Deer Creek Golf Club (Deerfield, FL)

Deer Creek hosted the first round of our annual South Florida Ryder Cup. It’s an Art Hills design that plays alongside one of the main canals that filters water to the ocean. It’s a typical Florida residential course, but it is considered one of the best conditioned in Broward county. 

Deer Creek is one of the greenest course I’ve seen since coming down here the past five years. The ball sits up like I’m accustomed to, and is more like the golf we play back here. Considering dormant Bermuda is so tight to hit from, it’s easy to understand why everyone holds Deer Creek in such high regards. The course and driving range were full when we played it, and all the local guys rave about how much they love playing here. 

(The 215/177 yard par three eighth plays through an avenue of gnarly trees. A bunker covers the front left corner.) 

I’ve seen more of Art Hills work than any other architect and it’s always solid. I feel he excels at sites like this because he doesn’t try to get too fancy. He puts together a sensible routing and strings together holes with sound and credible architecture. His style does very well with everyday players and management is left with reasonable maintenance requirements. 

(My favorite hole is the short par four tenth. It’s only 339/313 yards and laying up off the tee is the prudent play but the farther one hits the ball, the more open the angle to the green is. The putting surface is very long. The front plays just over the water but the rear half extends beyond the shadow in the picture. It’s a four club green.) 

I was very impressed with the pin positions at Deer Creek. Several required a high quality shot to get close. And they used these locations on a Saturday no less! How many times do you play your local course on the weekend and they place the flag in generic spots to keep pace of play moving? It was refreshing to see a club keep the excitement level up and use some riveting hole locations. Another reason why serious players love this place. 

(The 191/147 yard par three eleventh has a green fronted by a water. Today’s pin is far right just over the hazard.) 

(The 377/335 yard par four seventeenth has a fortress green with a yawning bunker directly in the front right. The elevated putting surface is mostly hidden. This pin position is just behind the bunker, making twenty feet a great approach.) 

Architecturally Deer Creek is on par with most other Florida courses, but the playing conditions and course setup make it a desired tee time. In my group, out of the five courses we played, Deer Creek was the unanimously  chosen as the best one we played. A round here is very enjoyable. I give it a resounding 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play). 

(The 451/388 yard par four eighteenth finishes off the round in style with a slight dogleg left. Right is the preferred side off the tee so one can navigate the large bunker front left. The water comes into play if you hit a poor drive. Then a decision will be needed to layup or hit it over. A four is a fine score.)