Mckay Creek Golf Course & Driving Range
Mckay Creek Golf Course & Driving Range first opened for play in 1996. The course was designed by Bill O'Meara and Jeremy Reding.
McKay Creek is built on the old Naught dairy site, which spans McKay Creek on the west side of the city of Hillsboro. The only surviving building from the dairy farm days is the farmhouse, built in 1929, which serves as the clubhouse.
The Reding family, began spending evenings and weekends in the summer and fall of 1994 clearing trees and brushes on the land they had contracted to purchase. They closed their purchase of "the farm" in 1995. Permits to move ahead with the course were issued the first week of July, 1995, and construction began. Jason Reding, then 18 and on his way to college, ran the 1951 army surplus D8 Cat pulling an old cable-operated scraper (the Cat had no hydraulics!) moving the soil into areas for the tees and greens. Jeremy Reding, a senior at Glencoe HS, then shaped the piles into the tees and greens seen today on the course, using a very tired 1948 Massey Ferguson tractor and box. Michelle Reding, a sophomore at Glencoe, and Mom Jane helped with clearing and chipping brush and branches, and hauling firewood.
The course crosses McKay Creek twice, and is easily walked, although power carts are available. The regulation par 36 course with 3 par 3's, 3 par 4's, and 3 par 5's is challenging and fun for golfers of all levels. The course has medium-sized greens are undulating and moderate in speed. The course plays from 2,500 to 2,700-yards, and is suitable for all handicaps. Water can come into play in the form of a couple of ponds, and the namesake creek winds in front of the tee on the #1, and short of the green on the #9.
McKay Creek is not only a fine course to learn the game, but has solid practice amenities for a small facility. There’s a full driving range with covered, mat-surfaced stations. There’s also a nice practice green.