After my golf binge in the Pacific Northwest I was hoping to take a few weeks away from the game. However, before I could do that I had an iDealGolfer.com voucher ($25) I needed to use before it expired.

Cedar Creek Country Club is a private course that is now allowing some public play. The course and community are located next to Cedar Creek Reservoir and I was actually out this way last year to play Pinnacle Golf Club. Pinnacle sits further southeast on the reservoir so it didn’t take me as long to drive out to Cedar Creek (about an hour) as it did to Pinnacle.

Cedar Creek was built in the late 1960’s and while the facilities have a dated look, I found the course to have an old-school vibe with plenty of charm. All the tree-lined holes offer a nice look. I’m not sure who designed the course, but the holes are laid out in a linear fashion. The opening five holes run out to a road and then the 6th through the 9th turn around and come back to the clubhouse, paralleling the 1st through the 5th.

The back nine plays on the opposite side of another road and includes a few doglegs and Cedar Creek’s signature hole, the 17th. There is some water that comes into play on the back nine so you’ll need to give shots more thought on the back. Even though the course sits on the edge of the reservoir the surrounding homeowners get the water views, not the golfers.

The biggest thing that stood out to me while golfing at Cedar Creek was how playable things were at a tree-lined course. Even if you hit it into the trees you should be able to find the ball and advance it. What I didn’t realize until later is that mother nature is responsible for this look. In 2019 a tornado came through the area and damaged the course, doing some tree removal! My only gripe is how much the remaining trees pinched many tee boxes.

I played the black tees which are 72.3/125/6772. While the design isn’t the most interesting (many 200 yard par-3’s and 400 yard par-4’s), I think Cedar Creek would be a solid members’ course. The last six holes were my favorite because they had some elevation change and required my full attention. The 13th is a reachable par-5 but you’ll need to avoid a hidden hazard to the right of the fairway, which can catch drives.

The 17th is the signature hole and at 201 yards over more water, I thought it was the most difficult par-3 at Cedar Creek. Missing to the right is best to avoid the water which curls around left of the green as well. There is a red golf cart bridge behind the back of the green that adds color to the course. You drive past the bridge getting to the parking lot so I was thinking about this par-3 almost my entire round!

For the price I paid the conditions were acceptable, but definitely rough around the edges. The fairways were longer and after an August without much rain, everything was dried out. There were plenty of weeds, the ponds were covered in algae and it looked like most of the maintenance money went into the greens. The surfaces seemed healthy but were recovering from aeration when I played.

If Cedar Creek was in better shape there is no doubt I would have enjoyed it more. As it stands now it is a course for the locals. I don’t see much reason to drive out here from DFW (considering all the quality golf there), unless you are crazy about adding a course to your list – as I always am.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):