Beer of the Week

The beer: Irish Coffee Stout

Brewed by: Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, Maryland

Description (from the website): "When Steve Olintz pitched us the idea of an Irish coffee stout, he also taught us an old Irish blessing: 'May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. Coffee is for closers. Let's go eat tacos.' Indeed, Steve. Let's go eat tacos."

Would I buy it again?: Oh, I wish I could, but this is one of Flying Dog's Brewhouse Rarities, so they made it once and won't do so again. Which is a shame, because it's incredibly good. Better than any other coffee stout I've ever had. I bought a six pack in February and stretched it out until July, which was honestly a huge challenge. So, a note to Flying Dog: Make this beer again. That and the Cookies 'N Cream Milk Stout. Both top tier beers.

Review: The Links at Hiawatha Landing (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Hiawatha Landing, go here if you haven't seen the front.

The tenth hole is a downhill mid-length par 4 with O.B. all along the left side. Most people will hit a draw in between the two fairway bunkers, likely ending up on the little plateau about 250-300 yards from the tee. Or you could play it like my brother, who hit his drive left, landing on the cart path and ultimately going way over 300 yards. Risky, but probably not worth it. The green is guarded by two bunkers to the right. Overall, a nice, fairly simple way to start off the back nine.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a fairly long par 4, playing 430 yards. The hole is bunkerless, but it doglegs left around a cluster of trees that you'll want to avoid. There's plenty of room to the right though. The second shot is semiblind to an elevated green secluded in a little amphitheater. It has a fairly significant amount of slope to it, so missing long isn't a great idea.

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green is semiblind.

The twelfth hole is by far the longest hole at Hiawatha Landing, stretching to 600 yards from the back tees. This is a big hole by every definition of the word. Off of the tee, the fairway is pretty wide, but there are fairway bunkers on both sides that you'll want to avoid. Then you have a choice. If you're not in a great position, you'll probably have to follow the fairway, leaving yourself quite a long third shot. But if you've hit a decent drive, you can carry as much of the big native area sitting between the fairway and the green as you want. The green is nearly reachable in two if you're pretty long. There's a bunker in front if you're coming from that direction, or on the right if you've laid up. The hole looks intimidating, but it's easier than it looks.

The very long and expansive twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is a slightly uphill par 3 playing 180 yards over a couple of bunkers. The green is extremely shallow but very wide. And speaking from experience here, if you hit onto the wrong side of the green (such as hitting the left corner when the hole is cut on the right) you will be left with a putt that you will either have to aim off of the green to get to the hole or chip. And yes, I did manage to make a par, which was probably the best two putt I've ever managed. So I'm inclined to like this hole.

The thirteenth hole.

The thirteenth green. You can sort of see my ball way in the distance, many many feet away from the hole.

The fourteenth hole is a nice and short par 4 playing downhill. When we played it, it was downwind, so a well-struck drive could get quite close to the green. Normally though, a driver might not be the best play, since there's a small pond left and a bunker right, both pretty much right where a slightly wayward drive would end up. The green is long, narrow, angled 45 degrees from the fairway, and from our experience, it is completely impossible to make a putt on it. It doesn't look particularly nasty, but apparently it's the toughest green on the course.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a long and uphill par 4, playing every inch of its 450 yards. The tee shot is pretty wide open, as the single fairway bunker is too close to the tee to make much of a difference. The second shot is much more interesting, as the green is guarded by four bunkers, all of which are on the left side. The chipping area right of the green does provide some difficulty if you bail out that way. It's a long hole, but not a particularly difficult one.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is probably the best hole at Hiawatha Landing despite being the longest par 4 on the course, stretching up to 465 yards. That's pretty long, but the hole doglegs sharply to the left, so you can absolutely cut off some of that dogleg to get a much shorter look at the hole. Of course, you have to avoid a cluster of big fairway bunkers to do this, but you can leave yourself a very short second shot if you do it right. And you might want to, because approaching the green from the right side is an intimidating prospect. There's a few bunkers in front and to the right, and the green is sort of elevated on a small plateau.

