Diamond Creek Golf Club is a private course in Banner Elk, NC. This Diamond Creek Golf Club course review is based on a round played on July 8, 2023 (AM). Victoria National Golf Club is a private course in Newburgh, IN. This Victoria National Golf Club course review is based on a round played on April 11, 2023 (AM).

F1C Final Ratings:

• Diamond Creek: 69/80 _{(Top-200 U.S.)}
• Victoria National: 67/80 _{(Top-200 U.S.)}

Admittedly, both of these courses deserve a review of their own, but I played these two courses so close in time that I was able to see these courses in a different light: these courses are siblings.

Let’s start with their background. Both of them have a legitimate claim to being a top-100 golf course in the United States, but unlike most top-100 courses, these two are not unanimous picks. Victoria National is Golf Digest’s #53 in the U.S. after being #47 last year; a firm ranking sandwiched between Maidstone and Old Town Club. But unlike Maidstone and Old Town Club, Victoria National is absent from Golf Magazine’s top-100 course rankings. Golfweek places Victoria National at 47th in their “modern” ratings, effectively making it a fringe top 100-course.

Oddly enough, Diamond Creek has a similar story. Golf Digest has Diamond Creek as the 77th best course in the U.S. But Golf Magazine? Absent from the rankings, just like Victoria National. Golfweek? #53 Modern, making it a fringe top-100 at best.

This is not what I would call “normal” in the golf ranking world. There is relative consensus about which 150-or-so courses make up the best 100 in the U.S., and the battle largely becomes where to rank them, not if they should make the list at all. But these two? No consensus.

More commonalities: Tom Fazio designed both courses, visually they share a lot of similarities if a player disregards their backdrops, and they were both constructed around the same time – Victoria National in 1996 and Diamond Creek in 2003. Both courses were pet projects by wealthy owners, Terry Friedman at Victoria National and Wayne Huizenga at Diamond Creek. Both clubs largely cater to a national membership, rather than a local one, with lodging facilities on site to meet the need of their traveling-to-play clientele. Last but not least, the guest fees are not friendly at either course.

These courses are clearly Fazio sibling courses.

Victoria National

Victoria National has a wonderful practice facility, a nice clubhouse with lockers (even for guests), and a welcoming staff. As you drive in, nothing feels overly intimidating like some top-100 courses can feel. Within a few minutes of arriving, we were at the driving range and warming up with a few practice putts.

The First Tee

The first hole introduces you to Victoria National in an abrupt way: a 442 yard par-4. Before you know it, you’re playing your approach into the first green, and for me, it was my first sight of the rough. It was at this moment, I knew I was in for a fight against Mr. Fazio. The rough is long, and thick, and not a hospitable place in which golf was intended to be played.

View from the tee on the first hole at Victoria National

The second hole is a very interesting strategy hole, a short par-4, carrying a ravine that lengthens on the left, with two strategically placed bunkers on the right to narrow the landing area. This gives you an interesting two options from the tee. Option A: something less than driver in front of the bunkers or Option B: Driver up the left side of the fairway.

Option A presents less risk on the tee shot, but requires some precision with a less-than-driver club to carry the ravine but stop before the bunkers when the course is firm. Then, not to reward cowardice, Fazio gives you two sets of bunkers to carry on the approach – the fairway set to take away your eyes, and the greenside bunker to take away your ball on the slightest push or fade.

Option B presents far more risk on the tee shot, trying to fit driver into an area which may not be quite wide enough to comfortably fit a driver. But, if you pull it off, the angle into the green with a wedge of some type makes the hole a scoring opportunity. The second is a classic risk-reward tee shot from Fazio.

After the second, Fazio gives a relatively long par-5 that may be reachable for the longest hitters, but I’m not exactly sure that is advisable here at the third. This green is very small and sunken in a dangerous bowl.

The course then continues its really strong run through the first five holes with the fourth, another strategy-based short par-4. Where the second hole was an two option hole, this hole has three distinct options. Option A, an iron off the tee and a low iron approach. Option B, a wood off the tee and a wedge approach. Option C, a Driver off the tee and a chip to the green’s surface. Each option progressing in the amount of difficulty and declining in the amount of usable space to find your tee shot.

I went with option B, which brought in the bunkers to play but felt like the right level of risk for me.

Last but not least, the first true “wtf” moment (of a few at this course) happens standing on the fifth tee. A gorgeous hole design, when pictured, but when standing on the tee, there’s less beauty and more panic on how this singular hole could really destroy my round before it has even really started. The tee shot on the fifth may be the difference between a score you are proud of versus the beginning of a Fazio-styled beat down. Because the first four holes are a false pretense: a reasonable par-4, two short 4s, and a relatively easy par-5. You may be walking to the fifth hole thinking: “this course is fun but really isn’t that hard.” Wrong. Welcome to the fifth. Wtf.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you – there is simply nowhere to miss. But hey, at least its only 200+ yards.

