Rock Creek Cattle Company (Photo Tour)

[Peter Ferlicca]

Rock Creek Cattle Company is in a secluded area of Montana along the I-90.  I am just going to do a photo tour for everyone to see.  I don’t feel like doing a long Kyle Henderson photo review.  I don’t know how the guy does it all the time.  Anyways, the golf course progressively gets better throughout the round.  And it isn’t like it starts out bad; it is just a WOW hole one after another.  Any person could play here for the rest of their live and be more than happy.  On our trip here last summer while I was working at Tumble Creek, we did rock creek, club at black rock, and Idaho club.  Three completely different golf courses, and rock creek was just wonders better than the other two and the best course I have played in a while.  I also don’t have my scorecard anymore so I don’t have any yardages to post sorry.   

Hole 1 Par 4




Hole 2 Par 4



Hole 3 Par 5




Hole 4 Par 4





Hole 5 Par 4





Hole 6 Par 4





Hole 7 Par 4  One of the coolest par 4’s you will ever play









Hole 8 Par 3





Hole 9 Par 4



Hole 10 Par 5  This is one of my favorite par 5s by Doak






Hole 11 Par 4



Hole 12 Par 3




Hole 13 Par 3  Great par 3




Hole 14 Par 4







Hole 15 Par 4





Hole 16 Par 4  You would be hard pressed to find a prettier setting for the next 3 holes, a perfect whiskey run loop.






Hole 17 Par 3  Also, one my of favorite Par 3’s ever.




Hole 18 Par 5






I mention some holes, but every hole out here is very, very good to great. 

[Mac Plumart]

Amazing stuff!!  Thanks.

[Ryan Admussen]

September hopefully, great pics!

[DMoriarty]

Thanks for posting these.  What a great course.  Makes me miss the place.

[Joe Bausch]

I gotta get out more.  Certainly gotta get out west!

[Kalen Braley]

The thing I love most about RCCC is, there isn't one hole that I can say is remotely like another one.

The star of the show was the par 4s in my opinion, and they shined bright...and that's not taking away from the 3s or the 5s, they were fantastic as well.

Even though I generally loathe the ol' beard pulling stuff, I almost feel compelled to say it was like a fine symphony with its ebb and flow, soft moments and giant creschendos.  Its only 1 of 2 courses I've ever played where I really felt an evolution of the course, almost like it was telling a story.

[Peter Ferlicca]

I couldn't agree more with you Kalen, I was going to say that it is a evolution also.  The feeling you get while playing this course is a rare one that has not been matched by any other course I have played.  The Par 4's on this course are the best set of par 4's on any golf course I have ever played.  IMO, I will put this out there I would like to know anyone that can say a course with a better set of par 4's.

[Mac Plumart]

RCCC's par 4's are better than TOC's par 4's?

WOW!!!

[Andy Troeger]

Peter,
What time of the year were these taken? Its interesting to see the contrast between your photos and the ones I took the year before in early August when many of the off-fairway areas were a tan/brown color.

As good as #10 is as a par five, I have to agree that the strength is in the par fours. Just on the back nine, #11, 15, and 16 are amazing, and #14 is just "really really good!"

[Peter Ferlicca]

The trip was at the end of June in 2010.  I wish I would have played it with the fescue brown.  Tumble Creeks starting turning brown in August and gave the course so much more definition.

[Michael Dugger]

I've got wood and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Fabulous pictures, some of your best...

[John Kirk]

Very pretty.  Great golf course.

[Neil_Crafter]

are they rocks in the bunker lips?

[Eric Strulowitz]

Thanks so much for sharing.  Wonderful pictures!

Eric

[Tony Weiler]

Thanks a lot, Peter.  That was very good.  Tell me what you liked so much about 7 and 10? 

