Review: The Golf Course at Glen Mills (Part 2)

It's time to a look at the back nine at Glen Mills, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a dramatic downhill par 3 over native area and marshland. It's 200 yards from all the way back, which is quite long for a par 3 that's all forced carry. You can at least miss left, and the ball will bounce toward the green. It's quite a difficult (and large) green as well, with the left section separated by a large tier. While you can miss left, if the ball hangs up in the rough you'll have difficulty keeping a chip close, since the green slopes from left to right. Three putting is a real possibility.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is where Glen Mills starts to trip over itself. The sixth hole wasn't exactly wide, but it feels like an infinite cosmos, compared to the fairway this hole offers. Squeezed between marshland left and a brush-covered hillside right, you've got at most 25 yards of safe space. It's often less than that, especially where one might be inclined to hit a long iron. And while it's not a long hole, it's 375 yards, which isn't nothing either. If you thread the needle, the green is long and narrow, with more steep hillside right and bunkers left. If you can get through this hole without losing a golf ball, it's an accomplishment. Of course, since life makes no sense, I hit my two best shots of the day here and had all of 18 inches for my birdie putt. Any hole's easy when you flush a 3 iron and a sand wedge.

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is a fairly short par 4 at 340 yards and is thankfully not squeezed between the big hillside left and pond right. Instead, the fairway is draped over the slope, with numerous bunkers between it and the tee. The more sand you carry, the better. Bail out too far left or too short, and you won't have a view of the green, not to mention the awkward stance from having the golf ball a foot below your feet. The green is big and open in front, so you can run shots up if you're not comfortable with a standard wedge shot. Considering the big dropoff right and long of the green and the left-to-right sloping fairway, flying a wedge all the way back to the hole is a risky move.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 450 yards and swings left around a marsh and wooded area. There's a lot of room to bail out right, as the fairway is very wide, but naturally doing so will leave a longer second from a worse angle. The green is angled from left to right and filled with plenty of undulation. 

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a fairly short par 3, playing 160 yards uphill to a semiblind green. It's a pretty small green as well, and is partially hidden behind a bunker. Interestingly, the green is pretty flat, which is unusual for this course. 

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is 530 yards, and so long as the drive avoids the cluster of deep bunkers in the corner of the dogleg, the green can be reached in two. The fairway is wide and there's more space than it looks from the tee. The second is steeply downhill, and bunkers line both sides of the fairway for the last 100 yards. That makes laying up a tricky proposition, with a long bunker about 50 yards short that juts deep in the fairway particularly noteworthy. Of course, the biggest thing about this hole is the green, which features a Biarritz swale running through the middle. And since the green isn't massive, you really notice that dip in the green. I like this hole, but this is the last good hole Glen Mills has to offer.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green from behind.

The sixteenth hole is another fairly short par 3, a few yards shorter than the fourteenth, but obviously it looks and plays a lot differently. A pond lines the entire right side of the hole, coming within a few feet of the edge of the green. So there's no room to miss right. There are a couple small bunkers left, but for the most part you can bail out if you're not comfortable tackling the water head on. However, the green undulations do make chipping from the left side difficult. Not impossible, but tougher than you might hope. I don't dislike this hole, but it doesn't really fit in with everything else. This is the only pond and the only truly flat hole at Glen Mills. It feels out of place.

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a short par 5, only 480 yards, but don't think this is an easy birdie opportunity. The tee shot is over a marsh to a very narrow and blind fairway with marsh left and dense forest and tall grass right. You'd be crazy to use driver on this hole. If you're lucky enough to thread the needle, you'll need to do that again on the second shot. That's about it, there's no interesting hazards, just more marsh and tall grass. The green is long, narrow, and reasonably undulating, with a pot bunker short left. It's not as narrow as the eleventh, I suppose, but you have to play the hole so carefully to avoid the big number, and that's just no fun.

We were standing on the seventeenth tee for 10 minutes and I didn't get a picture. There wasn't much to see. This is from about 150 yards out.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole may not have a pond, but it's a stereotypical long par 4 finisher in every other way. It's a little bit wider than the previous hole, but the fairway bends and twists enough to make hitting it very challenging, especially with a driver. And if you don't hit driver, you're almost putting this green out of reach in two. It's not like you can miss the fairway either; that's an automatic lost ball. So this is essentially another short par 5. Safe long iron, safe long iron, pitch into the green. The green's not even particularly interesting or well defended. It's a really boring and needlessly difficult finishing hole.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

The front nine at Glen Mills does quite a bit right, and it's generally pretty solid throughout (though I'm not a huge fan of the sixth). The back nine does a lot wrong. Several holes are just way too narrow and on the verge of completely unplayable. Presumably environmental regulations were to blame, because there's no way anyone reasonable would design holes like the eleventh and seventeenth unless they had no choice in the matter. But of course, they didn't have to put a golf course here. No one put a gun to Bobby Weed's head and forced him to route needlessly narrow golf holes through completely unsuitable terrain. Maybe less people would come to Glen Mills if it was only a 9-hole course, but the course would be more worth visiting. I don't think the bad holes on the back completely erases the good Glen Mills offers, but it does make this a course I wouldn't really be interested in playing again. Once is more than enough for me.