Savage Creek Golf course, 13 Holes, September 25th 2018

Savage Creek has changed

Situated on number 6 road in Richmond, the once driving range has been steadily upgrading with future developments still in the works. True to its name, "SAVAGE" was nothing that I expected. One look at the scorecard and you would think it's a walk in the park for your average golfer, but it's far from that. With an elevation change that you don't see in the flatlands of Richmond, accompanied with tough greens and surrounds, Savage will keep bringing you back again and again despite the relatively short distance.

Entrance to the course

What this course does right

The views are spectacular, with the little bit of elevation on a few of the holes you can see all the way to downtown Burnaby. The mounds and hills are green from wall to wall, aesthetically it's a beautiful course with a lot of potential when they open the rest of the course (Currently 13 holes). It's a fun track with some scorable holes and some really tough par 3's.

View of Burnaby in the background

  What it doesn't

The course is still a baby, walking around you'll see the turf quality isn't quite there yet. The tees and fairways are shaggy, the greens are slow and imperfect. Take it all in with a grain of salt though, because come next season if they continue to do a good job taking care of the course. This could be a gem out on the east side of Richmond.

Course overall rating-  65

Greens 11/20- The greens are huge! ...but they don't roll true (yet) As of right now they aren't very fun to putt on, but there is big potential here. Next season expect this number to shoot up.
Tee's 4/10- They were lush, but not even close to being normal tee height. Once again, next season expect this number to be in upper scale (if they stay lush) but they seriously need to cut these down.
Fwy 9/15 - Green the whole way through, the fairways are easy to hit since they are quite wide. With a few wet spots and the grass being a little long I can't give them a very high score.
Bunkers 9/10 - The bunkers were the best part! With the gleaming white sand and no low spots in sight, they added spectacularly to the views off the tee. The bunker surrounds needed some work, looks like they had been neglected for some time
Practice facility 2/5 - Same savage creek. 5.50$/60 balls, two mediocre putting/chipping greens
Aesthetics 17/20 - This is where it shines, this course is beautiful. The contours on the hills mixed with the elevation change are something you really have to see to believe
Difficulty 5/10 - Not really a challenging course for distance, but the greens are quite sloped and there are water hazards around most of the greens. If you can keep the ball straight and true, putting will be what it comes down to. If you're a longer hitter, some of the holes seem quite silly (367 yard par 5?) but you would be surprised how hard it is to make birdies.
Enjoyment 8/10 - Really a fun course with high risk, high reward tee shots. I can really see myself playing a few more times even though the turf quality is lacking. The layout is simple, but lots of fun.

All in all, Savage Creek golf course is a short, simple course with great views. Currently at 25$ for the green fee (13 holes) I would say it's well worth it. I'm looking forward to seeing how the course plays once everything has matured and the rest of the holes open.