A Relaxing Day on the Course

Frosty it seems, even though it’s warm.  The mist seems to coat the air rather than be a part of it.  The grass appears to have goose bumps; the course seems to shiver, like a child after being bathed.  The trees sound off silently, like their lungs collapsed forcefully, the air collectively let out.  The green fills you, overflows within you……Then you tee off.  

            When you are standing on the first tee box getting ready to start your Saturday morning with a round of golf, I’m not sure if there is a better feeling on this earth.  It’s like a sacred place where the sunshine peeks shyly through the trees like it’s afraid to come out quite yet, a sacred place where you are one with the ball and must make it your friend to fare well at all, a sacred place where you can relax and have fun.  It’s a sacred place located two miles outside of Storm Lake. 

            Lake Creek Country Club is out in the middle of the country, surrounded by cornfields for miles, so it’s not like some of the golf courses surrounded by concrete and buildings.  It’s out in the open and a beautiful 18-hole course.  The greens are fast, and they are long holes too.  As you drive in off the highway, to the left is the golf cart garages.  If you bypass the driveway for the cart garages, you will come upon a small fork in the road.  Taking the right fork will lead you to the parking lot for the country club.  Now the only way that I could truly tell, in depth, the intricacies of this course, would be for me to golf on it.

            The front nine starts out with three par fours.  Hole one is a par four with small creek running across the fairway about 100 yards out.  The peaceful little stream looks cold and refreshing.  Sparkling from the sunlight and clear all the way to the bottom, it seems so cute and inviting until your ball decides to go for a swim.  Then you feel ashamed for uttering that many obscenities at the once deemed “cute” water hazard.  The hole is basically straight on until you hit the creek, with the fairway turning slightly left from there.  Hole two is a par four with the same beautiful, yet devastating creek running through about 155 yards out.  I say devastating because I am not a very good golfer.  And since they outlawed lawn golf here at BV High, I am forced to show this fact.  Driving over 155 yards (to get past the creek) isn’t hard to do, if you have any skill whatsoever.  Did I mention my ball went in the water?  Twice?  After the creek, there is a 60 degree dog leg right and still not a bunker to be found.  The green on hole two has a huge dip in it, making it look almost like a horseshoe…and hell to put on. 

Hole three is another par four, it has a 35 degree dog leg right, with a bunker on the right side, which I decided to explore (see Webster’s Dictionary - Sarcasm).  It’s right at the bend in the fairway, so I figured that I would have a great shot at the pin if I aimed for the bunker.  My only problem was that the wind took my ball a little farther than expected, and into the sand (see Webster’s Dictionary - “Full of crap”).  Hole four is a par five, and it’s pretty straight on.  It has a bunker in the right rough approximately 220 yards out.  That same stupid…I mean wonderful creek crosses the fairway, AGAIN, about 50 yards from the green.  There’s another bunker just to the left of the green, which I again “investigated”. 

Hole five is a par four over a pond to the right of the fairway. It has a big dog leg to the right of the pond which causes the entire fairway to curve around the pond.  This makes it very tempting to try and hit the ball over the pond.  But after four tries, that giant C fairway looked quite friendly.  Hole six is a par three, straight over another creek, yeah that’s right, another one.  And I’ve now coined the phrase “ball snatcher” and given the name to the little stream as a…term of endearment.  After pulling my ball out of there, I chipped on to a very hill shaped green. 

Hole seven is a par five with a dog leg left, and a bunker right before the green to the left.  Do you really have to ask?  YES I WENT IN THE BUNKER.  Hole eight is a par three over the “ball snatcher” about 30 yards out from the green.  Hole nine is a par four with a slight dogleg to the right.  There is also a sand trap just short of the green and to the left.  There is a pond past the right rough but it is definitely still in play.  I say this because when I chipped out of the sand, my ball sailed over the green and right into the pond.  Imagine that!  The back nine is the same combination of the creek, the ponds, and bunkers with most of the holes being par fours or fives.  And since two of my clubs had somehow mysteriously been wrapped around a tree, I declined to play them. 

While I had experienced the course, golfed it (sort of), and had a feel for it, I decided to see what some other first-timers of Lake Creek thought.  Some first-timers who actually play golf regularly, first-timers who have some talent, in other words…I don’t count. 

“I golf a lot, and I’ve played on a lot of courses.  This one is one of the more enjoyable courses.  I like the cut and speed of the greens, and the scenery really adds to the game.  Especially the stream that runs through the whole course, I thought it was pretty neat” says Eric Kruger, a freshman at BVU.  (Despite his praise of the evil mini-river, I decided to keep his quote in this article.) 

Adam Leach, another freshman at BV, and another avid golfer, also enjoyed the course. 

“First semester, I had the opportunity to play three different courses in the area.  All three were disappointing…very straight, very boring, and not well maintained.  I live near a semi-private course, and maybe my expectations were a little high.  But when I went to Lake Creek, it reminded me of home and I would definitely golf there again.  The prices weren’t too bad either.  Actually, the prices were very good for that kind of a quality course in this area.”

But what’s different about this golf course than the 90 million other ones around you ask?  Adam Thompson, a sophomore at Buena Vista University, lives on the golf course.  Now, I know what you’re thinking, “There’s a college student living under the bridge from the 4^th green to the 5^th tee box?”  No.  If you take the left side of that little fork I was talking about before, there is actually a “village” right next to the course. 

“It’s (Lake Creek) like its own little community.  All we need is a gas station and a Wal-Mart” says Thompson, who enjoys living right next to the golf course.  “We didn’t move out there until April 1^st of my 5^th grade year, but ever since then I’ve spent a lot of time on the course.” 

St. Andrew’s drive is about a half mile long and a nice neighborhood.  As you round the bend from the initial driveway, the speed limit slows to five miles per hour.  Driving slowly down this street full of brick houses, you notice that the people living here are pretty well off.  The driveways are lined with Cadillacs, Cameros, Firebirds, and a Lexus or two.  It just adds a nice “homey” touch to the course. 

So, whether it’s the great course, the scenic location, or the community atmosphere, Lake Creek is a heaven for somebody looking for a good place to golf.

Cody C.H. Schug