Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 16
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 16
Although it's in the mountains, most of the Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw-designed Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club plays on level terrain more akin to links golf. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - 1st hole
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - 1st hole
The opening hole at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club in Carson City, Nevada used to be a brutal par 4, but was changed recently into a gentler par 5. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 3
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 3
The highest and lowest points at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club are represented on the par-4 third hole. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 4
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 4
At 200 yards from the tips, the par-3 fourth at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club can be a challenge. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 5
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 5
The fifth hole at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club is a short par 4, but there is plenty of treachery around the green. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 8
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 8
The bunkers can be pretty deep at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club, as evidenced by the par-3 eighth hole. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 11
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 11
The par-4 11th at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club is guarded by a lake. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 13
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 13
The downhill par-5 13th is reachable in two by longer hitters from the second set of tees at 573 yards. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 16
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - No. 16
A small bunker guards the pin on the par-4 16th at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club in Carson City, Nev. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe GC - 17th hole
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Clear Creek Tahoe GC - 17th hole
The 17th is the shortest hole at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club, just 148 yards from the tips. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - 18th hole
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Clear Creek Tahoe golf course - 18th hole
The 532 yard par-5 finishing hole at Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club plays much shorter than its 532 yards off the back tee, but comes with plenty of risk. Mike Bailey/GolfAdvisor
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Rare Crenshaw-Coore-designed mountain course: Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club in Carson City, Nevada

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Located on the way up to Lake Tahoe from Carson City, Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club is a rarity -- a mountain course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

The private par-71 golf course, which opened in 2009, isn't your typical mountain course, though. It has a little bit of a linksy, sandhills feel to it, with multiple options to bump-and-run the ball into greens complexes that will hold your interest, to say the least. While the course certainly has elevation change, it isn't one elevated tee after another, with no. 3 being the most dramatic in that department. Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club's bunkers can be penal, but not overwhelming, although some are pretty deep, like the greenside bunkers on the par-3 eighth, for example.

With only 110 members, this exclusive club doesn't use tee times. Although there is a small clubhouse now with a golf shop, future plans call for a new clubhouse, fitness center, pool and real estate development, including cottages for out-of-town members and guests.

Mike Bailey is a former Golf Advisor senior staff writer based in Houston. Focusing primarily on golf in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America with an occasional trip to Europe and beyond, he contributes course reviews, travel stories and features as well as the occasional equipment review. An award-winning writer and past president of Texas Golf Writers Association, he has more than 25 years in the golf industry. He has also been on staff at PGA Magazine, The Golfweek Group and AvidGolfer Magazine. Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeBaileyGA and Instagram at @MikeStefanBailey.
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Rare Crenshaw-Coore-designed mountain course: Clear Creek Tahoe Golf Club in Carson City, Nevada