Truckee’s Timilick ranks a special trip

by Vic Williams | Posted August 6, 2009

Rocco’s in Reno this week. So are Vaughn Taylor, Aaron Baddeley, Chris DiMarco, Tommy Armour III, Kevin Stadler, Scott McCarron, Steve Flesch and a slew of other PGA Tour winners.

It’s the 11th edition of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open at Montrêux Golf and Country Club, and if this is what some would call the tour’s version of a “B Team” — as in guys not qualifying for the concurrent WGC-Bridgestone Invitational — well, it’s a pretty damn fine bunch. Taylor, who gave Tiger chase last week in Michigan, has won here twice and still holds the tournament scoring record. Most of the previous LRTO champs will join him at the starting gate including Kirk Triplett, Chris Riley, Will Mackenzie and last year’s winner, Parker McLachlin. Still, it’s anybody’s game, with $530K and a chunk of FedEx Cup points on the line. Good stuff worth watching on the Golf Channel after Tiger and company do their thing in Indiana.

If you happen to be in Reno or heading that way, it’s even better, because the area’s biggest citywide event, Hot August Nights — a 23-year-old celebration of classic cars and oldies tunes — runs through the weekend as well. There’s a lot of music, food, pro golf and flat-out fun to pack in, day and night. But for golfers, one big challenge remains: How to get in a round of their own, and where?

Over the next few days I’ll tell you where right here. We’ll start not in Reno itself, not even in Nevada, mind you, but 30 miles west on Interstate 80, in Truckee, home to an amazing array of public, resort and private golf courses. One in particular, which opened in full just last year, is gaining a lot of notice for its gorgeous mountain setting, excellent conditioning and emerging “this is the club for me” potential. It’s called Timilick Tahoe, and while the ultimate plan is to make it fully private, right now anybody can tee it up on 7,000-plus yards of tumbling, tasty John Harbottle-Johnny Miller handiwork for $195. Give it a shot just once and you’ll see that this “sleeper” is solid.

Located a few miles southwest of downtown Truckee near the Northstar-at-Tahoe recreational resort, Timilick tells a tale of two very different but complementary nines. The front is more classic mountain golf, moving gently through the site’s lower reaches lined with 50-foot pines and firs, splashes of tall fescue rough and hairy-backed bunkers guarding fairways and greens in all the right places. Holes 4, 5 and 6 comprise an outstanding trio of par 4s, the latter playing nearly 500 yards into the prevailing southwest wind. No. 9 is a great two-shotter, as well, with its rock-based peninsula green, and marks an apt transition to the much more dramatic and thrilling back nine, beginning right away with No. 10 — a sweeping uphill par 4 that requires a big belt over a cliff-like collection of cross bunkers to leave an open shot to a green angled into a piney hillside.

Timilick just gets better from there, zig-zagging through lava rock, tiptoeing around meadows, pulling players right to the edge of open-view precipices on No. 12 or over blind cliffs on, say, 17, as fun a par 4 as exists anywhere in the Sierra. Where else can you blast a 400 yard drive straight downhill and have a flip wedge over water to a saucer-like green? No. 18 is killer, too, a whistles-and-bells par 5 of 600-plus yards. Drive between two bends in a creek, lay up between creek and pond, throw a short iron to the huge green wedged between sand and water, walk away with a bird or par and start counting the days (hours?) before you take on Timilick again. It’s the kind of course that gains character and more deeply engenders one’s respect with every play, and at some point, you’ll realize that every hole is its own great adventure. No cookie-cutting here, on either nine.

“The front has some great holes, though most people get so caught up with the back that they get overlooked,” says head pro Matt Anderson. “All I know is we’re busy. We’re getting plenty of play this summer. That’s a good thing.”

Good, especially, for you and your non-LRTO and Hot August Nights time. Better get rockin’ up Truckee way.

www.timilick.com
www.legendsrenotahoeopen.com

Vic Williams is editor and publishing partner of Fairways + Greens, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to golf, travel and lifestyle for the West and beyond. He has written thousands of stories on golf and will cover every facet of the game right here, primarily travel but also the major tours, equipment, personalities and more. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it