Golf on Long Island: Flyover: Cherry Creek

Cherry Creek features a pair of courses hidden away in the middle of spacious Riverhead fields -- the original Links, a long driver's delight and site of Long Island's only par-6, and the newer Woods, packed with trees as the name suggests. In this family, the kid brother has little interest in taking after the older sibling.

The Woods Course at Cherry Creek is one of Long Island's more modern offerings, built in 2002, six years after and across the street from the Links Course and its notable par-6 closer. Players at either Cherry Creek layout get a taste of the North Fork every time they go. Arriving at the pro shop requires a drive through scenic, expansive farmland. A buffalo ranch is located right down the road. And while the Links gives Cherry Creek golfers an occasional glimpse of the rural landscape, the Woods keeps eyes focused down straight fairways framed by tall, harrowing trees.

On the scorecard, Woods is a par-71 that tops out at 6,550 yards. Its back side, with 575- and 550-yard par-5s and a 473-yard par-4, is longer than the front with more rolling terrain. Every hole is ringed by trees, with clearings few and far between.

LAYOUT:
The initial scenery on the Woods is reminiscent, ironically, of a snapshot taken on a sun-splashed Florida fairway. Five greens converge around a pair of water hazards. From the second tee, players can look back at the pond-protected first green, the island-esque fifth green (right) and the watery ninth. Before you get there, the 354-yard opener offers a soft course preview with a thin treeline down the right side that opens up to a clearing before a downslope and hazard step in to fortify the green.

After the par-3 second -- a 178-yard shot from the middle tees with a big back-to-front green -- it's tight and straight for quite a while. The 535-yard march to the third green is interrupted only by a few sizable fairway bunkers. The path seems to narrow a bit before ending at a bunker-free green with lots of open space. Woods turns back toward the clubhouse at #4, a 345-yard two-shotter with three bunkers on the green's front and right. Ahead, the fifth green is surrounded by water on three sides. Stay along the left side for the best view of and angle to the flag.

There are three par-3s on the front nine. Following #2, the sixth offers more open air than most holes on the course and culminates with a wide green hugged along the entire back side by a sand trap. Up ahead, #8 is more in line with the character of the course. Trees tightly wrap the 150-yard hole, and its deep right-to-left green is defended by three bulky traps. In between, the par-4 seventh (pictured left) contains the most movement on the course, bending left off the tee and then back to the right over a water hazard. Fairway and greenfront bunkers complicate conservative tee shots and approaches.

The back nine on the Woods features more of a rolling nature than the front, and it begins with a pair of short par-4s, each with a gentle left bend. Both use fairway traps about 200 yards from the tee to spoil otherwise ideal shots. While walking up #10, take note of the chasm sitting off to the side of #12's undulating fairway. Only a long bunker in the right rough on that 443-yard par-4 can save misguided shots from heading toward the bottom. Missed shots right of the 12th green also flirt with trouble.

Woods enters the homestretch with plenty of length and limbs. The 14th and 15th -- 442 and 575 from the tips, respectively -- are straight, narrow paths marked only by intermittent fairway traps of varying build. These holes are fully enclosed by trees. At a maximum 310 yards, #16 is a relief after such long marches, though its deep green is mirrored by an equally sized sand trap.

Water comes back into play on the final two holes, though it shouldn't make much of an impact on the par-3 17th, which is more closely protected by sand on all sides. The hazard does make for a good-looking vista to close out your time on the course. #18 calls for one final slog beneath and between an unrelenting lineup of trees. The closer stretches 550 yards, and its deep, slim green is guarded by a small pond. A knob in the middle of the surface defends the cup.

CONDITIONS:
A course known and named for its abundance of trees is going to have an issue with leaves, and even on a mid-spring day with plenty of still-bare branches, some of last year's remnants littered parts of the fairways courtesy of a brisk wind. It must be quite a maintenance battle come October.

With its tall trees and thin trunks, the Woods is only slightly more forgiving to players jailed inside the treeline than other courses with bulky bodies and exposed roots. Escaping often requires a precise punch through a labyrinth of bark, but at least the absence of gnarled roots should set up a manageable lie.

There is a tiny bit of quirk in the design. In addition to its strategically placed fairway and greenside bunkers, the Woods sports a handful of odd sand traps either carved out of the course at random or designed to doubly infuriate those who've just hit a clunker off the tee. Small sand traps appear just a few paces from tees or off to the sides short of the fairway. At the par-3 13th, a bunker (pictured below) waits for chunked irons at the foot of the tee box. (Pictured left, a manicured trap just a few paces from the forward tee on #10.)

While these oddly positioned traps are generally benign and potentially hilarious if your hothead playing partner finds one, in at least one instance, the sand is out of place and overly penal. As #5 narrows toward its water-guarded green, a small fairway bunker is fully enveloped inside the right treeline, setting up a possible punch-out/blast-out double jeopardy that's unnecessary and unfair.

The par-4 seventh comes to an awkward finish thanks to a fence that was installed a few seasons ago, most likely to keep players from venturing too close to the houses just beyond the trees. Adding the fence not only squeezed the left side of the greensite and literally sheared off part of a bunker, it also redirected the cart path, which now juts across the fairway in front of the green.

With many trees come many shadows, and with many shadows often come bare patches. Newly sodded areas and a scattering of white circles marking ground under repair are a common sight in some spots.

HOLE(S) TO REMEMBER:
#7 is the first to throw a little curve into the round. It's a soft dogleg that moves left and then slightly back to the right on the approach. You'll want to bite off as many of the hole's 422 yards as you can off the tee in order to stay away from the area in front of the green. Inside 100 yards, the already narrow hole is pinched by a water hazard on the right, sand on the left and a fence (as mentioned above) that escalates the threat of penalty strokes. A drive just short of or even with the right-side fairway bunker should take most of this trouble out of play and set up a successful approach on one of the course's more strategic par-4s.

In terms of a view, it's hard to beat #17, which offers a look at multiple greens from above the pond.

AREA(S) TO AVOID:
Do the treelines count? Do bunkers like the one pictured to the right count? (It sits in front of the 13th tee.) Too simple? OK. Try to avoid messing with the right side of #12. Though it's open and free of trees, it's not the kind of open that anyone enjoys. The rough falls off into a pit. Even if you're safe on the left side of the fairway, up ahead at the green, misses to the right can easily get sucked down into another weed-riddled depression just a few paces from the putting surface. Once there, balls are as good as gone.

OTHER NOTES:
If you want to warm up before the round, you'll need to head across the street. The driving range is at the Links Course.

NEARBY COURSES:
Cherry Creek - Links (across the street)
Sandy Pond (2 miles)
Indian Island (5 miles)

CONTACT:
967 Reeves Ave., Riverhead 11901
(631) 506-0777
www.thewoodsatcherrycreek.com

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