One of the signature views at Mill Creek Golf Club is looking up to the top of the hill behind the green of the par-3 9th hole, above. Sweeping vistas such as this – along with a mix of holes featuring both narrow and wide fairways and multi-tiered greens – are the memorable characteristics of Mill Creek, which will be hosting the 2019 RDGA Match Play Championships on May 17 through 19.|
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For being one of the most recent entries on the Rochester-area golf scene – having first opened in 2005 – Mill Creek Golf Club has been “battle-tested” when it comes to hosting major Rochester District Golf Association Championships.
Mill Creek’s biggest “RDGA moment” to date came in 2009, when it hosted the RDGA Match Play Championship. That year, Dominic Bozzelli – then a student at Auburn University – won the title before eventually continuing down the path that has since landed him on the PGA Tour.
This year, the RDGA returns to Mill Creek on May 17 through 19 for the 2019 Match Play and Senior Match Play Championships – the first time since Bozzelli’s victory a decade ago that the club is hosting the Matches. Competing for titles during the week of the Championships will be RDGA Men (ages 18-54), and Seniors (ages 55 and above).
Although many golfers might think of Mill Creek as a wide-open, championship venue that favors big hitters, however, the course actually offers many nuances and strategies for scoring – especially in a match play format, which is what golfers will be playing when they compete for their titles this year.
As far as Andrew Leikvoll, Mill Creek Golf Club’s PGA Head Professional, is concerned, players who have an understanding of those subtleties found on the course – particularly if they have played it before – will have an advantage duting the Championship this year.
“Hopefully they get a chance to play a practice round first – especially if they’ve never played here before,” says Leikvoll. “I would definitely put more weight on playing a practice round first. That might make a difference in match play if you’re playing against someone who hasn’t played here before.”
Born in a Golf Course Building Boom, Mill Creek Among Rochester’s Newest Facilities
Mill Creek was originally conceived during the last great local golf building boom of the early 2000s – following the success of the earlier Ravenwood Golf Club in Victor, and the never-completed Belfrey Golf Course project in Henrietta.
Built on the former Sackett family farm on rolling terrain south of Churchville, construction of the Mill Creek Golf Club began in 2003 and was completed two years later for a 2005 opening to the public. Prior to the opening of the Championship course, a shorter executive-length course was also completed and open to the public, although that course is now closed.
Designed by the renowned team of Raymond Hearn and Paul Albanese, Mill Creek’s Championship Course blends the natural aesthetics of the land with the risk/reward factors of a well-crafted challenge. The intent is to deliver the most memorable experience to golfers of all skill levels.
According to the Mill Creek website, “five sets of tees accommodate the novice and challenge the expert by adjusting the angle and length of the course from less than 5,000 to just under 7,000 yards based on the player’s ability. Each player has a similar experience from tee to green, meshing mature trees and lush, bent grass fairways, greens and bunkers.”
By 2006-07, the current clubhouse was completed, including a full pro shop, as well as a restaurant and grill. Later, a large outdoor pavillion was added to accommodate large outings, tournaments and weddings.
New Owners Bringing New Vitality to Mill Creek
In early 2016, the husband and wife team of Chris and Leslie Gallea – proprietors of the golf course management firm Gallea Properties – saw a rare opportunity to purchace Mill Creek Golf Club from its original owner and developer and soon began a plan to revitalize parts of the golf course.
“They made their first priority the greens,” notes Leikvoll. “Their next project was the bunkers, each of which received white sand.”
The Galleas came to the Rochester area from Savannah, Georgia, where they were based at their other primary golf property, Crosswinds Golf Club, since founding the company in 2010. The Galleas brought Leikvoll with them from Crosswinds, where he had been their First Assistant PGA Professional.
The most recent piece of the puzzle to complete their team at Mill Creek included the addition this season of a new head greens superintendent, Robert Zbacnik.
“Robert joined us in 2017 from Minnesota, where he had done some great things,” notes Leikvoll. “So far this year, he’s been busy. It’s in great shape, despite all the rain we’ve had.”
One of the questions Leikvoll gets asked most frequently – especially with the new management coming in this past year – is about the downhill, par-3, 10th hole, which was originally designed as a left-dogleg par-4. Within the past decade – under the previous ownership – the decision was made to make the 10th hole a scenic par-3, bypassing the old tee that was perched atop one of the highest points in Monroe County and featuring a commanding view that included the distant Rochester skyline that is visible on a clear day.
The reasoning behind the change, which shortened the course from a 7,000-plus yard par-72 to a 6,962-yard (from the back tees) par-71, was playability. As a risk-reward par-4, the hole was simply attracting too many “risk-takers,” who would try to bypass the downhill dogleg and drive the green. Invariably, many of these risk-takers would wind up in the deep rough or out of bounds, subsequently slowing up the course’s pace of play.