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a par 3 that's a little over 200 yards, and naturally, as all modern courses must apparently do, water has to come into play. In this case, a pond lurks to the left, and a bunker protects the green to the right. I'm not entirely sure what the two fairway bunkers are accomplishing on a par 3, but yet, there they are. Other than that, it's a fairly standard difficult par 3.

The seventeen hole.

The eighteenth hole is a par 5, and on the scorecard it's listed as being 520 yards (and is almost that wide). But it's only that long if you take the extremely long route around the lake, playing so that no shot carries any water. But if you're willing to take on some risk, you can shorten the hole by a lot. And I do mean a lot. I hit a drive that was maybe 270, 280 yards over the right corner of the pond and had just under 200 yards into the green. But if you can hit it 300 yards, you can really get aggressive and have just a wedge for the second shot. Sure, there's plenty of water to worry about, but a wedge into a par 5 is a pretty tempting proposition. The green is pretty shallow and pretty tilted from back to front so it's not the easiest two putt in the world, but still, this is a great opportunity to finish with a birdie or even an eagle.

A panoramic view of the last hole.

Most people will go down this way.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

All in all, I couldn't help being a little disappointed in the Links at Hiawatha Landing. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad course and there were some interesting holes, but I was hoping for a little bit more. I was especially disappointed in the front nine. Sure, it was neat playing along the river, but the ponds sitting in the middle of the front nine really kind of ruined it. It made several holes, particularly the seventh, way too narrow. I don't like having water on both sides of the fairway, doing that is unnecessarily penal in my opinion.

It's a shame that the front nine isn't more like the back, since the back is by far the superior of the two. There's less water and there's actual elevation change, both of which automatically make things more interesting. I know there probably wasn't much the architect could do in terms of elevation change on the front nine, since it is routed on a flood plain, but throwing ponds down was not a good solution.

In terms of value, Hiawatha Landing isn't too bad. It was 30 dollars per person on a Sunday afternoon, which is pretty decent, especially seeing as it's a newer golf course. But still, if you're looking for value in the Southern Tier, Mark Twain is by far the better option. Two people could play for 30 dollars, and I like that course better. It was nice to play this course once, but I probably wouldn't go back.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Strawberry Ale

Brewed by: Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, Lexington, Kentucky

Description (from the Lexington Brewing Twitter): "Aged in fresh bourbon barrels, and brewed with real strawberry juice, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Strawberry Ale is a perfect blend of fresh fruit and bourbon notes. This is the perfect summer sipper."

Would I buy it again?: You know, I wasn't too thrilled with it after the first sip, but this beer grew on me as I went along. The strawberry grew on me. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for it, but I wouldn't say no.

Review: The Links at Hiawatha Landing (Part 1)

When I went to Binghamton back in October last year to play some golf, I had two courses in mind. Mark Twain and the Links at Hiawatha Landing. Obviously I chose Mark Twain, but when I went up to New York again in early May this year for golf purposes, the Links at Hiawatha Landing got its turn. It's remarkable that courses in New York only closed for a couple weeks considering how bad the pandemic was there.

The course is right next to the Susquehanna River, with all the advantages and disadvantages you'd expect (Advantage: natural hazard; disadvantage: floods easily). I'd heard good things about the course, but the prospect of playing a course right on the river was appealing too. And since we played in early May and this is New York we're talking about, the trees were still basically bare so you could actually occasionally see the river. We got lucky with the weather too (75 and sunny), seeing as not even a week later Binghamton (that's where Hiawatha Landing is) had a few nights below freezing and one day where the high was a whole 35 degrees. In May. Anyway, onto the golf.

