Architect: William S. Flynn
Web: www.golfdc.com/gc/rc/golfcourse.htm
Phone: (202) 863-4444
The scene: A Takoma Park bungalow circa 1992. An energetic, frenetic former Minnesota Timberwolves apprentice mascot now turned political pundit dances to Prince turned way too loud. I stumble out of my room and grumble, as I am wont to do. My boy lumbers out of his lair and prods his lithesome partner to turn up the music. Sure, he likes them lithe but he’s getting a little envious, watching me, prickly and petulant on the couch, sipping a beer and smoking a cigarette. The lithesome one doesn’t know he drinks and smokes. That’s a tough trick because basically he is always smoking and drinking. My jangly nerves are being tested, no question, and when landlord Jay starts hammering up on the roof I give my boy the air golf swing. We have to be at work by five and it would be nice to sneak in a quick nine. At this juncture, I was beginning to hope a real timber wolf would leap through the window and snatch the euphoric dancer away in its fearsome jaw. Or a feral cat. Or a serial abducting religious cult. Anything. Please, I beg of you, stop with the dancing. Between the bassy, syncopated thumping of Prince and the incessant hammering from above, I was willing to do anything to get away, hell, I’d go back in time and sit on my haunches in a muddy WWI trench with mortars exploding around me, that had to be more peaceful than this. But mostly what I wanted to do was get Dancing Wolf out of the crib, hustle into our ride before Jay asked about the back rent and play nine holes.
And invariably this meant a quick jaunt over to Rock Creek Golf Course, a mere ten minutes away. Situated in Rock Creek Park along 16th street, the golf course was carved out of a hilly forest by the eminent architect William S. Flynn (The Homestead Cascades Course, Shinnecock Hills, The Country Club at Brookline). Pretty cool deal playing a noted architect’s creation for less than a double sawbuck. It’s like those nights at the Stoned Pony in Asbury Park when Springsteen would show up to play a set long after he’d become a mega-star. Well, actually, it’s not really like that at all. I guess it’s more like seeing the Stones and they don’t play anything from their vintage Greatest Rock n Roll Band era – no Brown Sugar, no Gimme Shelter, no Honky-Tonk Woman - just a bunch of 3rd rate twaddle from the 80s and 90s. Nah, that's not quite it, either - you’d still have to pay full freight ... but if I think of anymore analogies my head's gonna explode.
Since the 1st hole is a downhill, virtually drivable par 4, a big, annoying logjam of impatient golfers awaits on the first tee. The front nine is the gentler, more wide-open nine and the highlights are the uphill front-bunkered par 3 third, the downhill par 4 knob-fronted green of the sixth and the attractive tree-bordered dogleg right ninth. It’s slow going here, even after you clear the holdup at the first tee. Since we had to get to work, such as it was, we wouldn’t get to the back nine too often, which is probably a good thing for my early golf psyche since the back nine is a tight ball-swallowing hilly tree-lined affair. After the dull uninspired initiation at Hain’s Point, this was probably too severe a contrast and too harsh for the beginner golfer. Or at least too much for me. There’s a couple of back-to-back holes (15 & 16), that even after becoming a better than average golfer, I wouldn’t want any part of - so visually intimidating with little slivers of fairway between the large stands of trees. It’s a pretty helpless feeling standing on the tee and knowing you have, like, an 8% chance of not losing the ball in the woods.
There are some interesting, thought-provoking shots on the back nine: the blind approach to the semi-punchbowl 10th green, avoiding the overhanging tree limb on the par 3 11th and the downhill dogleg tee shot of #14. The par 3 over-the-gully tee shot of the 17th is not without some thrills. Otherwise just keep the ball in play – lots of bunting drivers rather than full bore grip it and rip it.
So you start with the most basic of golf course designs – a flat field with some flags (Hain’s Pt) and now here you add elevation, green contouring, and trees. I’m slowly beginning to develop a notion of my golf course aesthetic. So while this is a definite step-up from Hain's Pt, it's too short, too busy and too scruffy to give it much more than a 3.5, possibly a 4, but that's about the limit.
But me and my boy need to get to work so we can make enough for tomorrow’s round and the nightly commute to Tic Toc Liquors . And if I hear Prince in the morning, I'll be the one joining a religious cult, preferably one that practices the vow of silence...
Rating Scale
I’ve always been more comfortable with numbers rather than stars, so this will be simply be a number on the 1-10 scale.1-3 Pretty Darn Poor. Bad layout, poor conditioning, few redeeming factors, crowded
4-5 Mediocre. Some redeeming qualities, a few decent holes
6-7 Decent A fun, challenging course without a lot of awe or wow factor
8-9 First-Rate Among the best in the region
10 Perfect The best golf experience imaginable
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