Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club

Golf Course Description

This course, which is public, along with Witch Hollow, which is private, are the courses owned by Pumpkin Ridge. An interesting design feature of the course, and its name sake, is Ghost Creek that winds throughout the course, appearing from nowhere and then disappearing into nowhere, hence its “Ghost” quality. The creek is man made with the water pumped into a creek bed either along a fairway or across a fairway to add to the design of certain holes. When the water is no longer needed to enhance the hole it disappears back underground to flow to the next point where it is needed on the course. The creek looks very natural and the only thing that makes no sense is where it came from and where it went. The course is very pretty with a lot of changes in elevation, trees lining most fairways, sloping terrain on some holes forcing you to play to the high side, and numerous sand bunkers. The fairways vary in width depending on the design of the hole, and most of the greens are fairly large with ridges, tiers, and various degrees of undulation. The back nine has three par 3’s. Each of the holes on the course has different characteristics, making the course very interesting to play. The five par 3’s all have some challenge to them, either in distance, water to cross, uphill or downhill tee shot required, etc. One of the signature holes is #11, 180-yard, par 3. From the men’s tee your angle to the green sends you across Ghost Creek that wanders back and forth across the fairway area. There is a bailout area right of the creek and a small short-cut fairway area in front of the green to the left. A missed shot on this hole will normally find trouble. The number one handicap hole is #4, a 533-yard, par 5. The problem on this hole isn’t the distance but the need to hit accurate shots. The hole has a dogleg left fairway, which slopes from the right to the left. Your tee shot and second shot must be on the right side or you can roll into disaster on the left. Another signature hole is #9, a 469-yard, par 4, which requires a long approach shot over water to an elevated green. There are environmentally sensitive wetland areas around the course. If an errant shot goes into the wetlands, you are not allowed to retrieve your ball. Range balls are included in the green fee. “Golf Digest” rated this as the” Best New Public Course in America” for 1992, and also rated it as the #1 “Best Public Course” in the state for 1996. In addition, “GOLF Magazine” rated this course 5th best among the “Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.” for 1996, and 13th for 1998. The same publication chose it 74th among the “Top 100 Courses in the U.S.” for 1995, 82nd for 1997 and 90th for 1999. In addition, “GOLFWEEK” ranked it 39th among “America’s 100 Best Modern Courses” for 1997, 67th for 1998 and 85th for 1999. Tiger Woods captured his third U.S. Amateur title at Pumpkin Ridge in 1996. The 5,206-yard ladies’ tee also has a men’s course rating of 69.8 and slope of 123.