28 of 70: The Creek at Qualchan, Spokane WA

The Creek at Qualchan is a lovely course which steals your heart as soon as you see it on your left driving in from downtown Spokane. The day we played it, the course was lush green and in the sun you could already see the undulated fairways calling on you like the Sirens in the Odyssey. What you didn't see, of course, was the danger lurking upon your arrival on the first tee box. You are standing on a cliff, 100 feet above the distant faiway, and just below the cliff runs Latah Creek which meanders all over the course. Your first tee shot must carry not only the creek, but a wide patch of rough similar to the one pictured above. This signature hole is, however, a short par 4 and a good tee shot will set you up for a birdie (as for Daryl) or an easy par (as mine). The second hole is a far more difficult par 4 which demands an accurate tee shot leaving you with a blind second shot to an elevated and well protected green. Our bogeys here didn't feel that bad.

The views on this course are incredible and one could easily create a photo blog. Brenda, my official photographer on this adventure, did  shoot a number of great pictures and was perhaps distracted from her golf game. I, on the other hand, had no excuses for my poor performance. We had our moments but they mostly came on the par 3's. We both managed a par on the 4th hole which is a reasonably long par 3 and never did worse than bogey on any of the others, including the most difficult eleventh hole. I played well for the most part but when I had a bad hole, it was really bad and turned into triple bogeys and even quadruple bogeys.

Daryl fared better than Brenda and I, and posted an 85 for his round, his lowest one to date. He has been steadily creeping down and that seems quite promising. His chances of breaking 80 are much higher than mine and that of Chris Zelkovich whom I have referred to in my last installment. For a more comprehensive review of The Creek at Qualchan, you might want to pay a visit to the Golf Course Gurus' website which I have recently discovered and enjoy thoroughly. In closing, I leave you with a picture of a blue heron seen on site.