There’s a stretch of Highway 100 west of Henderson, Tennessee, where the road narrows, the trees close in, and you start to wonder if you’ve missed the turn. Then the entrance to Chickasaw State Park appears, and a mile or so past it, so does Chickasaw Golf Club, tucked so deep into the forest that not a single home interrupts the view. I’ve played my share of Tennessee courses over the years, but few have that same sense of complete separation from the outside world; it’s part of what makes Chickasaw special before you’ve even hit your first shot. Pines, oaks, tulip poplars, and hickories crowd right up against the fairways here, and the effect is less of “ a golf course in the woods” than “a clearing that happens to have eighteen holes cut into it.”
The golf course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was originally part of The Bear Trace, the collection of five Nicklaus-designed courses built for Tennessee State Parks. Chickasaw and its western Tennessee neighbor, Ross Creek Landing, have since split off and operate independently, while Tims Ford, Cumberland Mountain, and Harrison Bay remain part of the Bear Trace program today. That Nicklaus pedigree shows up everywhere at Chickasaw, from elevated tee shots with a clear look at the trouble ahead to greens that ask you to play down and then back up into them. From the Gold tees, the course stretches to a serious 7,118 yards against a par of 72, with a course rating of 75.1 and a slope of 135, numbers that put it firmly in championship territory. I found the White tees at 6,030 yards, with a course rating of 69.7 and a slope of 126, offered a fitting challenge and still let me leave with a little dignity.
Piney Creek is the thread that ties the round together, winding through the property and coming into play on seven holes, and three in particular stuck with me long after I got in the car. The 1st hole is a par 5 playing 516 yards from the White tees. It’s not the type of hole that eases you into the round; rather, it tests your shot-shaping and accuracy right away. It’s a slight dogleg right with a large lake on the left in the landing zone and a dense pine forest on the right. Piney Creek crosses the fairway off the tee about 300 yards out, so it shouldn’t come into play for most players. What will get your attention is the corridor itself, heavily treed on both sides, and the fairway keeps tightening the closer you get to the green, which is guarded by a bunker short right and another protecting the left side. Three solid shots and a couple of putts and you’re on your way!
The 6th hole is a different kind of test, a tight driving hole at 373 yards from the White tees with bunkers sitting right in the landing zone. This is a hole where club selection off the tee matters as much as swing path. A driver that finds one of those fairway bunkers turns a mid-iron approach into a scramble, so I’d rather take a three-wood or hybrid, find the short grass, and leave myself a clean look at a green that’s surrounded by bunkers with Piney Creek waiting to catch anything short. A well-struck mid-iron here is one of the more satisfying shots on the course, but it only works if you’ve put the tee shot in the fairway first.
Then there’s the 13th, a 494-yard par 5 that plays as a genuine three-shot hole for most golfers. Trees line both sides, but the fairway opens up nicely in the landing area, aside from a trio of bunkers positioned on the right side that catch anyone favoring that line off the tee. The smart play is to start your tee shot down the left-center to take those bunkers out of play, then treat your second shot as a positioning shot rather than a hero play at the green, since the fairway narrows again as you approach. Bunkers guard both sides roughly 40 yards short of the putting surface. Laying up to a comfortable wedge distance here beats a low-percentage attempt to thread the needle for two.
After the round, the log cabin-style clubhouse is the perfect place to relive it all, with a stone fireplace inside and a large veranda outside overlooking the practice green, the fairways, and a lake. Chickasaw has a very limited food menu, but the burgers are a must! It’s a fitting way to close out a round on a course that feels more like a private retreat than a daily-fee facility.
Chickasaw Golf Club is the kind of course you drive an hour out of your way for and then wonder why you don’t do it more often. Between a genuine Nicklaus design, a setting with no houses in sight, and conditions that keep getting better year after year, this is one of the better values in western Tennessee golf. For tee times and more information, call the pro shop or visit www.golfatchickasaw.com, and set aside an afternoon to see why so many golfers who find Chickasaw end up coming back for more.