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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Review: Beaver Creek Country Club (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at the back nine at Beaver Creek, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole plays alongside the first – close enough that I've visited the first fairway while playing this hole and vice versa –  and is pretty much the same length at 420 yards. However, this hole doglegs left, and the turn comes a little sooner than you might think. If you want to hit driver here, you need to cut at least a little of the dogleg, or you will run out of space and go into the trees right. Hit a solid drive, and you'll have a wedge or short iron up the hill to a fairly flat green with sand on both sides.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 540 yards and shares a teeing area with the second, with this hole heading in the opposite direction. Together, the second and eleventh take up the entirety of the course's western boundary. And while O.B. didn't factor in on the second, it definitely does here, with the drive highly threatened by the O.B. line left. While the fairway is wide, a group of pine trees jutting in slightly at around 300 yards, combined with a larger group up close to the green, conspire to make this a much tighter driving hole than it looks. Well, sort of, anyway. If you're laying up with your second, then there's plenty of space, but if you want to go for the green in two, then you have a pretty narrow corridor to work with. Those pine trees left are big and they have no mercy, so you want no part of them. The right greenside bunker is honestly not a terrible miss and leaves a pretty easy third. The green here is long and narrow, with a fair amount of left-to-right slope.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is 160 yards, but it plays shorter since it's significantly downhill. This is one of those par 3s where you really want to hit the tee shot the right distance. Fall short and you're in one of two bunkers fronting the green. Go too far and you're hitting a steep downslope and ending up on the fourth tee. Overall, it's still a pretty simple hole.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is a mid-length par 4 with a deceivingly tricky drive. The fairway is initially quite wide, but at around 225 yards, trees crowd in from both sides. While the trees left are the more obvious threat, the ones right (particular the ones close to the green that aren't pine trees) overhang the fairway, meaning that any drive that misses the fairway right by even a yard or two has to deal with tree trouble, and they have to do so from a lie where the golf ball is above your feet, encouraging a right-to-left ball flight, and the green also slopes sharply from right to left, leading into a fairly deep bunker. A conservative drive to the top of the little plateau in the fairway, leaving about 150 yards for the second, is likely the smartest play here and gives you the best chance to avoid tree trouble.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is another mid-length par 4, playing straight ahead down a fairly narrow fairway. While obviously you want to hit the fairway here, left isn't a terrible miss, whereas right is basically dead, thanks to a cluster of pine trees. Also, for whatever reason, it was always a coin flip on whether or not I'd even find my golf ball if I did slice it behind those trees. There's no tall grass or anything, golf balls just tended to vanish in that particular spot.

Anyway, a solid drive will leave just a wedge or short iron into the green, which is wide and fairly shallow, with sand on both sides.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a longer par 4, playing 425 yards. For the first time, artificial water hazards come into play, with a pond lurking left of the landing area in the corner of the dogleg. As long as that's avoided, the second shot is pretty straightforward, playing slightly uphill to a small green with sand on both sides.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole isn't particularly long, being the same length as the previous hole, but this is pretty easily the most difficult hole at Beaver Creek. The fairway is not wide, and with water left and a cluster of pine trees right, the penalty for missing the fairway is steep. Also, a second pond and a small connector stream cuts the fairway off about 270 yards out, effectively taking driver out of your hands and ensuring you'll have a long second shot.

While the water doesn't come into play on the second (at least it shouldn't), the green here is very small and distinctly domed. Hitting it is tough, and if you put your second into one of the flanking bunkers, the third will be a delicate affair. A par here is well earned.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a mid-length par 3 that I always found to look more intimidating than it actually is. Sure, the water short and right (and even long) grabs your eye, but there's a fair amount of space between the green and the pond. You actually have to slice the tee shot quite a bit to go in the water. Of course, the bunker left sees quite a bit of action, since it's a natural spot to bail out. The green is fairly narrow but quite deep, so you'll need a couple extra clubs for a back hole location, compared with a front one. 

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a straightaway 510-yard par 5, though it plays steadily uphill the entire way. O.B. in the form of the driving range lines the left side, and for the first and only time fairway bunkers come into play, tightening the fairway right where a good drive would land. If you're laying up, the second is simple – just move the ball down the fairway as far as you can – but if you're going for the green in two, the second becomes quite tight. The bunkers guard the green closely, with a tiny gap between them. Also, the green is slightly elevated, complicating low, running shots. And while the greens at Beaver Creek aren't particularly fast, this green has a fair amount of back-to-front slope, so putts from above the hole can be a little slippery. Overall though, this isn't a tough hole, which makes finishing with a birdie very possible.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

It's difficult to truly and dispassionately review Beaver Creek, since I can't help but have some fond memories of a course I spent so much time at. It served me very well as a home base for many years, and I sincerely enjoyed being a member there. 

But it's not a particularly good golf course. I mean, it's not bad, but it's not good either. Average is a pretty spot-on term. The greens in particular just have very little to them, and without interesting greens, a course can only be so good. And Beaver Creek doesn't exactly have much in the way of tee-to-green strategy either. Most of the time, the play on the tee is obvious: hit the fairway, stay out of the trees. The accurate driver will do well here.

On the positive side, while Beaver Creek isn't a course you're going to go low at, it also isn't one where you'll lose too many golf balls. I went through plenty of rounds here without losing a golf ball. It's fairly tough without being too annoying or frustrating, at least from the standpoint of taking a bunch of penalties. And that helped keep round time down; I could easily play 18 holes on any given afternoon, even a weekend, in 3 or so hours. 

Overall, while I can't say Beaver Creek is a course I particularly enjoyed, the overall membership experience was pretty great, and I would recommend it to anyone in the area. It's affordable and I do sincerely miss regularly playing here.

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