Review: The Bridges Golf Club (Part 1)

If you've driven down Route 30 between Gettysburg and York, Pennsylvania, then you know The Bridges. In a similar vein to Rich Valley nestling up right next to I-81, The Bridges sits right alongside Route 30, and is similarly alluring to golfers driving past. I can't exactly say I go past this course on a regular basis, but I've done it enough times that it honestly really bugged me that I'd never played it. The course is right there, right next to a major road, not very far away from where I live, but I just never committed. After a while, it felt like The Bridges and I were a couple of old acquaintances who only ever see each other at big social events who always say to each other "hey, we should totally hang out some day" with both sides knowing perfectly well they're never actually going to make those plans.

Well, score one for committing to a plan, because I finally got around to playing The Bridges. And that's about all I have for preamble, since there's really no background for this course. The people who own the course designed it, which I guess is kind of neat, building your own golf course, but unless your name is George Crump and you've enlisted a half-dozen architects to give you advice, amateur-built golf courses aren't usually a recipe for success. But who knows, maybe the Altland brothers cooked up something interesting? Let's find out.

The first hole starts things off in mild, if entirely unspectacular fashion. It's a 375-yard par 4, playing gently downhill until the fairway meets a small creek cutting across the hole a hundred yards short of the green. Longer hitters will probably want to use a long iron or fairway wood. That will leave a wedge into the green, which is about as bland as you could imagine. Gently sloped from back to front, pretty much circular, and with bunkers on both sides. It's very, very far from being the most inspired green complex of all time. Still, this hole presents a pretty decent chance of starting out with a birdie.

The first hole.

The first green.

I'd hesitate to call the second hole good, but at the very least it is more interesting than the first. At 340 yards, the hole's pretty short, but the fairway bends 90 degrees left about 225 yards out, which pretty effectively takes driver out of your hands. Being able to sling a hook around the trees is obviously very helpful, as it gets you closer to the green and gives you a much flatter stance. It's not a big deal, since the hole's not very long, but it's something. The green here is up on a hill behind three bunkers, and while it's more interesting than the first, we're not talking anything revolutionary. Just a small tier running through the middle. Hey, anything's better than nothing.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is just over 400 yards, and other than there being O.B. vaguely left, there's not much on the tee shot here. And that goes for the second shot as well; aside from a greenside bunker left, the approach is pretty simple and the green is basically flat. This is just kind of a bland, straightaway mid-length par 4 with very little to make it stand out.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is the first par 3 at The Bridges, playing 190 yards downhill to a fairly large green with sand on both sides. This green does have some internal contours to it, with the back of the green being particularly tilted. Nothing revolutionary or even all that exciting, but it's better than anything the first three holes present. 

The fourth hole.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a pretty short par 5 at just 475 yards, but it's not as reachable as you might think, as we're confronted with the second 90-degree dogleg in five holes. You've got maybe 225 yards before the fairway bends hard right, so if you play safely, the green is out of reach in two. However, if you can hit a big high slice, you can cut the corner and leave yourself with just a long iron second. Finally, a tee shot made for me. That said, even if you do play aggressive, this green isn't one you'll be hitting in two, not without some extraordinary precision. The green is 30-40 feet up with bunkers on either side and a grass bunker directly in front. The green's also pretty shallow, although it is sloped pretty sharply from back to front. If you can hit it, it'll probably stay on, but actually doing that from 200 yards out is a challenging proposition. 

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is about the same length as the third hole at a little over 400 yards and plays similarly straight along a relatively open fairway, but this hole feels better because of the more interesting topography. The landing area is partially blind as it crests the top of a hill, and if you don't get far enough on the tee shot, the second shot is also blind. The green is on the small side and sloped pretty significantly from back to front. My second shot ended up about 40 feet right of the hole, and my birdie putt had more than 5 feet of right-to-left break to it. Also, because the green's been built up so much, missing long is pretty much instant death. Not a difficult hole, but there is at least a little thought required.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a not very exciting longish par 3 playing 210 yards to a medium-sized green with a fairly large bunker right. The green itself is also not particularly exciting. This is a hole that's just kind of there.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 560 yards, making it the longest hole on the course. The safe play on the tee is out to the left, avoiding the trees in the corner of the dogleg, but that adds quite a bit of length onto an already pretty long hole. It also brings water into play on the second shot, as a pond lurks left of this fairway about 100-150 yards from the green. A more aggressive drive can take that water out of the equation. The green here is quite small and is protected by two bunkers, one of which absolutely screwed my third shot. My wedge was a little weak and to the right, and I figured it would end up in the right bunker. But oh no, to my great surprise the ball bounced about 30 yards up and away, sailing way over the green into a spot where getting close to the hole was virtually impossible. Turns out that out of all the bunkers on the course, this one lone bunker has a wooden lining along the top edge, and I hit the unlucky lottery. I won't claim to be great out of bunkers, but I could have gotten up and down for par from the bunker. I could not do so from where my golf ball ended up. It's probably not the worst break I've ever gotten, but it's definitely up there.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green. You can see the wood lining my golf ball ricocheted off of on top of the right-side bunker. Why does that bunker need a wooden lip? Who knows? 

