I visited Clear Creek Tahoe last week and played 72 holes over two days.
Ran's profile does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the course:
http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/clear-creek-tahoe/ The profile does not capture the beauty of Lake Tahoe which I had never visited before:
Jim Kidd - formerly of Sand Hills, Friar's Head and Windsong is the new General Manager of the facility and was our host for the visit. I can attest that he provides the perfect type of service for my tastes - everything is taken care of with little apparent effort and without fanfare. The focus is on golf rather than frills.
From a golf architecture perspective, the focus has to start on Bill Coore's routing. Despite some significant elevation change on the course, I found the course to be a very pleasant walk.
After a solid but straightforward uphill 500 yard 1st and a 170 yard uphill 2nd to a green tucked around a dune or rock outcropping, the third tee provides a spectacular vista. The hole is not that unusual for a mountain course, but reaching it with a pleasant walk rather than a long cart ride makes you feel like you earned it. I am not sure I have seen a picture that adequately captures the drop on this hole but here is my attempt:
The par 3 4th is a nasty hole for which you cannot miss right and if you hit the green on the left side with a right hand pin, you have several options for feeding the ball near the slope over the severe tier:
The front nine consists of the more severe terrain, with the big climb taking place from holes five through seven. That climb is broken up by three terrific golf holes - the short par 4 5th, a dogleg left reverse cant 6th that can be reached in two if one braves the uphill left hand side of the fairway and then a very good long par 4 7th top a green sitting in a saddle at the summit.
The 9th is a dogleg left par 4 with a second shot that looks downhill from the fairway and uphill when you look back from the green. I think it is uphill but regardless it is a wonderful green for an approach that can range from 100 to 200 yards depending on the weather and your tee shot. The green works at all of those lengths because of the tiers that both demand accuracy and provide cushion for a running shot:
The back nine goes out and back on a plateau and is a very pleasant walk.
This is a view from the left front of the 13th green - a long par five to a fantastic green.
The 15th is a par 4 that reminds one of the 13th at Augusta. A stream crosses at an angle from right to left off the tee, follows the left side of the hole and then crosses in front of the green that is most easily approached from the left side of the fairway. Here is a view of the approach:
After a difficult 16th, the course finishes with a pitching wedge 17th to a big green that requires a precise pitch due to significant undulations and a general cant away from the tee. The 18th is a short par five that has an interesting green that seems to slope front to back and left to right with a Coore "toilet bowl" bunker guarding the front of the green.
Back to Lake Tahoe - this was my view while sipping morning coffee.