So, I might have gone a little too in depth there, but I believe the first five holes here may be among the best starting five I have played. At this point, Victoria National kind of becomes a test of survival. A 474-yard par 4 sixth awaits, with a wild green that is just as happy to spit your ball out than hold it on the surface. A reasonable par-3 seventh and par-4 eighth await before a par-5 ninth brings you back to the clubhouse with some water in the background.

Making the Turn

The back nine starts with another par 5, perhaps one of the easiest holes one the course but-for a wild putting surface that I am sure has caused numerous three putts in its existence. 

I think the true takeaway from this course is how difficult and beautiful the par-3s are on this course. The third of these par-3s is the eleventh, a forced carry of some 230+ yards from the tips, but at least this one (unlike two of the others) have somewhere to miss.

I would not say the course loses its distinctiveness for the next few holes, but certainly the par-4 twelfth and thirteenth and fourteenth, while pretty, are not outstanding holes, while the fourteenth is certainly challenging with a tight drive and large drop off quartering the front left side of its green. My host commented that the fourteenth routinely plays as the toughest hole at Victoria National.

Victoria National picks up its steam again at the fifteenth, a downhill par 5 that forces you to either go for it or lay up to a green that is well protected by a frontal stream and a few bunkers.

After the fifteenth presents an opportunity to score, the next three put away any notions of scoring, and bring back a survival mentality. The sixteenth hole is probably, if I am being honest with myself, the hardest hole I have ever played. It is the hole you drove to Indiana to play, in all honesty. The star of the show, even if the star is unfair and kind of an asshole. We still wanna see the star.

The green is impossibly small. I am going to share the unedited picture from my smartphone, meaning – if you stand on this tee and do not use any zoom functionality on your phone, here is what you get:

Do you see the green? Look closer, its there. Its 208 yards away and there is water left, water long, water right, and water short. From this tee box, it is not a fair hole. But we didn’t come for fair, right? “We drove to Indiana to conquer this hole!” I said, just before i bounced it off the bank left of the green into the pond. Maybe next time, but realistically, probably not. The green is 18 yards wide at it’s widest, and just 11 yards wide on its back tier. It may happen for some people, but I cannot see it happening for me from this distance on any shot but my absolute best.

The seventeenth and eighteenth holes are incredibly stout par-4s. Both doglegs to the right of some severity over a considerable hazard. Beautiful to look at and scary for a good scorecard that you realistically probably will not have when you reach the seventeenth or eighteenth tee box.

I made par on the eighteenth, and walked away thinking that I may have just played the toughest course in the U.S. for an amateur. I am a scratch handicap, I hit the ball well apart from a poor putting performance, and I shot well into the 80s from the tips. This place is long, hard, and unrelenting and a true test of golf. If Victoria National and accompanying Evansville, IN had the infrastructure, this would be a major championship quality test if set up as difficult as it could be.

An amazing course on an amazing day, and undoubtedly in my mind, a true top 100.

F1C Final Rating of Victoria National

Shot Options: 8
Challenge: 10
Layout Variety: 9
Distinctiveness: 8
Aesthetics: 8
Conditioning: 9
Character: 8
Fun: 7

Total: 67/80

Diamond Creek

The vibe at Diamond Creek is completely different. The turn in to the course seems almost purposefully hidden. The valet parking did not appear to be optional. The clubhouse and men’s locker room almost felt like I was in a wing of some historic landmark, as if I could some how imagine a sitting US President sitting in the locker room with a cigar. It was truly an experience just arriving on property and the setting of the clubhouse made the weight of the moment feel bigger than it undoubtedly was.

Whereas Victoria National’s vibe is more of a golf first club, Diamond Creek’s vibe felt more political in nature. I didn’t hesitate to take my golf bag off the cart at Victoria National to head to the range to warm up. But at Diamond Creek, I was stopped before I had the bag unstrapped from my cart and told to carry my clubs individually to the range. I was pointed to Web.com tour pros that were visiting as if to say I wasn’t quite connected enough to carry my *whole bag* to the driving range.

In hindsight, that was probably okay. The driving range and practice facilities are small and truly not up to par for the type of course Diamond Creek is; however, its understandable. There is limited real estate as the course is on the top of a literal mountain. I’m not exaggerating, either. The course sits at an elevation where I started feeling a bit sick to my stomach initially, due to the elevation gained on the car ride to the course.