The ninth hole is the longest par 4 at The Bridges, playing 430 yards. The drive is extremely wide open, though the fairway does traverse some nice rolling topography as it bends left toward the green. A solid drive should leave just a short iron second. While the bunker front right looks intimidating, the green slopes pretty hard from back left to front right, which means the bunker is probably the best place to miss, especially if the flag is cut on the left side. Chips from the left side will definitely roll out more than you'd like.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

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

Beer of the Week

The beer: Caramel Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale

The brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, New York

Description (from the website): "The King’s magical court flourished with the alluring addition of Caramel Pumking. Savor the magical aroma of spiced pumpkin pie as it unites with the sweet enchantment of caramel in each sip. No matter how you celebrate the season, this brew is sure to leave you spellbound."

Would I buy it again? It feels a little early to bring out the pumpkin beers, but since they've been out for weeks already, I think I can square this in my conscience. At least I waited until September. Anyway, the beer ... it's great. Not much to say, really, it tastes pretty much how you'd expect. Thick, sweet, with lots of caramel and pumpkin. A beer to savor and enjoy. Yes, I'd get it again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Elias

The brewery: Lolev Beer, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Description (from Untappd): "Smooth, subtle citrus and floral aroma." Elias is a beer of few words, apparently.

Would I buy it again? To cap off the summer season, we've got a simple yet elegant cream ale. It is unpretentious in every way; no fancy fruit flavors or excess hops. This is a beer made for drinking, pure and simple. And, since it's not a lager, it doesn't step on the toes of the Yuengling juggernaut too badly, and thus it doesn't feel so bad spending the extra money on this. This is definitely a beer I'd buy again. 

You Spin My Iceberg Right 'Round

(For full effect, here's a link to the song for some appropriate mood setting.)

The world's largest iceberg is spinning right 'round, like a record. And it'll be doing so for a long time.

You'd probably like some context to that statement.

Way back in 1986, an enormous iceberg, even larger than Rhode Island, split off from Antarctica's Filchner-Ronne ice shelf. Dubbed A23a (not a particularly catchy name), it almost immediately hit the bottom of the sea, sitting in place for over 30 years until 2020. At that point, A23a melted enough to drift free, resuming a long journey north to join the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. And while A23a is certainly much larger than your average iceberg, its fate would eventually be the same, drifting along until finally the last ice melted.

But before all that could happen, something rather amusing happened: A23a passed directly over a seamount. And not just any seamount, but the Pirie Bank Seamount, which juts out about a kilometer above the surrounding abyssal plain. Crucially, this seamount is slightly larger than A23a (roughly 60 by 60 kilometers), which made the iceberg the perfect size to get caught in something called a Taylor column – a vortex formed by ocean currents hitting and flowing around the seamount. 

The end result is something scientists say they've never seen before, as this enormous iceberg spins round and round (completing one rotation in roughly 25 days), trapped by the currents flowing around it. Not only did the A23a have to hit the bulls-eye with quite literally the entire Southern Ocean to play with, the conditions around the seamount also had to be correct (the water had to be flowing at certain speed, not too fast or to slow) in order to capture the enormous block of ice trundling overhead.

While the conditions keeping A23a in place will eventually end, releasing it from its 80s pop music prison, it will likely take a few years before the iceberg can continue on its merry way. Until then, we need to find the world's largest needle ... what? It's spinning like a record, maybe we ought to treat it like one. I'm all for guitar solos longer than your average geologic epoch.

Beer of the Week

The beer: The Golden Squirrels

Brewed by: Kings County Brewers Collective, Brooklyn, New York

Description (from EmpireWine): "Pours peachy-yellow haze in the glass and oozing with tropical aromas & flavors of crushed mandarin oranges, pineapple upside down cake, and tangy passion fruit curd. Completely walloped with our hand-selected Citra & Mosaic, plus huge heaping handfuls of Simcoe & Australian-grown Eclipse hops. Melted-creamsicle mouthfeel from the wheat-heavy malt base and a soft, light finish."

Would I buy it again? This is one of those incredibly juicy-tasting IPAs that I actually kind of enjoy. It's also got that tropical fruitiness to it, but it's more sweet than bitter. It's pretty easy to drink, and I think it's a good choice as summer winds down. I'd buy it again.

