Review: Sunset Golf Course (Part 2)

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

The tenth hole is by far Sunset's most memorable hole, and the sort of hole you don't see every day. The front nine is situated on a hill overlooking the river, as is the tenth tee. The rest of the hole, and the back nine in general, is much closer to river level. That means the fairway here is about 150 feet below the tee. You don't often see elevation change like that on one hole. It also means that the tenth, which is 345 yards long, is drivable by more people than you'd expect. The only obstacle really is the fact that the hole is quite narrow, hemmed in by big trees, but they're honestly really easy to carry and the fairway widens out past the 275-yard point, so why not use driver and fly over everything? It's pretty fun. The green itself is fairly small and falls away at the back. I don't think I'd call this a good hole, but it's certainly quirky and memorable.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a shortish par 3 at 160 yards, playing over the corner of a pond to a large two-tiered green. It's a good thing these greens run pretty slow, because that tier is big and it is sharp. Which is curious to me; the course isn't old but the earthwork here is pretty crude, befitting a pre-bulldozer construction era. A bit of a mystery, but it does make tee shots a bit more interesting; you really don't want to be on the wrong level of this green. 

The eleventh hole. It'd look quite nice if it weren't for the Porta-potty. 

The twelfth hole is 360 yards and plays to a narrow fairway bending left in between clusters of trees. You definitely want to find the fairway here, so you may want to use less than a driver. A solid drive will leave a wedge into a medium-sized green protected by a long bunker to the right.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 370 yards and despite playing basically parallel with the previous hole, is quite a bit different. For one thing, the hole is pretty steeply uphill, with the fairway also tilted from left to right. The farther up you go, the more awkward of a stance you'll have for the second. But hanging back will leave a long and steeply uphill second shot to a nearly completely blind green. The green is quite large and fairly undulating, and there's nothing around it, so at least you're not hitting into any potential hazards. The awkward stance and large elevation change is enough of a hazard.

The thirteenth hole.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a fairly long par 4 at 430 yards, though that length is somewhat mitigated by the downhill tee shot. It's not anywhere close to as much as the tenth, but it's a good 30-40 feet. The second shot should be a short or mid iron to a slightly elevated green protected by a single bunker right. This is quite a tough green to hit; it's small and that five feet of elevation does more than you might think.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole lists itself as 200 yards, but the tees were up significantly, such that I only hit a wedge. It is uphill, and with a long bunker taking up the vast majority of the front section of the green, it does play long and you do need to carry it the whole way. Beyond that, there's not much to this hole.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is, at 517 yards, the longest hole at Sunset (this isn't a very long course). It plays along the side of a hill the entire way, so you'll have to reckon with a severe right-to-left slope for pretty much any shot not within 10 yards of the green. There's no sand on this hole, but there is a pond lurking left for much of the second half of the fairway. You can steer clear of it, and there's no real reward for laying up near it, so you're better off laying up right. The green is similar to the eleventh; there's a very sharp tier running through the middle, so you don't want to end up on the wrong half.

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is not the most inspired hole in the world. The tee shot is mostly blind, with the landing area over the crest of the hill. It's wide, with only the occasional tree to worry about, so you can use driver without fear. A good driver will leave just a wedge into the green, which is quite small and slightly elevated.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole plays along the same hillside you descend coming off of the tenth tee, so the fairway's tilted pretty severely from right to left. The hole is routed through fairly dense trees (and is quite narrow), so this is actually a pretty tough finisher despite its modest length. It's very important to find the fairway, which may mean using a wood or long iron. That will leave a short or mid iron into the green, which is small and falls away severely to the left. There's even a retaining wall left to keep the green pad up. Left is a very bad place to miss; you'll struggle to get up and down from down there. Considering how open the rest of the course is, this one doesn't really fit in well, and I'm not just saying that because I made a quadruple bogey here. It's a bit too tough for a course that is in general not difficult.

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

Of all the golf courses out there, Sunset is certainly one of them. That's about all I have to say. Okay, yeah, the tenth is certainly something that'll stick in my mind, but the rest of the course isn't really worth the time and effort. It's not hugely expensive, but it's not cheap either, and it's certainly not in particularly good shape. The tees in particular got very bad as the round went on; the eighteenth tee was literally nothing but dirt and sand. And it certainly doesn't have particularly compelling design. There are a lot of golf courses in the Harrisburg area I haven't played, but I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that there are better options.