White Clay Creek CC @ Delaware Park

Wilmington, DE

www.whiteclaycreekcountryclub.com; www.delawarepark.com

2005, Steve Forrest and Arthur Hills
7007 yards
'09 Fees: $80 primetime ride and must register with the casino's Player Rewards Club. $65 twilight @ 14:00. $65 fringe season rate (Apr & Oct), $50 fringe twilight @ 13:00, $55 November 2010

Fat Guy Review, 2010:  A fun, tough, pretty Arthur Hills target course routed through creekside flats and wetlands. Right out of the gate, the routing plays hopscotch with winding White Clay Creek through fields and forest, crossing the creek 8 times in total, plus smaller tributaries another 4 times, and playing alongside the creek on 4 more holes. If you're playing during high summer heat, I'd be tempted to wear my swim trunks for the round, as every bridge crossing and creekside cart path reveals perfect swimming hole after perfect swimming hole. Plus there are various marshlands and a few ponds very much in play, so bring lots of ammo. All those crossing hazards make the state-of-the-art GPS on the carts invaluable for club selection, and you'll find yourself comtemplating distance/angle risk/reward scenarios on a recurring basis. While most of the routing is relatively flat, many of the small greens are elevated (some severly so), with deceiving shaved-down collection areas often making them appear bigger than they really are from the fairway. The course played pretty hard and fast despite damp fall turf, as many of the fairways and greens slope off on the sides towards rough and hazards. Mis-hit balls that you think might still stop on the short grass end up rambling through into the natural grasses, woods, wetlands, and water that surround the vast majority of the holes. Between a few layup tee shots, some sucker pin placements on slick counter-sloping greens, and mature trees guarding dogleg corners to angled fairways, you'll find that some local knowledge is a big advantage despite the good yardage info provided by the GPS. I'd recommend the White tees for middle/high handicappers despite the too-short 5,900 yard tally (even if you're a big hitter), as the next-option Black tees jump to nearly 6,500 yards with some demanding tee carries to semi-snug fairways.

After 16 really interesting (and borderline brutal) target holes, I thought the finish was unnervingly weak. Starting with a milquetoast short-par 3 17th, then a seriously gimmicky 90-degree dogleg right par-4 final hole that leaves you with a tee choice of a blocked-out layup or a ridiculously long and difficult bomb through a gap in the tree line and over a drainage ditch to a stupidly shallow landing area. As you stand over your approach on 18, gazing at all the open ground to your left where the green could have (and should have) been, you realize that Hills had to kink the fairway that hard to make room for the irons-only range and the chipping green. I would much rather have seen a more legit and playable 18th with an irons-only range contained by a net and no chipping green. Maybe by then I was just worn out from getting beat up all day.

I really liked the creekside vistas and the layout, other than the 2 finishing holes.  Although it's a tough test that can easily be discouraging if you don't bring your A game.  It's a good deal at the off-season or twilight rates, and worth the prime time rates.

Conditions were good for my November off-season round, after accounting for a reasonable amount of leaves and a recent aeration which was not mentioned when I booked my tee time, although I did pay the off-season greens fee. There are some minor noise distractions as the many of the outer holes are surrounded by nearby roads which trisect the course into three sections, plus Amtrak and freight trains that run along a few perimeter holes. The horse race announcements can also be overheard occasionally from the loudspeaker of the nearby track, although that's kind of a cool quirk (as long as they don't start in the middle of your backswing). There are some long winding drives on the cart paths (the drive from 2 green to 3 tee skirts a practice horse track but must have been nearly half-a-mile), so it would be a very long course to walk despite the mostly-flat terrain. Even with a cart it seemed like I did alot of walking, as some of the holes are path-only, and the paths don't get that close to the greens, so balls rolling into the numerous greenside bunkers and collection areas were sometimes a little bit of a hike from the cart park.

I also got lost trying to find my way to the course through the massive Delaware Park complex, as the course address was not listed in my 5-year-old Magellan GPS, and the signage on the complex roads can be minimal in spots, so allow yourself an extra 15 minutes or so to find it your first time there.

Tip: If your tee time will extend the end of your round through your next scheduled meal (or you have a small bladder and a shy dispostion), know that the course routing does NOT return to the clubhouse after 9. There's no halfway house either, and I only noticed one set of portable restrooms. The routing really doesn't get anywhere near the house until the 13th tee, and even then it's a good 200 yards off--too far to run for a hotdog if the group behind you is breathing down your neck. I can't vouch for the service frequency of the beer cart during high season, but if you're hypoglycemic like me, make sure you bring some packs of crackers, granola bars, and bottles of water to get through the round. And you might want to hit the throne before you tee off (the clubhouse bathrooms are upscale and refreshingly clean).

Golf Magazine Review: Erratic drives will need the lucky mojo from the casino, as most holes run along or across the namesake creek. One amusing touch: Instead of flags, the pins are topped by jockey hats.

The paddocks, practice track, and grandstands of The Park are visible from several holes. Golf, gaming, and racing--now there's a trifecta.

From their website:  White Clay Creek is a daily fee course. However, golfers must be a registered member of the Player Rewards Club. To become a member of the Player Rewards Club, stop by any Player Rewards Booth. Clubs are located on each Slot gaming floor and the Track-side clubhouse just inside the Track Valet entrance.