Review: Blue Ridge Shadows Golf Club (Part 2)

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

If nothing else, the tenth hole is certainly distinctive and memorable. At 175 yards, it's not the longest par 3 in the world, but the first 150 yards take you over a deep ravine, so taking enough club is crucial. And since the green is above the tee, you'll need to take even more club than you'd think. While ending up short is of course a very bad thing, right isn't any better, and while the left-hand bunker is preferable to a lost ball, it's not exactly where you want to be either. The green is wide but shallow, and not particularly large either. At least it's not particularly undulating. This is one of those holes where you're more than happy to escape with a par.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 415 yards and plays dramatically downhill, which would be a lot of fun if the fairway weren't the approximate width of a toothpick. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the severe topography of the site, Blue Ridge Shadows suffers from some routing issues, and it's quite apparent here, as both this hole and the fourteenth share a narrow playing corridor. Honestly, they should have just made the entire area here fairway. This hole already shares a green with the thirteenth, why not complete the set? Oh well. As the hole stands now, the fairway is squeezed between trees left and tall grass and a bunker right. I'd recommend using driver simply because the tall grass stops about 250 yards out, which is pretty easy to carry. As mentioned, this is a double green, and the eleventh's half is protected by bunkers short right and left. The green's best approached from the left side, which is obviously the more dangerous place to aim your drive. This would be a pretty decent hole if it just had space to breathe.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

After a long, arduous climb up back up the hill we just came down on the eleventh hole (and climbed up to get to the tenth green), we reach the twelfth hole, which is certainly a par 3 that exists. Not that it doesn't have things going on, because it does, but it feels bland. The hole is basically dead flat, fairly long at 195 yards, with a pond right and a small, mildly out-of-proportion bunker left. Maybe if the bunker had a bit more visual appeal and the background wasn't just houses, the hole would be a bit better, but as it stands, the twelfth is just sort of there. Not good, but not so terrible as to elicit any strong emotions.

The twelfth hole.

The thirteenth hole is a very long par 4 at 460 yards, though it does play downhill. The fairway crests a ridge about 250 yards out, making the landing area blind. It is open pretty much everywhere, but you do get a better angle into the green if you stay left, flirting with the forest and fairway bunker left. Do that, and you'll have a short to mid iron down hill to a shallow but very wide green (this is the second half of the double green we first encountered two holes ago). 

The thirteenth hole.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is ... well, it's something. First off, it's a poor routing decision to have a natural stream on the outside of a dogleg – especially on a shortish 530-yard par 5 – because you're automatically removing the main strategic appeal of the water. But that's precisely what this hole does. There is literally almost no reason to hit your drive left down the fairway when you can aim right of the fairway bunker (it's also extremely easy to hit over if you're even mildly competent with a driver). There's no risk and seemingly only reward, whereas playing left between the stream and bunker is all risk with no reward. At the very least, the inside of the dogleg should have more sand in play. Anything to discourage the golfer from cutting the corner.

Notice that I said there's seemingly only reward from cutting the dogleg. That's where the additional silliness of this hole rears its head. For reasons unfathomable to me or likely anyone with a functioning brain, instead of placing the green directly against the stream running through the hole, offering the gambling golfer the chance for eagle at the risk of a steep penalty for failure, the designer chose to place the green 50 yards away from the stream behind an artificial pond and a cluster of very tall trees. A professional golfer may be confident enough in their abilities to hit the high draw necessary to go up and around those trees at the green, but literally no one else would be. Your only practical option is to hit literally a 100 yard pitch shot out right and short of the creek, leaving yourself another 100-yard wedge for your third. It makes cutting the dogleg on the drive completely irrelevant, since you gain nothing from doing it, and yet the facts on the ground mean it's still a terrible decision to play left on the tee. It's barely even worth it to play between the pond and the creek, because there's really very little space in the 50 yards between the green and creek, and it's surrounded by either water or woods. I did it anyway because I'm very stubborn and got away with it, but the majority of times I have to imagine I'd end up with a drowned golf ball.

I haven't gotten to the green yet, which is its own special brand of uninviting, even if you play the hole safely. It's extremely narrow, tilted from right to left, with two large bunkers right and, of course, the extremely silly pond left. The green's the cherry on top, but rest assured, the poor routing and atrocious design choices on display render the mild silliness of the green itself almost a background element to the terribleness of this hole. It is 100% one of the worst holes I've ever played.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green. You'll notice that, despite hitting an almost-perfect drive, I have no shot of reaching the green in two short of slinging a massive hook around trees, over the stream, and around the pond left of the green.

The fourteenth green. Yes, it is silly to build an artificial pond to guard a green when you've got a perfectly good natural water hazard 50 yards away.

The fifteenth hole isn't much better than the previous hole. It's fairly long at 435 yards, though the tee shot is dramatically downhill. And yes, that does mean you have to climb up a gigantic hill to get to this tee only to immediately climb back down after hitting your drive. That's always fun. 

