Salt Creek Golf Retreat Photos
Sometimes you find a golf course because you’ve heard great things about it.
Sometimes you find one because you spend way too many hours staring at maps trying to figure out where you can play golf halfway to Tennessee.
That’s how we found Salt Creek Golf Retreat in Nashville, Indiana.
We were headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for our Forced Family Fun 2025 trip.
Forced Family Fun is what we call the trips where the entire family meets somewhere for five to seven days of, well, forced family fun.
It’s become a family tradition.
This time we were driving, partly because we had an important job.
My son needed our seven-passenger vehicle so his family could use all three rows of seats for the trip. That left very little room in the back for everything else a family apparently needs for a week in Tennessee.
So we swapped vehicles.
Guy and I took their five-passenger Lincoln, put the seats down, and became the official cargo haulers.
Their golf clubs.
Our golf clubs.
Coolers filled with goodies.
And whatever else didn’t fit in the vehicle carrying the actual people.
There was one pretty nice perk to the arrangement. Their Lincoln had true hands-free highway driving, which was pretty cool.
Our vehicle has sort of hands-free driving but leave your hands off the wheel too long and it starts yelling at you to put them back.
The Lincoln was different. Once the system was engaged on the highway, you could actually sit there with your hands off the wheel and let the vehicle do its thing.
It took a little getting used to.
You spend your entire driving life being told to keep your hands on the wheel, and suddenly the car is telling you, “I’ve got this.”
So while Grandma and Grandpa may have been assigned to haul the golf clubs, coolers, and extra cargo, at least we got a pretty cool Lincoln for the trip.
Not a bad trade.
Since we were driving anyway, Guy and I decided there was no reason to rush straight to Gatlinburg. Why not find somewhere about halfway, play a round of golf, have dinner, get a good night’s sleep, and finish the drive the next day?
Sounds simple.
It wasn’t.
I spent way too much time plotting different routes and looking for golf resorts that would work with our schedule.
Eventually, I found Salt Creek Golf Retreat.
And I’ll admit that part of its appeal was the location.
Nashville.
Okay, Nashville, Indiana.
Not exactly the Nashville most people think of when they’re headed toward Tennessee, but it seemed appropriate.
Even better, the price was right.
Our condo and a round of golf for both of us came in under $350.
We thought that was a steal.
The condo had a full kitchen, which would have been handy if we wanted to cook, but the full-size refrigerator turned out to be even more useful.
Remember those coolers of goodies we were hauling?
Being able to unload everything into a real refrigerator overnight was a very nice bonus.
We arrived around 2 in the afternoon and had a 3:00 tee time.
The course was in great shape, especially considering it was the middle of October.
And we had a blast.
I had my struggles.
There. I said it.
But overall, I found the course very playable while it still gave Guy enough challenge to keep things interesting for him.
That’s always a good combination for us.
We finished a little after 6, went back to the condo to clean up, and decided there was absolutely no reason to use that nice kitchen for our one night stay.
We were on vacation.
Someone else could cook.
We headed to the restaurant, where Guy ordered a burger that he said was really good, and I had some pretty good wings.
Golf, dinner, and then back to the condo for a good night’s sleep.
At least that was the plan.
And Then There Was the Television
I have one complaint about our stay.
And there’s a very good chance it was user error.
We could not figure out the television remotes.
Normally, this would not be worth mentioning because Guy is the cable guy.
Literally.
If there’s a television, cable box, remote, or collection of wires involved, I assume he’ll figure it out.
Everything was fine until sometime in the middle of the night when one of us apparently rolled over onto the remote.
Suddenly the television was BLARING.
We tried the remote.
Nothing.
We tried the television controls.
Nothing.
We tried turning it down.
Nope.
Turning it off.
Nope.
Guy, the cable guy, had officially been defeated by a television in Nashville, Indiana.
Eventually, he gave up and went to sleep in the other room.
Me?
I went back to sleep.
I can sleep through just about anything.
The next morning, the television was still on.
When we checked out, we told the front desk what happened and apologized for leaving them with a television we apparently couldn’t control.
Hopefully they knew the secret.
Television adventure aside, Salt Creek turned out to be a great choice.
What started as a practical overnight stop on our way to Tennessee became a really fun part of the trip. We got a nice condo, an enjoyable round of golf, good food, and a chance to break up a long drive.
I’d absolutely stay and play there again.
Although next time, Guy may unplug the television before we go to bed. ⛳
We’ll share more about our visit to Salt Creek Golf Retreat in an upcoming Golf Up North Newsletter.
Subscribe to the Golf Up North Newsletter and follow along as we occasionally take our clubs beyond Northern Michigan and see what kind of golf trouble we can find elsewhere.
Salt Creek Golf Retreat – Nashville, Indiana
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