{"id":109,"date":"2010-08-04T15:34:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T20:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomharack.com\/?p=109"},"modified":"2010-08-04T15:34:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T20:34:23","slug":"hudson-river-valley-rich-in-lesser-known-privates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/109\/hudson-river-valley-rich-in-lesser-known-privates","title":{"rendered":"Hudson River Valley rich in lesser-known privates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The thought seemed to occur to me and my wife more or less simultaneously, somewhere on the back nine at Dutchess Golf & Country Club, in the county of the same name, 90 minutes north of Manhattan:\u00a0 This light, the vivid fall atmospherics, is sui generis<\/em>, an archetypal feature of the region, seen nowhere else.<\/p>\n

I had first noticed it as a transplanted Chicagoan attending college upstate.\u00a0 Artists of the Hudson River School had, of course, beaten me to the punch by a century or so, capturing the mix of brilliance and melancholy washing over the landscape.<\/p>\n

Our fascination with this singular illumination seemed congruent with our \u201cwork,\u201d too, which was to get a sense of place of this private Poughkeepsie club.\u00a0 Southeastern New York has so many exclusive, household-name golf clubs \u2013 Winged Foot, Shinnecock, National \u2013 as to obscure the rich diversity of private golf in the region.<\/p>\n

In that sense, the area mirrors parts of the British Isles: Golf devotees will invariably want to play iconic courses but can also stumble on some first-rate golf experiences, often with distinguished architectural pedigrees but completely off the radar.<\/p>\n

And truth be told, the vast majority of us find more-than-ample golfing challenge in lesser-known courses.\u00a0 Indeed, devil\u2019s advocates would say that popular acclaim is antithetical to country club membership in the first place. The club should be both a familiar old stomping ground and a world unto itself. Whatever these places lack in \u201ccontemporary\u201d difficulty they more than make up for in character and accessibility.<\/p>\n

What we found amazing is the constellation of such environments throughout the Hudson Valley, including the modest but representative sample below.<\/p>\n

As pleasant surprises, it\u2019s tough to top Dutchess<\/strong>, in Poughkeepsie.\u00a0 Sharing a small segment of one periphery with a strip-mall-clogged thoroughfare, the layout lulls you into its unexpectedly precipitous topography by the 2nd<\/sup> hole, a quirky, short par 4 with a whale-shaped fairway and a downhill approach to a small, pitched green.<\/p>\n

The first nine holes, completed in 1897, in the earliest days of golf clubs in America, were designed by a Scotsman from the venerable Park family, and noted regional golf course architect Devereux Emmet praised the course, though his involvement in the second nine holes is unclear.\u00a0 Dutchess\u2019s provenance means, of course, that all 18 holes were constructed without earth-moving equipment, making the dramatic landforms \u2013 the towering tabletop green of the 7th<\/sup> hole, a long par 4, for example \u2013 all the more stunning.\u00a0 Its pre-golf-cart-era vintage means it was also designed to be a great walk, which it is.<\/p>\n

Thus, while Dutchess may not be on the PGA\u2019s rota, it is the only golf course to have hosted all championships of the New York State Golf Association.\u00a0 There\u2019s a warm but unassuming clubhouse here, with a display case detailing some of the club\u2019s golf lore \u2013 the logo says, simply, 1897 — but no swimming pool, no tennis, etc.\u00a0 As head pro Tommie Monteverdi points out, some 90 players out of the 230 total are single-digit handicappers.\u00a0 The place is about golf. www.dutchessgolf.com.<\/h1>\n

It seemed fitting that Dutchess was about to embark on an inter-club match with Mahopac Golf Club<\/strong>, just down the Hudson.\u00a0 Situated on the north side of the bucolic Lake Mahopac, the club\u2019s history actually stretches back to 1893, when nine holes were designed by Tom <\/strong>Bendelow.\u00a0 The existing 18 holes, designed by Emmet, were begun in 1900 and completed in 1913.<\/h1>\n

Just 6,514 yards from the most-distant tees, Mahopac is a men\u2019s par 70 \u2013 in the old-time tradition, women\u2019s par is 72, with strokes, rather than forward tees, adjusting for gender differences \u2013 with much of the intrigue occurring in the green complexes.\u00a0 They are small, steeply contoured, and several include an antique design element rarely seen in modern tracks:\u00a0 putting surfaces sloping from front to back, making approach shots treacherous.<\/p>\n

Mahopac\u2019s comparatively compact routing nonetheless requires spot power, including a 601-yard par 5 (No. 7) and a 460-yard par 4 (No. 16).\u00a0 Mostly, though, you\u2019ll be scratching your head over the greens.\u00a0 Fortunately, there\u2019s a friendly bar and a real family ambience, as head pro Terence Hughes and staff offer numerous junior, beginner, short-game, and other game-improvement clinics. www.mahopacgolfclub.com.<\/p>\n

Just up the Taconic State Parkway, in Hopewell Junction, is Branton Woods<\/strong>, evidence of continued golf vitality and that pedigree isn\u2019t inscrutable.\u00a0 Opened in 2001 to great acclaim as a high-end daily fee \u2013 \u201cyour country club for the day,\u201d as the expression had it \u2013 the club has gradually morphed into an all-private facility.<\/p>\n

Branton Woods is also one of the earliest creations of Eric Bergstol, the construction-industry magnate cum golf course developer-architect who has gone on to design and build the epic Bayonne Golf Club.\u00a0 His Empire Golf also offers reciprocal playing privileges at seven of its other courses in the metropolitan area, a concession to the more peripatetic tastes of the modern golfer. www.brantonwoodsgolf.com.<\/p>\n

Like its clubhouse, the level of golf-course conditioning at Branton Woods is contemporary, but the design retains the rolling contours of the bison farm that preceded it.\u00a0 There\u2019s usually room to hit the ball off the tee, but plenty of strategy in the approach to the green, especially in risk-reward situations like the 4th<\/sup> hole, a par 5 reachable in two.\u00a0 Partly due to the inclusion of copious wetlands into the layout, it is spread out and most members ride, not walk, another aspect common to today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

In terms of longevity, Rockland Country Club<\/strong>, on the other side of the Hudson, is somewhere in the middle, having been opened in 1928, designed by Robert White during the second golden age of American golf course architecture.\u00a0 Thus, while the nearby Palisades are never visible, the tumbling terrain echoes their presence.\u00a0 Still, greens and tees are in close enough proximity to recommend walking.<\/p>\n

And even though \u2013 or especially because \u2013 Rockland is in Sparkill, just a short drive from the George Washington Bridge and mid-town Manhattan, it seems all the more the \u201cfind,\u201d the unextravagant clubhouse perched above Route 9, the golf course invisible behind it.\u00a0 Short at just 6,538, par 71 from the back tees, the trick here is to pick the correct club in the face of huge changes in elevation and hard-to-hold greens.\u00a0 There is also the signature hole, No. 8, a par 3 with a long forced carry over a pond.<\/p>\n

The inviting clubhouse looks out over the first fairway and hints at the vistas to follow, as well as the elaborate, voluminous plantings that serve as accents throughout the course. www.rocklandcountryclub.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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