Nestled on the outskirts of Sylvania on Central Avenue are two little known gems, both owned by the same company. Spuyten Duyval and Cottonwood Creek are the only two public golf courses in Sylvania. Cottonwood Creek has a driving range an a nice 9 hole executive course, while Spuyten Duyval has 27 holes and no driving range.
Cottonwood Creek offers a nice experience for beginners and advanced golfers alike. It’s not a very difficult course and it’s a very family friendly environment. You can take your kids and no one will really care. In fact, it’s a great course for kids to learn how to play golf. A lot of high school teams and clubs have their on course training walk-throughs on this course.
It’s a mature golf course with mature trees and a mature feel to it. It is not a recently converted corn field. Too many courses in our area are converted corn fields and look like it; barren land with no trees. Cottonwood is full of trees, a creek, and lots of character.
Cottonwood is a top notch executive short course. It’s a quick 9 holes and it’s the best in the area. It’s a very pleasant, short 1765 yards and it plays pretty fast. If there is no one in front of you or behind you, you can be in an out in an hour or less, depending on how good you are. We love quick games that are challenging!
That said, it’s not an easy course. Every hole is challenging and you will use every club in your bag. There are beautiful bridges, water features, holes hidden in the forest, and other challenges. A tributary of Ten Mile Creek runs through the course and makes the second hole and the eighth hole quite challenging.
One of our favorite holes is hole 5 in the back. It’s hidden in the woods and features a large water feature. It’s a short 125 yard hole and we’ve seen people play it many different ways. Some people try to err to the left to stay on dry land, while others try to go over the water feature. Some try to go over top and land on the green. While the hole looks easy, most people land in the water, no matter how long they tell themselves not to land in the water.
Hole two is also fun and challenging. The creek runs through the hole about 100 yards from the pin and 100 yards from the back tees. It splits it right in half. You also have a heavily wooded area to the right and left of the creek. Golfers will have to decide to either go for it all or lay it up just shy or just over the creek. This hole looks and sounds easy enough on paper, but no matter how hard golfers try, they end up in the creek. And there’s no getting out of the creek if you land down there, it’s about a 15 foot drop to the bottom. Even if the creek bed is dry, it’s hard to get out.
The 7th hole is also quite fun surrounded by water on both sides. It’s a short 90 yard par 3, but undoubtedly most golfers miss and land in water. The green is well protected by the water features. Sometimes we see golfers just ground ball it straight and end up on the lip of the green. That may be your ticket. Kids do that a lot and it seems to work.
The 8th hole is probably the only one where you might pull out your driver, depending on how far you can hit it. It’s about 240 yards from the back tees to the pin. However, the creek runs through it about 40 yards from the green. You have to decide if you want to take a 180 yard shot to lay up to the creek, then go over it, or try to go for it all off the tee. People have tried different strategies. The easiest route seems to take a 5 or 6 iron off the tee, get to 170-180, then use a pitching wedge or sand wedge to get on the green. The creek is quite wide, and most people don’t account for that. If you aren’t careful you could end up in the creek. The creek is easily 12 yards wide and a good 20 foot drop to the bottom.
We love this course for a quick, post-work round. Also great for learning and teaching kids.
They also offer extensive courses and training for youth and adults alike.
