I do not think I have ever seen a 6,400-yard par-72 layout that has a course rating of 72.5 with a slope of 144. My newly introduced host and playing partner, smartly suggested that we play from the middle tees at 5,877 which still offers a slope of 139. Thank goodness they have GPS equipped carts and I had someone with local knowledge, or it would have been a long day.

Water comes into play on 13 of the holes and most have doglegs so obviously accuracy is WAY more important than distance.

The opening hole is a short (425-yard) par-5 that is relatively open and favours a right-hand fade, perfect for the first swing of the day. Travis and I both birdied the hole, so game on. Unfortunately, it did not take long before I was brought down to my knees. The 2nd hole is ranked #1 on the course and I soon found out why. This 392-yard par-4 is a much tighter dogleg right that requires a perfect drive to be able to see the green. I made a mess of this one while Travis made par.

The 3rd hole is a severe dogleg right where your best chance of success is to play a long iron to clear the corner that will leave you with a short approach to a green guarded by two bunkers. I doubled this hole while my playing partner laid down another par. Now you get the picture?

Overall, I found holes 2 to 5 to be tight and heavily tree-lined whereas 6 to 9 are more open and forgiving. From 10 to 18 there you are back in the forest.

The 11th hole is my favourite. This narrow 420-yard right sweeping par-5 requires a tee shot over a creek, but you need to be careful of the bunker on the left-side with a swale in the middle of the fairway.

The 18th is great finishing par 5. Starting from an elevated tee block you are faced with a tight fairway accentuated by a creek running down the left side that eventually crosses in front at the 130-yard marker.

You need to think your way around this layout because of doglegs and the fact that the creeks cross over on holes 10,11,12,17 and 18. I love the stone bridges, the sharp edged, well-define bunkers and the fact that there are varying sizes of greens, some with challenging undulations

Long Creek is located about a 40-minute drive southwest of Regina in the middle of no-where but certainly worth the drive in my opinion.

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