Beer of the Week

The beer: It's OK, I'm here

Brewed by: Anchorage Brewing Company, Anchorage, Alaska

Description (from Tavour): "To craft 'It’s OK, I’m Here' NEIPA, the world-renowned Alaskan brewers at Anchorage used loads of Phantasm Powder to accentuate the flavors of the beer’s Nelson and Mosaic Hop profile. The powder’s made from freeze-dried Sauvignon Blanc grape skins, which contain a lot of thiols — the same stuff that produces the fruity characteristics in hops!"

Would I buy it again?: One would imagine it would be equally difficult to get a beer from Alaska as it is to get one from Hawaii. This is very much not the case, however, as there are multiple Hawaiian breweries (two is still multiple) available here in Maryland, but Alaska? Anyway, the beer: It's got a fairly typical IPA taste, but it's a fair amount juicier than your average IPA. Maybe that's the grape skins. It's pretty good, but considering all the rigmarole I went through to get it, I wouldn't buy it again. It's not that good.

Review: Country Club of Troy (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at the Country Club of Troy, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is just under 400 yards, but it plays pretty long since it's uphill the whole way and you really can't use a driver. The fairway stops around 250 yards from the tee and heads up the hill you just climbed down on the ninth fairway. That leaves a short or mid iron up to a blind green; if you're lucky you'll be able to see the top of the flag. There are no hidden surprises around the green, which is nice, so you're not launching your iron into some deep bunker or oddly placed pond. The green is fairly undulating, but not particularly exciting. 

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green. Yeah, it's up there.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is the final par 5 at Troy, and it's a really good one. It's 530 yards, but the tee shot is dramatically downhill, so it's not unreasonable to reach the green in two. However, being able to get there in two and actually doing it are two completely different things. For one thing, if you're on the left side your view of the green will be obscured by trees, so you want that clear shot you'll need to stay out right. If you do everything right, your reward will be a long iron or fairway wood to a very small green at the top of a plateau surrounded by five pot bunkers. It's a bit of a Volcano green, though not a dramatic one. The way you play it and its treatment of less-than-perfect shots is the same. Trying to hit this green from 200-250 yards away is an exercise in futility; no golfer outside of the PGA Tour is that accurate. A wedge or a pitch third is certainly easier, but not to the degree you might expect. This is just not a friendly hole, and I like that. It's not often that a par 5 is one of the toughest holes on the course, but I think this hole is among the toughest at Troy. It's also one of the best.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

A slightly closer look at the little plateau the eleventh green sits on. It's really not an inviting target.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole may or may not be a 255 yard par 3. It says 255 on the scorecard, but there was no black tee during our round, just the blue tee at 230 yards. And you know what? That's plenty. I actually feel like this hole may have been a par 4 as first designed, judging from the four bunkers about 40 yards short of the green, but that's just a wild guess. The green is guarded by one small bunker front right, and there's also a swale in the right central portion of the green. That swale makes putts and chips involving the right side of the green quite complicated.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green. 

The thirteenth hole is a mid-length par 4 with a fairway that's sloped significantly from right to left. Two bunkers on the left side narrow the landing area, but while going down the left side shortens the hole, it does mean the second shot will be directly over two pot bunkers next to the green. The right side gives you a better angle, but you'll also have the ball significantly above your feet, encouraging a hook, again leading you toward the greenside bunkers. The green itself is on the larger side, but there's a swale running through the middle of it. There's also some mounding around much the back of the green. You need a precise second shot; even being on the wrong portion of the green brings bogey into play, let along missing the green.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

A better look at the thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a relatively straightforward par 4, playing just under 360 yards. However, while it certainly looks simple from above, the reality on the ground is different. The tee shot is even more blind than on the ninth; none of the fairway is visible. The fairway then slopes down for a couple hundred yards, then rises back up again about 100 yards from the green. There are two small bunkers right of the green, which is semiblind from the fairway and filled with the usual undulations.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is 140 yards, technically making it the shortest hole at Troy, but since the green is 50 or so feet above the tee, in reality the second does play a bit shorter. Aside from the obvious giant hill, the fifteenth is actually pretty similar to the second. The small, semiblind green is sloped significantly from back to front and has several small (and deep) bunkers in front. While I do like that this course has two sub–150 yard par 3s, I wish they didn't effectively play exactly the same.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is about 425 yards and may be the best hole at Troy, which is saying something considering the quality of the course thus far. The drive is downhill to a wide fairway, but a pair of bunkers right and a group of trees left narrow the fairway where a good drive would end up. Hit a drive into those bunkers and suddenly the crossbunkers 40 yards short of the green become something to worry about. Lay back and you'll have a pretty long shot into the green, and that's not something you want. There are two bunkers right of the green, but the main feature of the sixteenth green is the two small plateaus in the back corners. They're big enough so that the hole can be cut on them (though they weren't for our round, sadly), but even if the hole is elsewhere, they still dominate the green. Troy has a lot more subdued greens than Cape Arundel, the other Walter Travis course I've played, but this one would fit in nicely there. 

