Creeks and tweaks: Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village.

If you can get on the private Muirfield Village Golf Club during your Columbus, Ohio golf vacation, by all means, do it. Jack Nicklaus' homage to Augusta National is worth any finagling and groveling you have to do.

But, if you want to play the course upon which the PGA Tour this week is contesting the Memorial Tournament without seeing the grounds crew, temporary greens or ground under repair, our advice would be to call on your connections as close to the tournament date as possible.

That's because Nicklaus never seems completely satisfied with his work at his home course. Except for tournament time, one or more parts of the golf course are, almost obsessively, being redone, changed or tweaked throughout the year. It's amazing the artiste still has both his ears.

Of course, you won't see any of that if you watch the action on TV [Thursday and Friday on the Golf Channel, Saturday and Sunday on Golf Channel (morning/afternoon) and CBS (afternoon/evening)]. What you will see is a return of the furrowed bunkers that some players complained about last year and the seemingly ever-present creek with an insatiable appetite for golf balls. Specifically, keep a close eye on the 14th hole, where players must land their approach shots onto a sliver of a green bordered by this belligerent burn.

Speaking of appetites, if you ever wind up playing at Muirfield Village on a Columbus, Ohio golf vacation, you'd be wise to satisfy your hunger on site. Some of the world's best ribs and ice cream can be found 90 miles away in Cincinnati and Muirfield Village Golf Club imports them from the Queen City's own Montgomery Inn and Graeter's, respectively.

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