[Peter Ferlicca]

Number 7:
I LOVE tee shots that must traverse over a big mound with a hint of blindness.  It doesn't get much cooler than standing on the tee box and seeing a hill out in front of you with a rock in the middle of the fairway telling you where to hit it.  Then once you are in the fairway you feel as if you are in scotland with all the rolling humps and bumps, the green wraps around to the left of a ridge and sits just beautifully in a bowl.  No bunkers needed on this hole.  This should definetly make the list of best holes without a bunker.

Number 10:
Once again the picture I have of the tee shot is from the middle tee, the back tee is sort of blind with a hidden bunker in the fescue on the right to give you a sense of how wide the fairway is.  Then once you crest the hill you see the green way up on a ridge to the right where the creek flows down below, the same creek to the right of 8.  If you try to go for the green you must hit a perfect cut to be able to land on the green.  The best lay up is far to the left to give yourself a good angle into the green.  To far left you end up in the fescue.  Really a good par 5 that makes you think about how to play it.  Tons of elevation change also in the middle of the fairway, a big dip down and then you go up quite a bit to the green.   Minus the big boulders on this course, this had to be about as good of property you could get to route a course.  Every hole is completely different all with very memorable characteristics.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

awesome.....cant wait to see it..
Amember of our's here in Texarkana is also a member there...time to bug him I believe...

[Garland Bayley]

Isn't Montana fabulous?

Montana Boy

[jonathan_becker]

Thanks, Peter, for all of the photos.  The place looks outstanding.

It looks like there's a lot of width out there, but can anyone comment about the rocks in the tall grasses and rough coming into play?  I realize they're throughout the property, but any reports of injuries or broken clubs?

[Sean Leary]

Just an awesome golf course. Wondering how many who have played here and Ballyneal prefer Rock Creek, besides Shivas and Franklin. I prefer Ballyneal but not by much...

[Peter_Herreid]

Not absolutely certain where I fall on that one, Sean, but to me any distinction is so incredibly minuscule as to be almost of no value in comparison.  For me, and my own personal aesthetics, the backgrounds and backdrops at RCCC are more varied, and perhaps on the basis of that sole factor, I slightly prefer RCCC.  It had more "elasticity" than I expected for a "mountain" course, and there was an opportunity to do much of that same "tee-swapping" that is so beloved at BN.

Ask me again next week, and I might go slightly the other way...

What I find so energizing is that RCCC and Clear Creek have so dramatically elevated the Western mountain golf landscape in such a comparatively short amount of time.

[Kalen Braley]

Just an awesome golf course. Wondering how many who have played here and Ballyneal prefer Rock Creek, besides Shivas and Franklin. I prefer Ballyneal but not by much...

Sean,

I've played both and I honestly can't really decide either....they are both that good.  Whether one prefers BN over RCCC or visa versa would just be personal preferences as best as I can tell

I must admit though, seeing those pictures brought back fond memories...I'm leaning towards RCCC again! 

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks, Peter, for all of the photos.  The place looks outstanding.

It looks like there's a lot of width out there, but can anyone comment about the rocks in the tall grasses and rough coming into play?  I realize they're throughout the property, but any reports of injuries or broken clubs?

jonathon,

Because the stones in general are so large, its almost always a easy binary decision, go or no go.  So its either playable, or totally not doable.  

But you would have to ask Andy T more about that, he was more crooked than a politician off the tee the day we played!  

Here's a few more pics...

The Range..




Approach on 1




3rd tee




5th Tee



Approach to 11




12 Tee




16 tee




2 Tee

[Tim Martin]

I gotta get out more.  Certainly gotta get out west!

There are some that may read that comment and grumble. You better hope that your wife doesn`t see that reply as there is an outside chance she may mumble AND grumble.

[Morgan Clawson]

WOW!

Top notch job on the quality and number of photos.

I love the look of the back to back par 3s on the back side.

#12 is 148 yards with lots of bunkers. And #13 is 221 yards with only 1 bunker.

Here's a link to the scorecard:

http://www.rockcreekcattlecompany.com/uploads/docs/score%20card%20three.pdf