Rock Creek Golf Club

Located in Fairhope on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay is the fantastic Rock Creek Golf Club, a Golf Digest four and a half star 18 hole championship golf course.  Earl Stone did a fantastic job of designing Rock Creek Golf Club to take advantage of the natural rolling terrain and wetlands.  As such you'll find tree lined rolling  fairways, surprising elevation changes, intimidating carries over wetlands, mounding, and more to keep you on your game.  

Rock Creek Golf Club meanders its way through a very upscale community and past some stunning homes.  Some of what makes this course a blast to play includes:

• a front nine with some very unique and interesting holes
• an opportunity to use a lot of clubs and test your course management and accuracy skills
• excellent conditions with some colorful landscaping
• a very good value
• a demanding but fair layout
• elevation changes, wetlands, creeks, ponds, ups and downs, bunkers, and forced carries
• challenging greens

The front nine of Rock Creek Golf Club, and specifically the first six holes, are excellent – scenic, fun, unique, and a blast to play.  Some of the great holes include:

• #1 is a 525 yard par 5 with a dramatically elevated tee box, 6 bunkers, a dog left, and an odd shaped 2 tier green with 3 big bunkers guarding it
• #2 is a "Wow" hole and the #1 handicap – an elevated tee shot down a two tier fairway that needs a precise shot to avoid running thru the fairway and into the wetland which you then need to carry and try and stuff it on the raised green with 3 large bunkers surrounding it
• two fun par 3s that demand a precise shot for a par
• an excellent par 5 finishing hole with an uphill dog leg left and a landing zone pinched by a huge bunker on the left

The back nine is fun but pales in comparison to the front nine of Rock Creek Golf Club.  It is more traditional and straightforward with a couple good holes and two excellent par 3s with intimidating carries over a wetland. 

When we played in early February, the Bermuda greens were over seeded with rye and were in near perfect condition.  The greens range in size (a tad small to above average) and shape and no two are the same.  But common to all of them is plenty of undulation including tiers, slope, and subtle breaks.  They were running at a good speed of around 9 and were soft and true.  Practice putting before you head out – we had several three putts.  The fringe was perfect and puttable if you're fairly close. 

The fairways at Rock Creek Golf Club were also in very good condition.  Most are ample with a wide playable first cut, but after that you're wet, in a back yard, or lost in the trees or natural areas.  The fairways are tree lined with some beautiful homes set well back, but reachable.  Most of the fairways have some contour, slope, or mounding.

The bunkers were well maintained with a soft layer of white sand.  We thought the sand was a little thin and it wasn't easy to get through the hard pack under it.  

Bottom line – excellent holes, playable by all skill levels, fantastic conditions, fair but demanding, and a very good value.