Review: Clearwater Country Club (Part 1)

Winter has come to the Mid-Atlantic. It's cold, it's dark most of the time, and there's precious little golf to be played. It's not impossible, Maryland's just far enough south that you can almost always sneak out once or twice in January and February, but by and large, we're pretty much done until March. To keep the one course a month thing going, I either needed the weather to cooperate during the winter or I needed a backlog. I decided to go with the latter, and not in the way I was initially expecting. Someone's been traveling again. It's not any old place I've gone to, no, for the next four months, I'll be bringing you golf course reviews from the Sunshine State. Be prepared for lots of palm trees, and uh, not as much sunshine as you might expect.

My home base for this little jaunt south was Clearwater, which is near Tampa. So, what better way to start off than with Clearwater Country Club? The name is more impressive than the course, this is a very public golf course. It dates back 1921, and was designed by Herbert Strong. If you know your golf course architecture, you may recognize that name, Herbert Strong also designed Canterbury, Engineers, the original Ponte Vedra Beach course, Saucon Valley, and Inwood. Clearwater is not as good. Frankly, I'm not sure how much of the original is left. Unlike another old course I played in Florida, this one barely even feels like a Golden Age design. Who knows how much abuse it's suffered, or what features have been softened or removed entirely? Even so, there were some interesting bits, so let's dig in.

The first hole is a short par 4, which is something I'll be saying a lot in this review. Seriously, out of the 12 par 4s on the course, one is over 400 yards, one is just under 400 yards, and the rest are under 375 yards. This is a gentle opening, there's no trouble at all off the tee save the occasional tree. The green is flanked by bunkers, and there's OB long, but if you've hit a good drive, you'll probably just have a wedge into the green. The greens here are not exactly great, but they're not devoid of interest. You can find some decent slope in them, and they're probably the biggest giveaway of the course's age. 

The first green

You can see the tenth green and the eleventh hole in the background.

The second hole is 370 yards, fairly long for this course. There's a bunker on the right side of the green, which suggests a drive down the left side, closer to the trees and the road. But the bunker's not big enough to be very threatening, so I'm going to guess it was probably bigger at some point.

Even with OB left, it's a fairly open drive on the second.

Yes, those are railroad crossing signs behind the second green. We'll get to those.

The third hole is another short par 4 (the course opens with 5 par 4s in a row). It's a fairly sharp dogleg left, with a drive over a little stream. And yes, that is a hill it climbs. A hill in Florida. The second shot is to an absurdly small green with a bunker left. The entire course is like this, the first two greens aren't bad, and some are worse than others, but I'm almost positive that all the greens were bigger at some point. You can just sort of tell by looking at how far the green line is from any bunkers around it, and from the general green area. Anyway, this is a decent little hole, and I appreciate any sort of elevation change on a Florida golf course. It's amazing how much they stand out, and how much a simple ten foot elevation change adds to a hole.

The third from the tee.

I hope you can see what I'm talking about in terms of greens. The third has a ridiculously small green. There's no way that's full size.

The fourth hole is another short par 4, nearly the same length as the first and third, but this is a much more interesting hole than either of them. The drive is over a pond, but the water doesn't come into play for most. But look, the tee shot is blind! And there's a stream which cuts off the fairway about 50 or 60 yards from the green. And there's more elevation change! This hole has things going on. It's probably the best hole on the front nine. I wish the green was a little bigger, but otherwise, it's another good hole.

Fun fact, as my group was teeing off, a bald eagle landed on the other side of the pond, which was the first time I'd seen one up close. 

Can't see much from the fourth tee.

The pitch to the fourth green isn't an easy one.

The fifth hole is a par 4 that manages to be 100 yards shorter than the previous hole, which was not a long par 4 either. This is a 245 yard par 4, and it also happens to be home to the only fairway bunker on the golf course. Fairly certain the course probably started out with more. You can try going for the green if you'd like, it's not a long shot, but with a stream running right in front of the green, I wouldn't recommend it. I laid up. You may also notice the wooden trestle behind the bridge. That's the railroad track, and that's probably the most interesting feature on the golf course. It's not in play now, but it will pop up again on the back nine.

It's best to lay up on the fifth.

Yes, it was raining quite hard while I was playing the fifth hole.

The sixth hole is the first par 3 we get to. It's 175 yards, and there's a bunker front right. This is a less interesting hole.

The seventh hole is the longest par 4 on the front nine, at 371 yards. The drive is pretty simple, but there's a pond lurking to the right of the green. It's not excessively in play, but you do have to think about a little, especially if you go right off the tee.

The seventh from the tee.

The seventh from the fairway.

The seventh green from the fourth tee.

The eighth hole is the first and only par 5 on the front. There's a road that runs quite close to the fairway for the entire length of the hole, and it is very in play. Of course, I hit onto it. But this is still a 460 yard par 5, so I was able to save bogey by hitting the green in two. It's a tricky second shot, there are three bunkers circling the green, a stream in front, and the road is still there. If your drive is straight, it's a birdie hole.

The eighth hole. I'll address this now, the lighting was weird on some pictures. It wasn't a great day for photography.

The second shot to the eighth is not easy.

The ninth hole is a hole that I like, but I'm not entirely sure why. There's a bunker left of the green, but you can barely see it, and it's not a big concern. It may be because the hole rests upon the landscape very gently. It doesn't try to do anything exciting or dramatic, it just sort of suits the surroundings.

That brings us to the end of the front nine! It's been a little while since I've done a two-parter, but I think we'll do one here, and get the back nine another time.