Ready for the big time
Tough, terrific Boulder Creek can challenge elite player or weekend hacker, fairly
The Plain Dealer, Golf Monday July 4th 2005
Pat Gilbencia
Plain Dealer Reporter
If a friend or relative from out of town requested a round of golf at a fun and memorable course, Boulder Creek in Streetsboro would definitely fit the bill.
This course-arguably the most scenic in The Plain Dealer’s seven-county coverage area-is good enough to stage a U.S. Open. It’s 7,204 yards (par 72) from the tips, and club professional John Elser said new tees are being added for next year which will lengthen the course to 7,500-plus yards.
Several greens are multi-tiered, others quite sloped. Some fairways are severely sloped, which adds to the aesthetic quality but also presents a challenge of uneven lies. If owners let the rough grow, the course would be punitive. Boulder Creek could be set up to humiliate PGA professionals.
But that’s the beauty of Boulder Creek. It’s playable for the average hack. The greens putt true and to an average speed of 8-9 on a Stimpmeter – not too slow, not too quick. The rough is cut low enough to play, and to find a golf ball.
“We’re in the entertainment business” Elser said. “We want golfers to come out here and have a blast. We didn’t want this course to be tricked up. Difficult, yes, but not tricked up. We could have our greens shaved like they are at Pinehurst No. 2 and putt to a 12 (lightning fast) on a Stimpmeter, but why make the average golfer miserable?”
In 2003, Golf Digest rated Boulder Creek No. 8 among the nation’s best upscale public courses. Joe Salemi, a 10-handicapper who designed the course, said he wants it to be good enough to stage a U.S. Open but playable enough for all golfers to enjoy.
Every hole is interesting. It’s a course a non-golfer would enjoy walking and observing, and on that makes a golfer want to play well.
Three holes in particular are fun to play. The downhill par-4 8th (299 yards regular, 359 pro) is short and you think you’re getting an easy hole-except the green is so huge a 100-foot putt is very possible.
The par 4-15th (294 yards regular, 350 pro) plays at least two clubs and 150 yards longer. It’s one of the few holes where cars must stay on the cart path. Don’t miss the fairway right on your drive – it slopes down towards the 16th fairway.
Boulder Creek has an island green, the par-3 17th (116 yards regular, 175 pro). But unlike the TPC at Sawgrass, the tee is elevated by 50 feet. The green is not only picturesque, but sizeable and easy to hit.
“I grew up in the excavating business so I know how to move dirt” Salemi said. “But I also read books from the great golf course designers like Pete Dye, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast to get their ideas on golf courses designed only for the scratch player will go broke, so I kept that in mind.
“I don’t want people coming here and saying ‘forget this play….I’m not coming back. I lost a dozen balls and it took six hours to play a round.’ My goal was to make a golf course perfect for everybody.”