The course is built into a valley between some very formidable mountains that are honestly part of the landscape of the course. As you stand on the first tee box, everything to your right is lower in elevation to you, and falling. Everything to your left is higher in elevation, and rising. Truly a course carved into the side of a mountain.

The First Tee

The first hole is similar to Victoria National, a straightaway par 4, but it tightens a bit towards the landing zone, which makes the player contemplate whether a wood or a driver is the correct choice of club. Then the green comes and you confirm your suspensions from the practice greens: these greens are fast. Not regular fast, like tour fast, faster than tour fast.

The first, second, and third holes all run in the same direction, with the rest of the course on your right, and below you. A par-3 second and par 4-third await.

The third hole reminded me so much of the type of strategy that Fazio employs at Victoria National, with a hole very similar to the second at Victoria National. The hole presents another Option A vs Option B conundrum, where Option A is safer but creates a longer approach with two bunkers to carry: one for your eyes, and a greenside one for your ball. Option B brings danger into play, but sets up a better angled wedge shot if properly executed.

At this point, the course 180s, but just momentarily, as a long par-5 fourth playing *significantly* downhill creates a birdie opportunity for longer hitters. The course then swings back for relatively flat par-3 fifth and par-4 sixth holes. However, if you’re scared of heights or amazing views, don’t look right.

The course again turns a 180 and gives you what is likely the best view on the course from the seventh tee box, a long downhill par-5. You also catch a view of the impossibly long par-4 ninth hole in the distance. However on the seventh, if you catch the right slope, you might hit your career long drive. Remember, we are at elevation and the ball goes a bit further (I was constantly asking my caddie for sea level adjustments).

Some people rave about the bunkerless par-3 eighth, I found it unmemorable and mundane before moving to a whale of a hole in the par-4 ninth. 505 yards of double bogey for me.

Making the Turn

The turn is made in front of the clubhouse and like a winding mountain road, again turn a 180 as you weave your way down the mountain. The tenth at Diamond Creek reminded me so much of the options presented on the fourth at Victoria National. Another A, B, C option short-par 4 with varying angles and danger as your risk-tolerance would allow.

I again chose option B, cementing the similarity between these holes and converted a wedge for birdie; but a well-struck Driver would have certainly brought an eagle into play.

The eleventh winds back 180 degrees for the next three holes, a par-4 eleventh, a par-3 twelfth, and a par-5 thirteenth, perhaps the easiest three hole stretch on the course. Much like Victoria National, the Diamond Creek loses a bit of its distinctiveness in this stretch after the turn before Fazio sets up some stunning finishing holes.

The par-4 fourteenth is a great hole, both strategically and visually as it plays downhill enough to concern you about potential run out into some undesirable rough. The par-4 fifteenth is like a flatter version of the same hole in a different direction, with different scenery, and a more complex green.

The sixteenth hole is a par-4, driveable from the up tees due to just how far downhill it plays. The hole drops off the side of a mountain as its one of the few holes at Diamond Creek that does not play like a winding mountain road, bisecting the ridges. Rather, it plays straight down the mountain and presents an interesting challenge for your driver and your yardage book

Then, the seventeenth hole arrives. Much like the sixteenth at Victoria National, the best par-3 is saved for last. I’d consider this one of the best par-3 holes that I have ever played purely in the terms of aesthetics. This is the hole, again, that you drove to Banner Elk, NC to play. Unlike Victoria National’s, this hole is much more attainable. But just like Victoria National, I dumped it into the water on the left.

The eighteenth hole is kind of unique for Diamond Creek – an uphill hole. But, what goes down, must come back up to the clubhouse, so what results is an awkward mid-length par 4 with a stream flanking the whole way right. A weird finishing hole for an interesting course. Many people have written about the possibility of reversing the nines, but the seventeenth is right where it should be. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fazio revisits the eighteenth hole at some point in the future to correct what is the weakest hole on the course.

F1C Final Rating of Diamond Creek

Shot Options: 7
Challenge: 7
Layout Variety: 10
Distinctiveness: 8
Aesthetics: 10
Conditioning: 10
Character: 8
Fun: 9

Total: 69/80

Final Thoughts

This won’t end the debate, but both of these courses are solidly top-100 courses in the U.S. Safe to say that GOLF Magazine has it wrong, and Golf Digest has it right. Victoria National is so unique it is challenge and variety, plus one of the best set of par-3 holes in the U.S. Diamond Creek is unique in its conditioning (literally not a blade of dead grass on the property), its setting, and its vibe. Diamond Creek is undoubtedly the stuffiest club I have been to yet, but despite its flaws, is one of the top courses on my list.

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
48-53: Good
40-48: Average
> 40: Poor