Best Bar Nearby:  I was only mildly impressed with the White Clay Creek's on-site At The Rail Wine Bar and Grille (www.whiteclaycreekcc.com/HTML/attherail.html), especially after all the hype on the website and print ads. The decor is typical semi-upscale grill room, with walls of windows overlooking the course and the traditional hunter green and mahoghany color scheme (alongside the borderline-tacky brass golf bags that support the railing around the dining area and outdoor deck).  Their beer menu is decidedly domestic and pedestrian for the upscale surroundings, although they do have a nice selection of flavored vodkas. The reception on the dual 50" plasmas over the bar was shockingly grainy. The dining room is a sea of 4-toppers with a baby grand piano anchoring one end and a bulky projection TV anchoring the other. The house-specialty is crab cakes, but since we couldn't stop for a bite at the turn, all I wanted for an overdue lunch was a burger. Unfortunately, their Wygot "American Kobe" beef burgers start at $12, so a burger, fries, Coke, and tip cost me nearly $20, and the high-quality beef was all but drowned out by over-salting. I will give props to their tasty "julienned" uber-skinny shoestring fries, although they're so thin it's kinda hard to get a sufficient amount of ketchup to hang on the little suckers.

I didn't get the chance to check out any of Delaware Park casino bars, but the website lists Hops Bar (social relaxation and late night weekend entertainment, dripping in Sam Adams' memorabilia), plus Oval Bar and Wheel Bar (conviently located on the second floor of the Clubhouse) as the hot spots.

Best Bar Nearby, Wilmington:  Head for Wilmington's re-developed waterfront district and hit Iron Hill Brewery. Hand-crafted microbrews, and a full, varied menu (entree's $9-$18) featuring good wings, dynamite wood-oven pizzas, and ribs in a rootbeer-based BBQ sauce.

In downtown Wilmington, you'd be hard pressed to find a more classic place to belly up for an old school cocktail than the lobby bar at the Hotel DuPont. Then hit Zanzibar Blue Wilmington Jazz Club (1000 West St, ground floor of the Brandywine Bldg, 302-472-7000). An annex of Philly's most sophisticated jazz venue, which was named to the Top 100 Jazz Clubs in the country by Downbeat Magazine. Featuring international cuisine in a seperate dining area and attracting big name jazz acts, ZBW epitomizes cool. For clubbing, try 1206 (N. Union, 302-384-8781).

Wilmington isn't exactly Gentlemen's Club Central. With slim pickens in town, you might try Fantasia's Gold Club (@ I-495 & Rt 13, 302-428-8888, closed Sundays, www.thegoldclubs.com). But this place is something of an enigma. Despite being a cavernous space, recently remodeled, with multiple plasma TVs, new furniture, bouncers in tux vests with headsets, and the whole nine, there was a glaring lack of talent for a place this big and this close to Philly. There were maybe two dancers out of 9 that had anything larger than an "A's", and one of the two must've been tipping in at close to 200. The other 7 looked like crackheads. There were maybe two halfway-hot dancers in the joint, and this was on a Saturday night. The tunes were half great/half awful, one minute they'd be playing Disturbed, the next it was Kool & The Gang. Virtually no crowd on a Saturday night, whether that's a cause or a result of the lack of talent, who knows. Maybe try the Wednesday night amateur contest, the talent may be better. Or hit Hak's Sports Club Go-Go Restaurant & Lounge (1050 S. Market, 302-655-8515). The name of this joint is a mouthful, but the talent is a slight upgrade from the Gold Club, plus it's right across the street. However, Hak's has basement-like décor, bad service, and tame hands-off couch dances under watchful supervision. Their Saturday car washes featuring the club's dancers might be worth a post-round visit for eye candy.

In the suburbs, Stanley’s Tavern (2038 Foulk Rd, N. Wilmington, 302-475-1887, 52 to 141N, L onto Foulk Rd) won Best Of Delaware Wings, although they're lightly breaded and just OK in Fat Guy's book.

For hotspots, check out local rag Spark Weekly (www.sparkweekly.com).

Where To Grub: In Wilmington's waterfront district, for midscale, head for Joe's Crab Shack, and be sure to order the crab dip as an app. For upscale seafood, Harry's Seafood Grill, or C.W. Harborside (www.cwharborside.com, West St) for seafood, steak, and chops (entrées $9-$39). Timothy's On The Waterfronthouse specialty is BBQ ribs. Their hot wings are doused in Tabasco only, kinda borderline stupid hot. Decent weekend crowds with DJs, outdoor dining weather permitting.

Downtown: Best Of DE Critics Choice Upstate for crabs: Rossi’s (4th & Lincoln) serves huge crabs year-round. One is a meal. Upscale dining at Moro (1307 N Scott St, 302-777-1800, www.mororestaurant.com), or Deep Blue Bar & Grill (111 W. 11th St, 302-777-2040).

Suburbs: For some tasty Southern Italian, Lamberti's Cucina (1300 Centerville Rd & 514 Wilmington Pike; 95 N Exit 9 Marsh Rd, Right? off ramp, 3 lights, make left @ 3rd light, restaurant on right). Harry's Savoy Grill (2020 Naaman's Rd, 302-475-3000, www.harrys-savoy.com) does sophisticated quality food with a slightly masculine slant and without too much pretension. Order the house specialty prime rib. Wilmington's best cheesesteak can be found just north of town in Claymont DE at Claymont Steaks (Rt. 13). A small is almost more than you can eat.

Further Diversions: Wilmington's Blue Rocks baseball club on the Riverfront epitomizes all that is good about minor league ball: up and coming talent that hustles, a great family-friendly stadium (just a wedge from I-95) that's so clean you can run around barefoot, $2 hotdogs, and best of all, $3 beers. Check the home schedule at www.bluerocks.com.