Have you ever played the “Six degrees of Separation” game? For the second time this year, the realization that this world is really much smaller than we think came to fruition for me.
First off, let me briefly discuss the actual golf course of “Back Creek” located in Middletown, Delaware. I absolutely loved this course, having thoroughly enjoyed the links style layout. The condition of the course and greens were well above average and the facilities were pretty decent as well. In addition, playing up #18 to the sounds of live music on the patio was an added bonus! I can easily understand why it was named one of Golf Magazine’s best public courses in 2012. I ended up teeing off just around 4pm on a Friday afternoon and at $35 with power cart, the price is an absolute steal for this quality of a course.
The other thing I was truly impressed with was just how spread out the holes are. The course meanders its way through a housing development, but rarely do any of the fairways or greens encroach on back yards and only twice do fairways run parallel to one another (11/12 and 9/18). That being said, there is enough buffer between each that the potential to end up in the wrong fairway with an errant shot is relatively low. And a first time experience for me was playing across the same pond twice, as #8 and #17 (both par 3’s) run perpendicular to one another, but with tee blocks safely distanced from one another as to avoid any issues with off-target tee shots. When I first stood on the 8th tee and was briefly confused to see two greens presented before me I thought it a bit odd, but by the time I got to the 17th I had a real appreciation for what a stroke of genius in course design this actually was. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often on courses, especially where real estate is sometimes at a premium.
Bottom line, if you like links style golf where an errant tee shot will not find you behind a tree but more likely in a bunker or on a mound with 8 inches of fescue to wrap you club head in (if you even find your ball), then you’ll enjoy Back Creek immensely.
But getting back to my “small world” experience, I wanted to state that I don’t necessarily rank courses in terms of their playing quality. There are others in the business far more knowledgeable about grass types, slope etc. who can offer a significantly superior review of a golf course than I. To me, there is no such thing as a bad golf course and I do realize that I am probably in a very small minority by saying that. Admittedly, there are courses that I wouldn’t have any interest in playing because they simply don’t appeal to me, but for someone else, that particular course might suit their ability and/or price point so much so that they may perceive that course as being the greatest course on the planet (to them). And are they necessarily wrong? Not really. Instead, my own rating system during this quest is based on a total experience scale from 1 to 5. Yes, course layout and conditions do play a part of it but for me, but so too does price and in addition, taking away a distinctive memory carries as much weight as any of the other factors. And my experience rated a full 5!
I had mentioned in my “The Quest Continues” posting that I was late for my tee time at Back Creek and the staff were kind enough to make an exception and were able to squeeze me in. I headed out onto the course as a single player and for the first couple of holes had wide open fairways in front of me. But by the third hole I had already caught up to the group ahead and by the 4th tee (a short par 4) I could evidently see that with nothing but foursomes in view ahead for the next few groups, I was going nowhere fast. Ultimately, as I was still waiting to tee off at #8, a twosome caught up to me and we decided to join forces and continue the round as a threesome.
To give a bit of background to the “small world” angle, I had an uncle (who passed away a couple of years ago) who had been heavily involved in the horse race industry throughout his life, first as a harness driver, trainer and owner and then later as a track superintendent and track builder/consultant. A good portion of his life had been spent at a track in northern Kentucky but the last few had been at the Delaware Park track. So during the downtime between holes on the golf course, I got to chit-chatting with the two gentlemen I was playing with. One thing led to another and we ultimately got around to discussing where we worked etc. When I found out they both worked at Delaware Park I immediately asked them how long they had worked there and when provided with that information my follow up question was to find out if they had known my uncle. “He was my boss” was the response from one of them! Well the final 8 holes of the round were an absolute joy for me as we chatted about our experiences with my uncle and how he had become a friend of this gentleman’s family etc. etc. While I had been exhausted from having played 18 holes in scorching heat in New Jersey earlier in the day, I was reinvigorated by the immediate bond I now shared with my playing partners.
As I mentioned, this was the second time this year I had encountered the “small world” experience. And both were pertaining to the same uncle! The previous one was in Hilton Head in April when on the last day of our stay at the timeshare resort I had a chance encounter with a couple from Kentucky. I mentioned to them that I was actually going to be coming up through Kentucky the following week on my golf tour and inquired what part of the state they were from. They stated Northern Kentucky, then further clarified “Florence”. I laughed because I stated I was actually going to be staying in Florence to visit cousins. Long conversation short, it turned out that this gentleman worked at the race track (Turfway Park) there and had known my uncle very well in previous years. I used to scoff at the whole concept of “six degrees of separation”, but no more!
So thank you Back Creek for not only a great round of golf on a wonderful course, but for a very memorable experience!
