Adobe Creek Golf Club

Don't get cocky.

Adobe Creek Golf Club in Petaluma looks tame enough, until you start getting a little too happy with your driver. Then you discover that this Robert Trent Jones Jr. design is much more than an attractive muni.

Jones moved tons of dirt in 1990 to change this flat piece of land into a solid track.

Adobe Creek may not have the fancy window dressing of some of its more high-falutin' neighbors (like StoneTree in Novato), but five lakes and 72 bunkers will test any level of golfer.

And except for prime time on the weekends, the price is nice ... usually between $42 and $55, with cart. And it's less than 50 miles from Vacaville.

Adobe Creek starts out perfectly, with a short par-5 first hole. If you negotiate the bunkers around the green - a common theme - par or even birdie can be yours.

In fact, the first five holes are there for the taking, provided you stay out of the bunkers and the rough. Water comes into play on eight holes, but there is none until behind the sixth green.

No. 6 marks a turning point in the course, when Adobe Creek can show some nastiness. A harmless looking, 320-yard par-4 (from the blues), youth can easily birdie the sixth ... or land a snowman. there are eight bunkers, out-of-bounds markers on the left side, and a creek behind a shallow green.

The seventh is a classic, a 388-yard (from the blues) dogleg right with four bunkers, a creek down the right side of a narrow fairway, and trees down the left. The creek runs in front of a huge green.

Lakes protect the greens on Nos. 8-10, and the fairway slopes toward the water on each hole. If you can stay out of trouble, you still should be smiling when the birdie holes return at No. 11.

Get some strokes back as you prepare for the finish, a 407-yard par-4 protected by water on the left and a bunker on the right. The approach looks right at the beautiful Mediterranean-style clubhouse, where a solid 19th hole awaits.

None of these holes are going to take your breath away, but they probably won't make you want to throw your clubs, either.

Built on adobe, the fairways drain very well. The greens are true, and they hold approach shots.

The course can easily be walked, and there is a walking rate at some times during the day, a rarity in the fast-paced 21st century.

Enjoy!

Directions: Take Interstate 80 west to Highway 37 west. Take Highway 116 (Lakeville Road) north. Turn right on Frates Road. The course is on the left.