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a basically straightforward 370 yard par 4 playing over roughly level ground. There's a bunker on the right side of the fairway, and hitting your drive close to that bunker will give you the best angle into green, which is protected by two bunkers left. Shots hit out to the right of the green will funnel back down, taking the slope. It's not the most compelling hole in the world, but it's far from the worst.

The seventeenth hole.

Approaching the seventeenth green.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a grand, sweeping finisher, yet still has the quirk one has come to expect from this course. Obviously, there's the fairway, which is decidedly crooked, but first I want to talk about the back tee. I feel like this hole was originally designed as a 360 yard hole, with the back tee partially up a hill. At some point though, a very well-hidden tee was added 50 yards back, next to the fifteenth green and tenth fairway, positioned so that you actually have to hit over the sixteenth tee. The things you can do on a private golf course. Okay, now we can go back to the fairway. There are three bunkers right and two left, right where you'd want to hit an aggressive drive, but laying back of them leaves a long, uphill approach. The green is slightly domed and sloped from right to left, with the four bunkers right being very poor places to end up. Go left and you'll have a tricky shot from fairway, but at least the green won't run away from you. It's not the best hole at Troy, but it's a good way to end the round.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

Like I said at the beginning, the Country Club of Troy is one of the best courses that I've played. It's a ton of fun right from the start, and it keeps that sense of fun throughout the entire round. The first hole is amazing, the fourth is a rollercoaster from start to finish, the ninth is delightfully quirky with its blind tee shot and wild green, the eleventh is an almost-brutal par 5, and the sixteenth is just great design on relatively flat terrain. There are a few problem trees that I wish were cleared, and the place was just playing too slowly (which may have been outside of its control), so it's not perfect or my absolute favorite course. It doesn't have to be though. It's just a fun, quirky course, and I'd love to play it again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Bourbon Barrel–Aged Triple Nator

Brewed by: Troegs Independent Brewing, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Description (from the bottle): "This is the big, malty, and ageable Triple Nator with a bourbon barrel twist. Munich malt, chocolate malt, and Belgian candy sugar deliver deep toffee and complex malt notes, and months in bourbon barrels add hints of toasted coconut, vanilla, and molasses. Put it in a glass or put it in your cellar. The next chapter is yours!"

Would I buy it again? Not an ideal picture there, but oh well. Needless to say, this is an absolutely amazing beer, with all the taste of the previous Triple Nator plus a definite bourbony vanilla feel. I'm not sure if I prefer this one to the normal one, but it's close, and that puts this in my top five beers of all time. Only problem here is the price: It's twice as expensive as the Triple Nator, and that's a lot. $10 for a single bottle of beer is way too much to be anything other than a very occasional splurge. Which is probably fine, it's 14% and dangerously drinkable, just like the normal Troegenator it's based on. If the pit in your wallet didn't stop you from downing way too many, nothing would. It took most of my resolve not to buy as many of these as I could, though I couldn't resist buying one more. 

Review: Country Club of Troy (Part 1)

Rain is a good thing, but there is such a thing as too much. In July 2021, the Albany area received a record amount of rainfall. Something like a dozen inches fell, and while you might think that a bunch of rain is good for the grass, it's a struggle for golf courses to keep things going. All those stupid carts people insist on using cause damage, which is amplified when the grounds basically all just mud. It also means that golf courses that are at their best when playing fast and firm don't get to show off their true nature, which brings us to the Country Club of Troy. 

Designed in the late 1920s by Walter Travis – this is actually his last design, as he died not too long after working on it – the course is draped over the rolling hills east of town and is loaded with the sort of quirk one might expect from a course routed over dramatic terrain. According to my brother, who played the course multiple times several years ago, it's supposed to play very firm, especially around and on the greens, and that's what I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, while the weather was fine for our round, all the water from the rainy July lingered, and so the course was soft and the greens almost frustratingly slow. The Country Club of Troy was not giving us its best stuff. But you take what you get, so let's see how Troy stacks up against some of my other favorite courses. (Mild spoiler: No amount of rain and softness could take away from the fact that this is a really good course.)

The first hole is a fantastic opener, and it sets the mood for the rest of the round very well. When you walk up to the first tee and all you see is the side of a rather steep hill, you just know you're in an interesting day. The further you go on this mid-length par 4, and the further right you are in the fairway, the better your angle and view into the green will be. You will have the ball above your feet for your second shot pretty much no matter what, and that's not easy when it's on the first hole. The green is just as interesting as the drive; it's domed and slightly elevated above yards of surrounding fairway, and there are no bunkers around it. The challenge, if you do miss the green, is figuring out how to get back on. There's no obvious or single way to do it, you could use anything from a putter to a wedge to an iron. Bunkers and rough are great and provide plenty of strategy, but a subtle design like this has its own unique interest. It's not quite the best first hole I've ever played, but it's very close.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is the first of two par 3s under 150 yards at Troy, playing 145 yards to a very heavily defended green. The ring of seven pot bunkers almost completely encircles the green, though I can say that the ones short aren't actually the worst place to miss. The green slopes sharply from back to front, so if you take an extra club and end up on the back end of the green or worse, over it, you're going to have a tough time getting a par. At least, you would if the course was playing correctly. This is an example of the course having some of its bite taken away by the rain; there were almost no consequences for going above the hole. It didn't really matter where you were on the green because the putts were just so slow. I certainly benefitted from it, since I did hit onto the back part of the green, but I really shouldn't have. That putt from a couple feet above the hole should have been terrifying, not mildly inconvenient. But hey, what can you do?

