Review: Shaker Ridge Country Club (Part 1)

I usually like to give a bit of a preamble when I introduce a golf course during my reviews, but that's tricky for Shaker Ridge, considering I knew absolutely nothing about it until the day before my round here. And all I knew when I arrived was that it's a private course located next to Albany International Airport. As I dug a little deeper, I found that Shaker Ridge opened in the late 1920s, though it wasn't designed by anyone of note. What can I say, not every course has an interesting backstory. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much as I stepped up to the first tee. But who knows, maybe Shaker Ridge is a hidden gem. Only one way to find out.

The first hole is not what I would classify as a gentle opener. It's 430 yards, though admittedly downhill the entire way, and the landing area is flanked by a bunker left and a pond right. There's plenty of room short of those, so you may want to use a 3 wood off of the tee. That will leave you with a short or mid iron to an elevated green with bunkers on both sides. The green is sloped sharply from back to front, and Shaker Ridge keeps its greens very, very fast. You really don't want a downhill putt, and you especially don't want to miss the green long. My brothers and I averaged a double bogey here, which is really not the start you want.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is 365 yards and plays parallel to the first, so you're going right back up the hill to a blind landing area. O.B. lurks close left, but other than a few trees there's nothing right, so if you're going to miss, go with a slice. If you hit a good drive you'll be left with a wedge into the green, which has bunkers left and right.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green, featuring some weird guy.

The third hole is 435 yards, and the tee shot plays down from a high point to the fairway. It's a pretty wide landing area that my brothers and I all managed to miss because we're bad (they went left, I went right into a tiny stream). The second shot, assuming you're not an idiot, is a short or mid iron to a slightly elevated green with a single deep bunker left. That bunker isn't the real threat on the approach though, it's the two-tiered green. With how fast Shaker Ridge keeps its greens, if the hole is down below and you end up on the upper tier, good luck keeping your putt on the green. Your only real choice to two putt is to leave the flagstick in and hope you hit it. That said, if you miss short, you can throw your chip out past the flag up onto the tier, and it will run back down, which is fun to do.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a nice surprise on an otherwise fairly long and difficult golf course. The first par 3 at Shaker Ridge is just 140 yards, and even plays downhill. Of course, these short little par 3s are often more difficult than the scorecard indicates, and the fourth is no exception. There are three small bunkers short of the green, and two long. While the green itself is quite large, a ridge runs right down the middle, separating the green into two distinct sections. End up on the wrong side of that ride, and you're not going to have a fun time trying to two putt.

The fourth hole.

The fifth hole is normally the longest hole at Shaker Ridge at 570 yards, but both the back tee and the next tee up, which is what I was using, was closed, so we got to play it from the front tees a hundred yards up. The fairway bends right around a small stream, with dense forest on the left side; that said, the landing area is quite wide. You'll want to favor the left side, as straying too far right means dealing with overhanging tree limbs, or the stream. Of course, normally the green is out of range in two for most golfers anyway, but keeping left still benefits you. After laying up to your favorite distance, the third will be into a fairly small green with bunkers front right and left.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green from not the fairway.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a mid-length par 4 that doglegs significantly off to the right as it drops down a rather steep hill. You have a couple options on the tee shot: You can lay back at the top of the hill with a wood or long iron, leaving yourself a longer second from a flatter lie, or you can use driver, squeezing between trees right and O.B. left, leaving a wedge from a hanging downhill lie. The green isn't particularly large and sloped pretty significantly from back to front, and there's a big bunker right in front of the green. You'll probably want to take a club less on the second shot, it's very downhill.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a 420-yard par 4 with a very awkward tee shot. The hole bends left, and the fairway slopes in the same direction. Seems like a perfect opportunity to hit a big draw and get some good distance, right? Well, a big tree short of the fairway is perfectly placed to prevent that sort of shot. I suppose you could try anyway, but the margin for error to avoid both that tree and the cluster of trees in the corner of the dogleg is tiny. You can breathe a lot easier if you hit a fade and settle for a second shot that's 10-20 yards longer. That will leave a short or mid iron into a small green, sloped from back right to front left, with bunkers on both sides.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is about the same length as the previous hole, but it's a lot less interesting, being straight and having little trouble beyond the lines of trees on each side of the fairway. The left side is preferable, and a few overhanging branches and the left to right tilt of the fairway make finding that side a bit more difficult, but still, not a drive that demands your full attention. The second shot is to a green with bunkers front right and back left.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a 340-yard par 4, so while it's quite short, it's definitely not drivable. And you do need to think carefully about what club you use on the tee; a stream cuts across the fairway about 75 yards from the green, and two bunkers dominate the prime lay-up area. If you want to be truly safe, you'd only be able to hit your drive about 200 yards, and leaving yourself a full pitching wedge or something on a hole this short is not ideal. Especially when the green is small and well guarded by sand, mounding, and O.B. long. Some element of risk taking on the drive is necessary to get yourself into decent position on the second. This really isn't the solid birdie opportunity you might think it is, based on the yardage alone, and I like that about this hole.

The ninth hole.

The ninth green.

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