If you've driven down Route 30 between Gettysburg and York, Pennsylvania, then you know The Bridges. In a similar vein to Rich Valley nestling up right next to I-81, The Bridges sits right alongside Route 30, and is similarly alluring to golfers driving past. I can't exactly say I go past this course on a regular basis, but I've done it enough times that it honestly really bugged me that I'd never played it. The course is right there, right next to a major road, not very far away from where I live, but I just never committed. After a while, it felt like The Bridges and I were a couple of old acquaintances who only ever see each other at big social events who always say to each other "hey, we should totally hang out some day" with both sides knowing perfectly well they're never actually going to make those plans.
Well, score one for committing to a plan, because I finally got around to playing The Bridges. And that's about all I have for preamble, since there's really no background for this course. The people who own the course designed it, which I guess is kind of neat, building your own golf course, but unless your name is George Crump and you've enlisted a half-dozen architects to give you advice, amateur-built golf courses aren't usually a recipe for success. But who knows, maybe the Altland brothers cooked up something interesting? Let's find out.
The first hole starts things off in mild, if entirely unspectacular fashion. It's a 375-yard par 4, playing gently downhill until the fairway meets a small creek cutting across the hole a hundred yards short of the green. Longer hitters will probably want to use a long iron or fairway wood. That will leave a wedge into the green, which is about as bland as you could imagine. Gently sloped from back to front, pretty much circular, and with bunkers on both sides. It's very, very far from being the most inspired green complex of all time. Still, this hole presents a pretty decent chance of starting out with a birdie.
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| The first hole. |
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| The first green. |
I'd hesitate to call the second hole good, but at the very least it is more interesting than the first. At 340 yards, the hole's pretty short, but the fairway bends 90 degrees left about 225 yards out, which pretty effectively takes driver out of your hands. Being able to sling a hook around the trees is obviously very helpful, as it gets you closer to the green and gives you a much flatter stance. It's not a big deal, since the hole's not very long, but it's something. The green here is up on a hill behind three bunkers, and while it's more interesting than the first, we're not talking anything revolutionary. Just a small tier running through the middle. Hey, anything's better than nothing.
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| The second hole. |
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| Approaching the second green. |
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| The second green. |
The third hole is just over 400 yards, and other than there being O.B. vaguely left, there's not much on the tee shot here. And that goes for the second shot as well; aside from a greenside bunker left, the approach is pretty simple and the green is basically flat. This is just kind of a bland, straightaway mid-length par 4 with very little to make it stand out.
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| The third hole. |
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| Approaching the third green. |
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| The third green. |
The fourth hole is the first par 3 at The Bridges, playing 190 yards downhill to a fairly large green with sand on both sides. This green does have some internal contours to it, with the back of the green being particularly tilted. Nothing revolutionary or even all that exciting, but it's better than anything the first three holes present.
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| The fourth hole. |
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| The fourth green. |
The fifth hole is a pretty short par 5 at just 475 yards, but it's not as reachable as you might think, as we're confronted with the second 90-degree dogleg in five holes. You've got maybe 225 yards before the fairway bends hard right, so if you play safely, the green is out of reach in two. However, if you can hit a big high slice, you can cut the corner and leave yourself with just a long iron second. Finally, a tee shot made for me. That said, even if you do play aggressive, this green isn't one you'll be hitting in two, not without some extraordinary precision. The green is 30-40 feet up with bunkers on either side and a grass bunker directly in front. The green's also pretty shallow, although it is sloped pretty sharply from back to front. If you can hit it, it'll probably stay on, but actually doing that from 200 yards out is a challenging proposition.
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| The fifth hole. |
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| Approaching the fifth green. |
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| The fifth green. |
The sixth hole is about the same length as the third hole at a little over 400 yards and plays similarly straight along a relatively open fairway, but this hole feels better because of the more interesting topography. The landing area is partially blind as it crests the top of a hill, and if you don't get far enough on the tee shot, the second shot is also blind. The green is on the small side and sloped pretty significantly from back to front. My second shot ended up about 40 feet right of the hole, and my birdie putt had more than 5 feet of right-to-left break to it. Also, because the green's been built up so much, missing long is pretty much instant death. Not a difficult hole, but there is at least a little thought required.
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| The sixth hole. |
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| Approaching the sixth green. |
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| The sixth green. |
The seventh hole is a not very exciting longish par 3 playing 210 yards to a medium-sized green with a fairly large bunker right. The green itself is also not particularly exciting. This is a hole that's just kind of there.
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| The seventh hole. |
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| The seventh green. |
The eighth hole is 560 yards, making it the longest hole on the course. The safe play on the tee is out to the left, avoiding the trees in the corner of the dogleg, but that adds quite a bit of length onto an already pretty long hole. It also brings water into play on the second shot, as a pond lurks left of this fairway about 100-150 yards from the green. A more aggressive drive can take that water out of the equation. The green here is quite small and is protected by two bunkers, one of which absolutely screwed my third shot. My wedge was a little weak and to the right, and I figured it would end up in the right bunker. But oh no, to my great surprise the ball bounced about 30 yards up and away, sailing way over the green into a spot where getting close to the hole was virtually impossible. Turns out that out of all the bunkers on the course, this one lone bunker has a wooden lining along the top edge, and I hit the unlucky lottery. I won't claim to be great out of bunkers, but I could have gotten up and down for par from the bunker. I could not do so from where my golf ball ended up. It's probably not the worst break I've ever gotten, but it's definitely up there.
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| The eighth hole. |
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| Approaching the eighth green. |
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| The eighth green. You can see the wood lining my golf ball ricocheted off of on top of the right-side bunker. Why does that bunker need a wooden lip? Who knows? |
The ninth hole is the longest par 4 at The Bridges, playing 430 yards. The drive is extremely wide open, though the fairway does traverse some nice rolling topography as it bends left toward the green. A solid drive should leave just a short iron second. While the bunker front right looks intimidating, the green slopes pretty hard from back left to front right, which means the bunker is probably the best place to miss, especially if the flag is cut on the left side. Chips from the left side will definitely roll out more than you'd like.
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| The ninth hole. |
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| Approaching the ninth green. |
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| The ninth green. |
That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.
