Black Creek Club is a private club in Chattanooga, TN.

This Black Creek Club course review is based in a round played on October 7, 2023 (AM).

F1C’s Final Rating: 63/80 ^{_{(Best-in-State List)}}

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Black Creek Club is a Brian Silva design just outside of Chattanooga, TN. It was a *brisk* morning when I arrived at the putting green but as the sun peaked over some absolutely gorgeous mountains, I warmed enough to begin taking some practice swings. In hindsight, the anticipation of the sun rising over the mountains to warm me was a blessing, because I found myself frequently looking up at Black Creek’s best attribute – its setting. As my host pointed out, Black Creek is built in a valley between three prominent mountain ridges that are close enough to feel as if a wayward drive might just reach one.

Those three ridges make this course work as a wind funnel, twisting the wind a new direction on each successive shot. However, those mountains add in difficulty what they add in natural beauty, and there truly aren’t that many places in the world with as beautiful of a backdrop as Black Creek. Silva started with a pretty amazing canvas, and proceeded to place some memorable template-style golf course architecture upon the valley.

The First Tee

So, I’ve warmed up both thermally and athletically and it’s time to head to the first tee. I had a pretty good idea what to expect from the course as I do yardage books for most courses I play; however, it is hard to get a sense of how a hole will look optically versus what I prepare for when I am looking at Google Maps and my yardage book. The first hole is a great example of what I am talking about.

On Google Maps and in my yardage book, this was a benign par-4. An easy opener. Over the first bunker, under the second. Right?

But this would be a precursor of the experience of Black Creek. Despite being certain of what to do on the yardage book, optically, this hole is so much tighter on the right, and more open on the left, with what seems like a variety of options. As I stepped up with Driver, I was very unsure of what my eyes were telling me.

Little did I know, that is the trick to this golf course: commitment. It would be a reoccurring theme throughout the day. The Raynor-style geometric shapes are very disconcerting to your eye if its not the style of golf that you usually play. I played it into the fairway, even with the bunker, which was not the plan (but it worked out this time).

The second hole was an interesting par-4 with an extremely deep bunker on the right (ask me how I know) that precedes the first par 3 of the day, a memorable one where I am pretty positive that each individual in my foursome played in a slightly different wind direction.

Houses really bother some people, and some golf course reviewers, but as long as they aren’t intrusive, I am not one of those reviewers. Perhaps if I were a 20-handicap those houses left may influence my shot unnaturally. But in a normal round, I can recap every shot I hit at the end of the day, but likely not which holes had houses and which did not.

The fourth hole is merely a connection hole without much character, other than a large bunker flanking the front of a green pitched from front-to-back. However, the fifth was a strategy stunner.

From a design perspective, I love these types of holes. First, from the tee, it looks impossibly narrow between the two bunkers. But as you can see, its just an illusion, there is plenty of room for shorter clubs on the left, and plenty of room for longer clubs on the right. The ravine that bisects the hole prevents the player from just getting as close as possible, so a real strategy conundrum presents itself in how to best attack the hole into a wild green with a very steep ridge curving in equal circumference with the greenside bunker. I found the wrong side of the ridge with a 30-foot putt, and holed a clutch 10-footer for par.

The next hole is just another amazing hole, perhaps the best on the property as a par-5 with a simple tee shot becomes a wild second shot over a steep ridge of bunkers to a blind green that is very steeply sloped and very, very large.

The par-3 seventh was not fun for me, but its technically a “redan” style par 3. I use that term loosely for the 7th hole, because I’m not sure a player could truly use the slope of the redan to get close to the hole. I thought the 7th was not a very good redan hole, as it was overly long, the frontal bunker overly deep, and the ability to run the ball up the left side along the ground did not seem like a viable option – at least visually.

The eighth was another strategy based par 4 with plenty of bunkers, and the ninth hole presents a forced carry over a deep stream on the second shot to a relatively tight green. Speaking of the ninth green: in the rocks that front the green likely lays the smallest drop zone in the history of golf. Have your host show you this anomaly on the way by the green.

At the turn, while in the clubhouse, we ran into the Head Chef who was discussing an ever changing menu at Black Creek Club. While we did not get to try any food, our host made the menu sound very appetizing. As this was a 36-hole day for us, there was no time for lunch – only more golf!

Making the Turn

As we moved the the tenth tee, two of the most visually striking holes lie in wait, with another strategy based par-4 tenth hole, and a drop par-3 eleventh, both beautiful and tough in their own ways. As you can see, left of either hole is no good. Left of the tenth was a drop off I’d be unwilling to walk down.

The twelfth hole was also a very interesting hole, with a creek dividing the hole straight up the center - a creek that claimed two of four golf balls on this day. However, steering it left led me to a longer approach, but a very realistic birdie attempt with a good approach. The backdrops on the back nine really come into focus as those gorgeous mountain views were clearly a motivating factor behind Silva’s routing on this nine, which without a better reason, I might term as confusing.

The thirteenth and fourteenth holes, while strong holes with more mountain views, are mostly connecting holes to loop the course back around to a driveable par-4 fifteenth.

Sixteen is another connecting par 4 that pushes the routing to the par-3 seventeenth hole - a biarritz style green that is pretty cool, but also a *touch* gimmicky. I probably hit my best shot of the day here and ended up putting up a literal mountain of a green as my ball plugged into the side of the biarritz’s slope. I left this hole a bit perplexed on how I could have hit a better shot, but was left with an impossibly unfair putt. Super cool to play once, but I’m not sure this hole is a test of skill as much. Perhaps this is more a critique of biarritz greens than Black Creek, but I digress.

The eighteenth hole is a par-5 that is somewhat birdie-able with a good drive. The hole presents a scoring opportunity, but the hole left me feeling like Silva may have ran out of room in his routing, resulting in this hole. It is certainly not a bad hole, but on a course with a number of very memorable holes, the last hole is not one of them.

Final Thoughts

The clubhouse was very nice, staff friendly, and the guest rate was more than reasonable for the quality of the golf course. This is the type of club I can see myself being a member at: great views, interesting course that could be set-up a variety of different ways, a reasonable guest fee that my friends would actually be willing to pay to play with me, good practice facility, and a great clubhouse with a friendly staff.

This course is unequivocally one of the best courses in Tennessee. Golf Digest rates Black Creek at 12th in Tennessee, and I’d have to think that is quite underrated. Top100GolfCourses has the course #7 in Tennessee, and I am much more comfortable with that spot. This course is worth a trip to play if you get an invite. The club’s members should be proud of the underrated mountain gem that they get play. Even though I came away uncertain of the membership cost or monthly dues, Black Creek would be one of my first stops for a membership inquiry if I moved to Chattanooga.

F1C Final Rating

Shot Options: 8
Challenge: 7
Layout Variety: 8
Distinctiveness: 9
Aesthetics: 8
Conditioning: 8
Character: 8
Fun: 7

Total: 63/80

Read More: How We Rate Courses

Rating Scale Details

> 70: Top-50 U.S.
65-70: Top-200 U.S.,
60-65: Best-in-State List
57-60: Best-in-state List Contender
53-57: Very Good
50-53: Good
45-50: Average
> 45: Poor