Golf Plus
A Great Course Comprises Just Part of the Picture at
Cache Creek’s Yocha-De-He Golf Club
by Andrew Hidas
Blueprints, strategic plans and marketing programs always form the foundation of any new golf resort, but when the last plan is approved and the last blade of grass is smoothed over for opening day, the course simply has to deliver with the magical—and sometimes elusive—“fun factor” that ultimately spells the difference for every venue. Happily, that factor has revealed itself in spades since the Rumsey band of the Wintun Indian tribe opened Yocha-De-He Golf Club in January, 2008 as part of the Cache Creek Casino Resort in the lovely and tranquil Capay Valley. Brad Bell was the architect who got to behold the rolling mountain terrain between Sacramento and the coast and fashion a golf course out of it after the Rumsey band established the resort complex on their ancestral lands. The destination resort component got some distinctive uplift when the course opened for play, set a full mile from the casino amidst the hills and meadows and open sky and wildlife abutting Cache Creek.
Yocha-De-He means “spring home” or “spring camp” in Wintun, a testament to the predominance of sun-splashed days that seem to bathe this area with the perpetual promise of spring. The Rumsey group added to that promise by making a full-bore commitment to a first-class golf venue for both casino resort visitors and day-use golfers coming up the hill from Sacramento on one side and the Wine Country and Bay Area on the other. The result is an impeccably designed and conditioned course that didn’t require Bell or the operators, Scottsdale-based Troon Golf, to make the kind of compromises reflective of pinched budgets.
The uncompromising approach continues today with 15-minute tee times that provide a peaceful easy feeling for players while doing the same for the landscape—all with modest daily rates of $85 including cart and other amenities. With a rating of 74.9 and a slope of 136, Yocha-De-He is no casual pitch-and-putt. The course is well-bunkered throughout its 7,334 yards, and a large (19-acre) lake used for irrigation and visual drama makes for some very intriguing decision-making on Nos. 10, 17 and the challenging finishing hole. Five sets of tees offer relief for willing takers, with the more forgiving gold tees at 6,907 and furthest forward white tees at 5,426 yards. One of Bell’s goals was to honor the dramatic legacy of the area, and he wasted no time doing so by welcoming visitors with one of the most memorable first holes in golf. With each hole given a name in native Wintun, No. 1 is Sul San—“Eagle Eye.” Think the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony here: DA-da-da-dum! There before you, from your elevated and regal perch 170 feet above the distant—as in 454 yards away—cup, you can behold all 18 holes of the course, along with rolling farmlands, vineyards and mountains. Here is the world laid out before you in visionary fashion.
Big hitters can hit away for all they’re worth on No. 1’s relatively straight vertical trajectory. They’ll get to do so again and again with holes of 563, 548 and 541 yards, along with another nine holes over 400. Matter of fact, No. 2 picks right up on the distance element with its 548 yards, this one incorporating a dogleg right to a green defended by bunkers left, right and rear. No. 6 does more of the same with an exquisitely designed, mostly vertical hole of 541 yards that incorporates rough halfway through and a large depression ready to host your ball if it veers short and right of the green. All that and eight bunkers make this hole one you might see fit to ponder while nursing your drink back in the clubhouse or casino bar. The aforementioned lake makes its presence felt in no uncertain terms on the last two holes.
A blind tee shot on No. 17 leads to the lake bordering a large chunk of the fairway right, extending around three sides of the green that is further protected by bunkers. The risk is high here. No. 18 is a visual pleasure as you lift your tee shot over the lake’s finger and angle yourself gently dogleg right around the lake’s back side. More bunkers await you on the green. It’s a gorgeous and challenging finishing hole, just the right tone to get you primed for what awaits.
The resort setting here includes the casino (with 2,400+ slots, 150 table games including a 28-table poker room), a 200-room luxury hotel and spa, eight restaurants, swimming pool, and enough nearby outdoorsy adventures in hunting, fishing, hiking and whitewater rafting to keep you contentedly busy for weeks. 
Casinos also mean a robust concert/nightclub business, here including the likes of Keith Sweat, Mel Tillis, Imelda Papin, and a couple of true throwbacks for golfers of a certain age: the mothers Brothers and Grand Funk Railroad. Let’s see: first-class golf. Gaming, eating, drinking. Concerts, massages, lounging by the pool. Just over yonder for winetasting or rafting. Yep, life is a challenge up at Cache Creek. It’ll take everything you’ve got to sort it all out and establish your priorities. Ready, set, DA-da-da-dum…