For these reasons, Leikvoll says that the current layout will remain in place for the forseeable future.
“Our plan is to leave it (the No.10 tee) where it is,” he says. “It simply improves the pace of play – and we want the course to be as ‘user-friendly’ as possible.”
In general, the layout of the course evokes a classic American-style “links” design, including many visible wild areas between holes, as well as several “blind” tee shots and wide, forgiving fairways.
Perhaps the “signature hole” of the course – if you had to narrow it down to one – is the 542-yard, par-5 11th, which follows a gradual uphill grade back to the top of the hill upon which the clubhouse is located. The sloped fairway is split, not just once, but twice, as players can choose to hit a higher or lower fairway off the tee, as well as another choice between split fairways on the second shot.
Almost every hole on the course, however, features a memorable view of the surrounding countryside – a view that stretches all the way down to the hills of Victor several miles South.
As for the clubhouse and its amenities, Leslie Gallea is managing the scenic restaurant and party pavillion, which has been a popular destination for weddings and parties, as well as post-tournament dinners and outings.
 The clubhouse balcony at Mill Creek provides a scenic
backdrop for diners in the club’s restauant.
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“We’re continuing to book weddings through the year,” notes Leikvoll. “But bookings for tournaments and outings are also up this year – mostly in the fall – and business in the pro shop is up 15 to 20 percent over last year.”
Also available is “The Tavern,” which offers “a stunning timber-framed space, a handsome mahogany bar complete with two flat-screen televisions and a broad window wall that opens onto a breezy sun-drenched deck overlooking the ninth and eighteenth greens,” according to the Mill Creek website. The Tavern offers daily menu options, as well as a popular Friday Fish Fry.
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Another new priority since the Galleas came on board are seasonal memberships, of which there are several options – something that was not a priority under the previous ownership.
Mill Creek is also now catering to “destination” golfers – those players who travel from out of the area (Syracuse, but mostly Buffalo and Toronto, as part of a package plan. Mill Creek is working with Ravenwood and Bristol Harbour as part of the “Finger Lakes Golf Trail.”
 The view from the elevated 10th tee at Mill Creek, above, reveals some of the wide open terrain that evokes the links-style design of the course.
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Two Titles Up For Grabs in RDGA Match Play Championships
The 2019 RDGA Match Play Championships – both the men’s and senior championship brackets – get under way on Friday, May 17. The twin Championships have very different histories – but both feature the best of what local amateur tournament golf has to offer. Spectators are welcome to attend all three days of the RDGA Match Play Championships at Stafford, free of charge.
The District Match Play Championship for men is in its 23rd edition this year and nine-time champion (and last year’s winner) Jim Scorse of Stafford, past champion James Mason of Oak Hill and last year’s Match Play runner-up Shawn Baker of Oak Hill will be among those competing for this year’s title. They will be joining the starting bracket of 32 golfers that begin play at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, playing one single elimination round; continuing Saturday with both the Second and Quarterfinal rounds; and concluding Sunday at 7:30 a.m. with the Semi Final and Championship matches between the surviving two finalists.
The RDGA Senior Match Play Championship, on the other hand, is in its fifth year this season, but received such a positive welcome in its first four years that the field has been expanded to 24 to accommodate the demand for entries. Defending Senior Match Play Champions Mark Battle and Stuart Harris are back this year to contend for the title and Harris will be re-joined by his 2017 Senior Match Play Championship final match runner-up Brad McAreavy from Oak Hill. Starting times for the Senior Match Play brackets and matches begin following the final tee time of the regular Match Play contests.
For both championships, the fields are selected – and seeded – based upon points earned during tournament play the year before, creating an elite atmosphere to open the major championship season for 2019.
The Match Play Championships also have a unique connection to the RDGA District Championship, dating back to the earliest days of the RDGA in 1930. For the first 38 years of the RDGA District Championship, the event was conducted as a match play competition – until 1969, when a 72-hole stroke play format was adopted, which has continued to be used to this day. When the RDGA Match Play Championship was added to the District schedule in 1997, it restored the tradition of top match play competition that had been absent from the RDGA for nearly 30 years.
In addition to crowning Match Play and Senior Match Play Champions following the final matches on Sunday, RDGA Match Play finalists will also earn exemptions into the 2019 RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Memorial, to be hosted by Penfield Country Club on July 30 to August 3.
Looking for a Return Engagement
By the time the 2019 RDGA Match Play Championships conclude on May 19, expect to see champions that are in full command of their games – from off the tee to around the green.
And the winners will have useful knowledge of the course the next time they – and the RDGA – return to Mill Creek for a Championship.
This article was written by RDGA Communications Director Dave Eaton.
The view from the opposite end of the par-3 ninth hole – looking up to the green from the tee – hints at some of the steep elevation changes seen throughout the course at Mill Creek Golf Club.
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