Mark,
Chechesse Creek is an excellent course to bring up in this discussion. And, it reminds me of something I wrote a few years ago after visiting Chechessee Creek for the first time, below:
Many new courses attempt to “wow” golfers with visual eye-candy – ie. an overabundance of extravagant bunkers, water hazards, and other superfluous features that quite often add little, if anything at all to actual golfing interest.
Chechessee Creek Club is a wonderful exception to this modern trend.
Just six years old (the course opened for play in 2000), the architecture at Chechessee Creek Club is unusually restrained. Architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw – and their talented crew, lead by Dave Axland – did nothing more than was absolutely necessary to create golfing interest and a functional course.
Some dirt was moved to facilitate surface drainage over relatively flat ground in the low country of South Carolina, and to create those features absolutely necessary for golf: tees, bunkers and greens; nothing more.
The result is one of the most understated course, of serious quality, created in the modern era.
Occupying a secluded, beautifully treed property adjacent to a tidal marsh (near Beaufort, not far from Hilton Head), everything about Chechessee Creek is low-key, and low-profile. The course genuinely exudes an old-fashion sensibility, and class that suggests it was constructed not six, but (at least) 60 years ago.
Like so many classic courses, Chechessee Creek is a joy to walk (greens and tees are in close proximity); there’s an absence of water hazards (aside from creeks at the third and sixth holes, and a carry over a tidal marsh from the twelfth tee); and, most important, plenty of room to play golf (eighteen holes using the same ball is very possible).
Don’t be fooled though. Chechessee Creek is challenging; especially from the back tees (at sea level), and when the course’s canted greens are mowed tight and rolling fast.
Indeed, rugged bunkers scattered throughout the course are beautiful works of art (typical of Coore’s and Crenshaw’s, and bunker stylist Jeff Bradley’s, efforts); there’s a wonderful collection of short, long and medium length holes covering the compass, too (which ensures golfers confront the wind from varying angles throughout a round); but it’s the greens at Chechessee Creek that really stand-out.
Pushed-up and severely tilted from back-to-front, several greens at Chechessee Creek look alike to casual viewers. They’re reminiscent of classically-styled greens typically found at those great 1920s era courses throughout the northeast United States. However, Chechessee Creek’s greens are more varied than they may initially appear, fashioned with intricate interior contour. Even the club’s experienced caddie corps find them difficult to read.
Golfers partial to what’s become typical in course architecture in the modern era – over-shaping and over-decoration – will wonder what all the fuss is about. Chechessee Creek appeals most to well-traveled golfers with refined taste. Like the Old Course, Chechessee Creek may not appear like much upon first sight. But, be sure: the course is replete with wonderful subtlety and old-time charm that’s learned and appreciated over time.
Coore and Crenshaw and co.’s approach to golf architecture at Chechessee Creek is a sensible and economic example for the future. Ironically, it’s a time tested-approach borrowed from the past.
