I’ve been writing about golf courses and resorts for nearly 30 years. It was this March on my way to my room at the Temecula Creek Inn in Temecula, California, when I experienced a first: A team from the Coroner’s Office loading a cadaver into their van right in front of my room. I took a photo but won’t post it here.
After that initial shock, I resolved to settle in and enjoy a couple days at a golf resort I first visited in 2007. At that time, the nearby Pechanga Casino Resort was constructing The Journey at Pechanga, the resort’s own high-end course, which opened in 2008 and was ranked #4 on GOLF Magazine’s 2009 “Best New Courses You Can Play” list. Since that time, the Pechanga Nation purchased Temecula Creek Inn and embarked on a $10 million+ renovation of the resort, focusing on the rooms and dining areas. The resort’s three nines – The Oaks, The Creek, and Stone House – also got a little sprucing up. A little.
According to the staff in the proshop, the main updates to the courses are some new or redesigned tee boxes and updated USGA ratings. To be honest, I didn’t notice any real differences from 2007. The three nines are all quite distinct in feel. The Oaks is dotted with small water hazards, several blind landing areas, and rough that is thick but not deep. The Creek is flatter, also with plenty of water, and more out in front of you. The greens are faster, but overall, The Creek plays a few strokes easier than The Oaks. Stone House is the jewel in the resort crown, but, unfortunately, I was not able to play it this visit. According to the staff, though, little had changed there over the past nearly 20 years.
Multiple attempts to contact the Director of Golf and Head Professional were unsuccessful, so I was unable to arrange an interview with management. I was therefore limited to conversations with the proshop staff – very polite and patient young folks – and my own recollections of the Stone House nine.
Playing Temecula Creek Inn (Oak & Creek)
Temecula is the southern-most wine region in California, and the wine list at the resort’s restaurant and bar include numerous local offerings. Being SoCal, prices of everything – from rooms to victuals – are inflated by Midwestern standards, but nothing outrageous or unexpected.
Green fees is the one aspect where SoCal pricing is not commensurate with quality. 18-hole rates ranged from $120-$130 during my stay (slightly discounted for the group I was with), which isn’t bad for the area, if conditions and services are solid. Unfortunately, multiple grassless, sand-covered, uneven tee boxes on both the Oaks and Creek nines, and some poorly maintained green complexes did not warrant those rates. In SoCal, at $75, these faults could have been overlooked. In the Champaign, Illinois, area, by comparison, it would be hard to charge more than $40 for 18 holes with these conditions.
Further disappointment lay in the on-course services. The drink cart appeared no more than 2x per 18 holes, usually within the first handful of holes. Naturally there was no water on the course for players, so rounds got pretty dry towards the end. Worse yet, play was glacially slow, especially on the weekend. After my second round, I stopped into the proshop to mention that our round had lasted nearly 6 hours and asked if they ever sent marshals out to keep players moving. I was told that they don’t actually have any marshals on staff. This is a major problem for a “golf resort.”
The yardages of the three nines have amazingly not changed one single yard since 2007: The Creek (3,348 yards, par 36) and The Oaks (3,436 yards, par 36) Courses were designed by Dick Rossen. The Stone House Course (3,257 yards, par 36) is a Ted Robinson, Sr. layout.
Of the three nines, The Creek is least remarkable, with relatively flat, parallel fairways. The Oaks is a solid, traditional test with undulating greens and multitudinous namesake oaks. The Stone House is the star, with ample scenery, elevation changes, and numerous rock outcroppings.
Starting out on The Oaks, one is almost immediately immersed in rugged beauty. The 498-yard 2nd is a lovely par 5 that snakes around massive oaks up to a green set against a backdrop of rocky foothills and steadfastly guarded on the right front edge by an enormous oak.
The 537-yard 4th is also visually appealing, and because it plays downhill, it ends up being more of a big par 4 than a true par 5. Nevertheless, the approach down through a neck of trees to the green protected in the front by a large bunker requires plenty of skill and guts to go for it in two.
The Stone House begins inauspiciously with perhaps the only “bad” hole on the property: a 505-yard par 5 starting with an awkward tee shot that need only travel some 220 yards with a good draw.
The layout picks up steam after the opener, however, and soon you’ll find yourself admiring one hole after another as they rise and drop across the dramatic landscape. Testosterone-laden Tour de France winner (and then loser) Floyd Landis trained on the roads encircling the course, so you can imagine the elevation changes.
The 416-yard 6th hole presents you with what might be the most striking tee shot on any inland course in Southern California. A well-struck ball will fly down from the elevated greens over rock and scrub to a rolling fairway. The approach then travels yet further down the valley to a green nestled into a grove of oaks. The only blemish on this otherwise perfect – and perfectly tough – hole is the freeway noise.
The 555-yard 9th ends your round with the tightest tee shot on this nine, though flares to the right will likely run back down the steep, scrubby hillside. The green is slightly elevated and tucked behind a burbling stream-fed pond.
As mentioned, The Creek nine is relatively nondescript. Greens here, though – as on the other two nines – are devilish to read, with several putting surfaces running away off the back, making long approaches very difficult to recover from. On the 9th holes of both The Creek and Oaks, there is a small retention pond that should in no way be in play. But because of the short length of these par 4s, and the uncomfortable angles of both tee boxes, which don’t quite align with the preferred direction of play, somehow that damn pond looms larger than it should. (Got me both days, I must admit.)
Temecula Creek Inn Resort: The Verdict
Temecula Creek Resort has been around quite a while. The Oaks and Creek nines opened in the 1970s, and the Stone House nine opened around 1990. Honestly, it appears that little has changed since my visit in 2007. The new ownership has done some good work in renovating guest rooms and other facilities, but my recommendation would be to put more into the golf courses themselves. This said, I assume the Pechanga Nation’s focus is on the casino resort’s showcase course, The Journey, rather than this more recently acquired (and much older) property.
With appropriate investment in conditioning and staffing, the resort could be quite a draw, especially for non-gambling golfers. There are steep green fee discounts for California residents, so rates are more reasonable for locals. But for now, golf travelers will find a handful of memorable holes, some rough conditions, sparse player services, lovely surroundings, and, hopefully, no additional corpses.
Midwestern Golf 