The second hole.

The second green.

The third hole is a fairly short 370 yard par 4 with a steeply downhill tee shot, so it plays even shorter than the yardage indicates. The entire fairway slopes sharply from left to right, making it difficult to keep your drive left. You'll want to stay left on the drive because there are two small bunkers protecting the right side of the green. That green has a small swale running through the middle; not quite Biarritz level but similar concept. Still, it's a good birdie opportunity, since two of the three of us made 3s.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is the first par 5 at Troy, and it's quite a hole. At 531 yards it's not particularly long, but it doesn't need to be. The first section of the fairway plays uphill, and I'm going to guess about 99% of drives run right into and stop short. Really long hitters can get to the top of the ridge and make the hole reachable in two, but for most, this is a distinctly three-shot hole. After the drive into the front of the hill, the second shot is blind; a stream cuts about 30 yards in front of the green, so laying back to about 100 yards is ideal to avoid any accidental water balls. That third shot will be from a downhill/sidehill lie over the stream to an undulating green with a back to front slope. It reminds me a bit of the eleventh at Leatherstocking; this hole doesn't have the same dominating sideslope, but it's always in motion. There are no flat lies, and there are no easy shots, no mindlessly blasting away. There's always something to think about.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is apparently not that long a par 4 at only 415 yards, but it manages to play pretty long despite the tee shot being very downhill. You probably don't want to use a driver, since the fairway narrows beyond 250 yards between a few tall trees left and forest right. If you want an unobstructed view of the green, you'll need to play right, and there's really not much room to work with. It's actually  a really tough and precise tee shot. Then you'll have a short to mid iron up a very steep hill to a semiblind green with a small bunker front right. This is not my favorite hole in the world, to be honest.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is 360 yards, and it's downhill the whole way. This isn't a wide fairway in general, so you may want to use a 3 wood or long iron off of the tee, but doing so brings two fairway bunkers into play, so perhaps driver is the best option. There is a third fairway bunker right that could catch overly bold drives, so maybe driver isn't best. No easy answers on the tee shot then. The second shot is downhill to a small green that plays out onto a promontory of sorts. The back is built up a lot over the surrounding terrain, making recovery shots from any location other than short of the green very difficult. Despite all appearances though, the green isn't actually really sloped from back to front, though of course it isn't flat, featuring plenty of little undulations. It's a solid short but not driveable par 4, and that's something I like to see.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is the longest hole at Troy, playing 560 yards over the only really flat portion of the property. The playing corridor is technically quite wide, but two big trees in the corner of the dogleg dominate the drive; if you want any sort of clear shot forward, you'll need to either blast past them or skirt around them to the right, lengthening what's already a pretty long hole. I doubt many people reach this green in two. The second shot, if you've avoided the trees, is to a pretty wide fairway, though there is a cross bunker about 100 yards from the green, right where you'd want to lay up. Then you've got a wedge to a green flanked by five small bunkers. I'm not sure how I feel about those two trees; on the one hand, they certainly add interest, but on the other, they're a bit too good at their job. If it was just one, or if they were less enormous, I think I'd like this hole more.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 193 yards and dead flat the whole way. The green is tucked between a group of small mounds that both act as hazards and flow into the green itself. This is how you do mounding correctly, it's obvious they're artificial, but they're also not only acting as a framing device. There are also four small, deep bunkers around the green: two short, one left, and one right. The green itself is not large and is undulating thanks to the mounds.

The eighth hole.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is the exact opposite of flat. The tee shot is incredibly blind, with a lone bunker and only a sliver of fairway indicating that there's even a hole here at all. If you use a 3 wood or long iron, you'll end up at the top of a plateau looking down onto the green, but you'll have a long shot in, since the hole is 425 yards. Alternatively, you can use driver and clear the plateau, getting a huge boost but almost certainly ending up with a steeply downhill stance for your wedge second shot. You do run the risk of slicing into the trees or hooking into a bunch of high fescue left of the fairway, but the potential for massive drives is difficult to ignore. The green is the most interesting one we've seen so far at Troy, and a definite reminder that Walter Travis was known for his greens. There are multiple tiers and sections within this medium-sized green, and where you want to be can vary wildly depending on where the flag is. I can tell you with the hole location we saw, I had a much easier time getting up and down from left of the green (using the central slope as a backstop to bring the ball back down to a couple feet away) than my brother did despite him on the green but on top of the right plateau. I don't know if this counts as a great hole, but it's certainly an interesting and quirky one.

The ninth hole. Not a lot to see from the tee.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

The ninth hole from behind.

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