Review: Bucknell Golf Club (Part 1)

This may come as a surprise to some, but I do have a life outside golf. Slightly. Back in September 2022 I went to a bachelor party in central Pennsylvania for a weekend, but since I'm always on the lookout for interesting golf courses and a couple of my friends do play, I scouted around the area and found Bucknell Golf Club half an hour away. The course is part of Bucknell University in Lewistown, and it is at least in part a Golden Age course, with nine holes designed by Emil Loeffler in the 1920s (that's not a household name in the architecture business, but he is significant for a reason we'll come back to later). The remaining nine was designed by Ed Ault in 1960. It's also in the process of being renovated by Mark Fine (who's done the work restoring Copake). I was rather excited for the round. I didn't think Bucknell would be revolutionary or anything, but I was looking forward to a fun and interesting course.

And then it rained the entire round. Apparently I can't play with friends and photograph a course; the same thing happened when I played Pocono Manor. So fair warning, the photo quality for this particular review is rather poor. I have a very nice and fairly expensive camera, and since it was raining literally the entire time, I was concerned about its well-being. Bucknell is just not a good enough course to risk something happening to my camera. So I took pictures with my phone. Sometimes it worked out pretty well, other times, not so much. 

The first hole is a short par 4, just 325 yards, and the tee-to-green distance is likely much shorter than that, since the hole doglegs right nearly 90 degrees. However, it's uphill the whole way and big trees in the dogleg block out aggressive drivers. For most, using a wood or long iron to leave a 100-yard wedge is the best play. The green is very small and flanked by bunkers. While most of the Loeffler holes are on the back, this is also an original hole, and you can kind of tell. It's a blind drive, blind second, and a tiny green. Not a hole in the Ed Ault playbook. 

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a long par 3 (the longest on the course) at 210 yards, though it does play slightly downhill. The tee shot crosses a big valley to a green up on a plateau of sorts. It's another very small green of moderate undulation, with bunkers on each side. It's not an easy hole; while there's no dramatic hazard, the length of the hole combined with the pint-sized green combine to make this a very tough green to hit in regulation. Par is a good score here.

The second hole.

The third hole is a bit of a backbreaker from the otherwise modest back tees at 600 yards. While the tee shot is pretty nondescript, once you reach the top of a small ridge in the fairway you're smacked in the face by a massive Church Pews bunker lurking just right of the ideal lay-up zone for the third. And that's interesting, because if you look at the course on Google Earth, you won't find that bunker. That means it was recently added as part of the renovation. It seems a bit random, adding a Church Pews to some otherwise-nondescript college course in central Pennsylvania, but there is a reason for it.

Let's loop back to Emil Loeffler. While he's responsible for designing 20-30 courses back in the 20s and 30s, mostly in Pennsylvania, his most significant architectural feat is one he doesn't get credit for. Loeffler was born in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, and anyone remotely familiar with championship golf will recognize that name. He started up as a caddy at Oakmont Country Club when he was 10, and worked his way up through the ranks until he became head greenkeeper and head pro. He assisted H.C. Fownes with the design of the course and is absolutely instrumental in how Oakmont, host of so many U.S Opens, looks and plays today. 

The goal of Bucknell's current renovation is to make it feel more like the original nine by Loeffler, since the members prefer those to the Ault holes (at least according to my research). I think the Church Pews bunker was added as part of that effort. And I like very much that it was added. Traditionally the toughest shot on a par 5 to get right, but with that bunker, you really need to think about the lay-up. It's not my favorite hole here, since the drive isn't particularly exciting and the green, while not bad, also doesn't have much to say. It is definitely memorable though.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is the first Ed Ault hole, a shortish par 3 just over 150 yards. The green is about twice the size of the previous three, and is guarded by three bunkers. It's not a bad hole by any stretch of the imagination, but the green size is a bit incongruous with the older holes.

Since someone forgot to take a picture of the fourth, here it is on Google Maps.

The fifth hole is the first of a run of three shortish par 4s, all playing between 355 and 370 yards. The tee shot on this hole plays over rolling terrain, with a single fairway bunker right pretty easily driven past if you're willing to hit into the narrowest part of the fairway, pinched in by trees. The green is quite large and protected by two bunkers, one left and one right, with the bunker right also being rather large.

The fifth hole.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole plays significantly downhill, with a small tree noticeably jutting into the fairway about 250 yards out. A solid drive can clear this, however. The green is big and fronted by three large bunkers, and where the hole is cut dictates where you want to aim your drive. If the hole is right, you'll want to favor the left side of the fairway to give yourself a better angle around the sand, minimizing the carry over it, and vice versa. Short side yourself on the drive, and you'll be better off playing to the center of the green, leaving a long birdie putt.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole plays uphill the entire way, and with O.B. left and particularly dense trees right, accuracy is really at a premium on the drive. However, if you lay back too far, the second shot will be blind. The green is bunkerless, but it's set in amongst a group of mounds, and it's fairly undulating as well.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is, at 430 yards, the longest par 4 at Bucknell by a wide margin. Like the previous hole, there's O.B. left, and the tee shot is mostly blind. The fairway drops 20-30 feet about 250 yards out, so if you can hit that far, your drive will get a nice boost forward, leaving you with just a wedge second. Stay up top and you'll have a mid to long iron. The green is medium sized and protected by two bunkers right and one left.

The eighth hole.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a short par 5, just over 500 yards, playing to a wide fairway. A good drive will leave you with a choice: Either go for the green, challenging the pond short left, or lay well back, leaving a full wedge third. There's a lot of space to bail out right of the green, though that will leave a tricky chip from a hanging lie. Laying up short leaves a pretty simple wedge to a large green; while the water is still there, it's much less threatening from 100 yards than 225 yards.

The ninth hole.

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