The first hole starts things off in a generally benign fashion. It's a mid-length par 4 that plays very slightly downhill. I mean very slightly. The front nine is on the river's flood plain, so it's basically completely flat. Aggressive drives will go over the dogleg and the cluster of fairway bunkers at the corner, leaving a fairly short second shot. But there's a ton of room to miss on either side, this course is pretty wide open in general. That may change later in the year, I'm not sure how thick or how prevalent the native areas get at Hiawatha Landing. The green is protected by a bunker short and left, and the surface is medium sized with a fair amount of contour. So long as you avoid the fairway bunkers, it's not a tough opening hole.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is on the longer side of par 4s, potentially stretching nearly 440 yards depending on tee placement. There's a thick forest right, but it's not all that close to the fairway, and the pond in the distance is also pretty much out of reach. There is a bunker in prime driving position that does pinch into the fairway, and that's the primary hazard on the drive. The pond is more in play on the second shot, bordering the green left and long. To the right there's a chipping area, the first of multiple at Hiawatha Landing. The green is angled right to left, so it's better approached from the right side.

The second hole.

Water lurks left of the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a pretty simple par 3. It's 180 yards and a single bunker guards the front-left portion of the green. It's a small green, and it's a pretty shallow target. Nothing too special about this hole.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a fairly long 425 yard par doglegging slightly left with O.B. right. There's a fairway bunker at the corner of the dogleg that you'll also want to avoid. As such, a slight draw will be the best shot to hit off of the tee. The second shot is a bit tricky, as there are bunkers short on both sides and the Susquehanna lurks just beyond the green. When the hole is in the back it's quite tough getting shots all the way back there, since you definitely don't want to go long.

The fourth hole. That's not an actual water hazard in the left corner, just a leftover from heavy rain a couple days earlier.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green, with the Susquehanna River in the background.

The fifth hole is the start of a less than stellar 3 hole stretch. I'm not entirely sure why there's a pair of ponds on the front nine when the river provides plenty of watery danger, but that's the design choice they made. The hole is 380 yards and doglegs around the pond to the right, and a pair of bunkers protects the left side. If you've hit the fairway, you're looking at a wedge or short iron to a very narrow green guarded closely by water. Missing left of long isn't great either, since that very slender green slopes down toward the water.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green

The fifth green isn't an inviting target.

The fifth green from the sixth tee.

The sixth hole is 225 yards, the longest par 3 at Hiawatha Landing. And as you'd expect, it's not easy. There's the pond right, the river lurking left, and the green is all of 15 yards wide, if that. And it's not long either. I guess you can say that the hole is certainly committed to being difficult, since there's not a whole lot of room to miss.

The sixth hole.

The very narrow sixth green.

The seventh hole is the first par 5 at Hiawatha Landing, and in my opinion is the hardest hole on the course. The hole runs alongside the Susquehanna, which is fine, but for most of the hole there's also a pond against the left side. And I'm not a big fan of having water on both sides of a hole. I mean, there's a decent amount of space in between, but still, it's a poor design choice. The hole is 525 yards, so if you've hit a good drive, the green is reachable, but that second shot has to carry the pond to get there. For most people, this is a three shot hole, which is fine, but I wish there was significantly less water involved. In my opinion, the pond just doesn't add anything of value.

The seventh hole, with the river to the right and a pond left.

Approaching the seventh green. I wouldn't recommend trying to get home in two.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole, a moderately long 430 yard par 4, also plays right along the river, but since there's no pond on the left side, there's room to breathe, and to think. A bunker protects the front-left section of the green, which is angled 45 degrees right to left. So the closer you get to the river on the drive, the better angle you'll have into the green. I'm never happy to lose a golf ball in the moment, and it's weird to say, but I put my drive into the river, so now I can say that I've hit a golf ball into the Susquehanna, and I'm oddly proud of that.

The eighth hole.

The best angle to approach the green is from the right side, flirting with the river.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a 510 yard par 5, playing slightly uphill. This is a big wide hole, and you can hit your drive almost anywhere. Just watch out for the two fairway bunkers left. If you're going for the green in two, which is completely possible, the second shot has to clear a cluster of five bunkers just short of the green. I'm not sure they're all necessary and maintenance would probably be cheaper if they were consolidated into one slightly bigger bunker, but that's the choice they've made. If you're not going for the green, there's a fairway bunker on the left side slightly less than 100 yards from the hole that you'll want to watch out for.

The ninth hole.

There are plenty of bunkers around the ninth green.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.