In yesterday’s post I mentioned that the weather put a damper on that round. Well, another storm system had me changing my golf plans, again. Things have been chilly in the South this winter, or at least it seems that way!

First, my golf course drama – I originally booked a round at Windswept Dunes Golf Club for yesterday, but pushed that back to today. I planned to golf there and drive into Louisiana where I was going to stay the night and golf with a friend on Sunday, before driving back to Dallas.

Well, winter storm warnings were posted along the route I was driving so I bailed on Sunday’s round and cancelled my Windswept Dunes round. I decided to drive straight through from Florida to Texas (about 15/16 hours) and break up the drive with a more conveniently located golf course.

TimberCreek Golf Club got my attention because of its location just off the I-10. So, I booked a last-minute round at TimberCreek on what turned out to be a gorgeous, but frigid afternoon! I don’t think the temperature got above 45 degrees and thanks to some wind, I could barely feel my toes by the end of the round. Not the most pleasant conditions for a round, but I managed to play 18 of the course’s 27 holes.

TimberCreek is one the many golf options on Alabama’s Eastern Shore. The course is located in a residential area about 20 minutes east of Mobile and only a couple minutes from the interstate. As I mentioned there are 27 holes (the Dogwood, Magnolia and Pines nines) and I played the Pines/Magnolia combo. According to the scorecard those are the toughest nines playing 72.5/132/6693. Magnolia turned out to be quite a handful, but more on that in a moment.

TimberCreek was designed by Earl Stone and opened in 1993. It appears that Stone is one of those regional designers because most of his work is along the the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. From a design perspective there isn’t much about TimberCreek that will excite you. There are a lot of similar yardages and most of the holes have the same look. However, the hilly property, wild green complexes and the Magnolia nine will still make a round here quite interesting!

I started on the Pines and besides all the homes I found it fun to play. True to its name there are some good-looking golf course trees on the Pines. The short par-5 6th was my favorite hole because of the chance for birdie. It doglegs right and if you are out of position then you may have to deal with a long bunker that guards the green.

On the other hand, Magnolia is quite the contrast. There is some space on Pines, but Magnolia is filled with narrow, tree-lined holes. Magnolia is Alabama’s version of target golf! The land on Magnolia is severe and you’ll have all sorts of uneven stances. The par-3’s here were my favorite, including the 177 yard 3rd. The 3rd green has an elevated left tier (hidden from the tee), which can make for a nasty pin location.

I paid $40 and the conditions were great for the price. Almost everything (except the overseeded tees and fringes on the par-3’s) was dormant bermuda, so my pictures won’t have much of that eye-pleasing contrast to them. The fairways were full and provided some cushion while the rough was left higher before going dormant, something I like! The greens rolled smoothly and at a fast clip.

For the price I’d certainly recommend TimberCreek, although it has its flaws. I’ll say that I would have enjoyed the afternoon more if there was less contour in the greens. With the speed/trickle of the greens it was just one three putt after another for me.

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