"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
bi-weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

August 2, 2005

Staff members at the newly renovated Champions Club at Hampton Creek knew they had a tough course on their hands after noted designer Jay Morrish finished his handiwork last fall. When the Tennessee Golf Association’s course ratings came back, they had their proof.

The Champions Club’s rating of 75.7 places it among the top six in Tennessee, behind Colonial South in Memphis (77.2), The Honors Course (76.1), and the TPC at Southwind (75.9), but ahead of several other highly regarded courses in the state, including Knoxville’s Holston Hills, Nashville’s Belle Meade, and all seven Jack Nicklaus signature courses, including his new Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville and Nashville’s Richland Country Club.

Funny how two of the most difficult courses in Tennessee are located a few miles apart in sleepy little Ooltewah.

“We’re proud of the fact the course measures up against some of the tougher courses in our state,” said Champions Club general manager Rich Balthrop, “but we’re also proud that we have several sets of tees, so the course can be challenging to better players, but also fun to play for everyone else.”

If you’re wondering what factors go into course rating, this passage from the USGA’s course rating primer sums it up well:

“Accuracy and consistency are the keys to effective course rating. A course must first be accurately measured, and the measured yardage must be corrected for factors that affect the playing length, which are roll, changes in elevation, forced lay-ups, doglegs, prevailing wind and altitude. Obstacles that affect playing difficulty must then be evaluated in accordance with established standards. These standards reduce subjectivity in course rating.”

I finally got to play the Champions Club in a benefit tournament earlier this week, and came away impressed with the job Morrish did building the new course around the nine-hole executive course that had previously existed. Taking the old course’s best holes and blending them with an impressive piece of property that winds around either side of Snow Hill Road, Morrish came up with a course that doesn’t need to be tricked up to be demanding.

Balthrop is hoping to test the course among the game’s best players, on a state and national level.

“We’ll try to get in the rotation for state events, plus the [Chattanooga Men’s] Metro and things like that,” Balthrop said. “But we might have our eye on something bigger down the road.”

Without question, The Champions Club could be a worthy tournament venue. At 7,200 yards from the back tees, it’s long enough, and there are challenges aplenty, ranging from meandering creeks to penal rough to thick stands of hardwood forest.

• Jeff Sherrill has joined Zeb Patten’s teaching staff at the Chattanooga Golf Center. The three-time All-Southern Conference player (Furman) has worked in the business world most of his career but recently devoted himself to golf instruction, an endeavor he says is “new, exciting and scary all at the same time.”

Sherrill can schedule individual or group lessons. I took a lesson with Sherrill a couple of months ago because I needed help on my setup, and I can say with certainty he’s got a firm grasp on the fundamentals and communicates them well.

Contact Sherrill at Chattanooga Golf Center, or through his website, http://www.sherrillgolf.com.

• Another CGC employee, Andrew Black, is having a strong season in amateur golf. Last week, Black qualified for the U.S. Amateur with a two-round total of 11-under-par 133 at the Landmark Golf Club in Lenoir City, Tenn. That accomplishment (he was low qualifier by four shots) follows on the heels of qualifying for last month’s U.S. Amateur Public Links.

Black shot rounds of 71-72 in Public Links stroke play at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio and advanced all the way to the third round of match play before losing, 3 and 2, to eventual champion Clay Odgen of West Point, Utah.

This week, Black is competing in the Tennessee Amateur at Memphis Country Club. A third-round, 3-under-par 67 on Thursday lifted Black into a tie for seventh, six shots behind leader Danny Green.

The U.S. Amateur will be played at historic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. Aug. 22-28.

Former Baylor School and Middle Tennessee State player Josh Nelms missed qualifying by a single stroke at the Ol’ Colony Golf Complex in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on July 20, but did grab an alternate spot. He’s also just a shot behind Black in the state amateur after shooting a 67 of his own on Thursday.

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