The big problem with this tee shot is that there's no safe play. Obviously, the pond right of the fairway is the primary threat, though the trees left also get uncomfortably close in the area where people would likely hit driver. You'll definitely feel tempted to lay up, but the problem with that is the pond left (the same one next to the previous green). It's just sitting there, lurking next to the prime lay-up zone where the fairway's reasonably wide. So basically, there's water in play if you lay back and water in play if you use driver, so why not use driver and at least get closer to the green?

Presuming you avoid the water (a tall order), your second shot will be a fairly straightforward short or mid iron to a slightly elevated green with a bunker behind. It's a fairly complex green as well, so don't count on two putting even if you do hit it in regulation.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is the longest hole on the course, coming in at 540 yards, and thank goodness, there's absolutely no wiggle room on the drive. The fairway's squeezed between yet another pond right and a large bunker and O.B. (in the form of a Hilton hotel) left. Once again, it's tempting to lay up, and considering this is a longish par 5, it's a fairly compelling argument. You're not getting to this green in two, might as well keep yourself in play. Also, it's basically out of play, but water does cut across the fairway about 225 yards from the green. 

The only real threat on the second is a bunker right, but it's pretty easy to avoid. The green is a different story. I was not expecting to find a Biarritz-like green here at Blue Ridge Shadows, but the sixteenth has one. True, it's lacking the flanking bunkers, but the green is extremely long and narrow, and the Biarritz swale running through the middle is definitely there. Well, not quite a swale, more like the green is separated into a high front section, low middle section, and high back section. But you definitely don't want to be on the wrong section; if you do, then you'll be lucky to two putt. This hole has an interesting green, it's just a shame the first half of the hole is so narrow.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole isn't very long, just 350 yards, but it's a hole you really do want to play carefully. With water right and a large fairway bunker left, there's not exactly much wiggle room on the tee shot. However, the farther you go, the better angle you'll have into the green, so there is at least some reason to use driver. Also, the fairway is wider if you lay up, though the stream crossing the fairway about 150-175 yards from the tee precludes you from being too careful. Hit a solid drive, and you'll have just a little wedge into the green, with water right and a bunker back left. It's still a bit too narrow, but at least this hole isn't long. You can use a long iron for safety on the tee and you're not overly punished for it.

The seventeenth hole. There's a chunk of fairway between the two trees right and the water that's maintained as fairway for no obvious reason. It's not like anyone could ever hit over there, not on purpose at least. Ah well, just another one of this course's little mysteries.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is an unusual way to end the round, and indicative of the back nine's poor routing. At just 310 yards, one would imagine this to be the gambling sort of par 4, where you can attempt to drive the green and make eagle, but no, this hole uses the creek in a different manner. The stream runs perpendicular to the rest of the hole, with the green on one side, wedged between water short and a rock wall long. It's a shallow target as well, with the back right portion its own separate tier. Basically, it's the sort of green you don't want to approach from 50 yards away, as it's pretty tough to get the height and spin you need to hold this green from so close. Ideally, you'd want a full wedge from 100 yards or so, but there are two large bunkers flanking the fairway right where you'd want to land your drive. And if there's one shot you really don't want, it's the 75-yard fairway bunker shot over water. I guess, at the end of the day, this hole did make me think, and that's better than nothing.

The eighteenth hole. That water in the bottom right corner shouldn't come into play if you're even slightly competent. (I was not slightly competent.)

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

Blue Ridge Shadows is a tale of two nines. The front nine is solid. Not spectacular, but I'd call it above average. I enjoyed it. The first and seventh holes I felt were very good.

The back nine, however, is not so good. In fact, I'd say it's actually pretty terrible. Poor routing, poor design choices, poor additions of artificial water hazards when a perfectly good natural water hazard was available. It gave me more than a whiff of Links at Gettysburg and the back nine of Glen Mills, and if you remember either of those reviews, the comparison is not one you want me to make. I wouldn't say this back nine is as egregiously offensive as Links at Gettysburg or as apocalyptically narrow as some of the holes at Glen Mills (though it is quite a coincidence that both this course and Glen Mills have a par 5 with a Biarritz-like green), but that's not exactly anything to celebrate. And the fourteenth hole finds its own special way to be absolutely terrible.

There is a bit of good news with Blue Ridge Shadows, at least, and that's price. Sure, we played during the week, but we started in the morning, and to walk this course, we paid $26 each. And while the course isn't exactly in country club shape, the conditions are just fine for a popular public course. I can put up with some dodgy design choices for that price, and besides, Blue Ridge Shadows certainly gave me plenty to talk about. The course isn't good, but it's never boring. So you know what? I'd honestly play it again. I think I'd even pick it over Shenandoah Valley, the other Front Royal course I've played. Blue Ridge Shadows will make you feel things. They won't all be good feelings, but you will definitely feel something about this course.