 photographs and a comprehensive list of tournament winners over the years. This unabridged look at Tennessee golf includes more than 5,000 names, lengthy chapters on every major geographic area of the state and biographies of the major figures (administrators, benefactors, club professionals, tour professionals, and amateurs) from the early 1900s to the present.

Chattanooga is obviously well represented in the book. Pearce has written extensively on the likes of Lew Oehmig, Ed Brantly, Ira Templeton, Betty Probasco, Judy Eller Street and Jack Lupton, plus many others from our city.

I had the honor of serving as one of the book’s editors, and I can tell you that it was extremely well researched.

For more information or to place an order, contact Golf House Tennessee at (615) 790-7600 and ask for "History Book" or e-mail Matt Vanderpool (MVanderpool@pgahq.com).

###