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.