Review: Schenectady Municipal Golf Course (Front Nine)

I could explain the whole sordid story as to why my brothers and I only played the front nine at Schenectady Municipal, but basically it came down to weather uncertainty and a late-afternoon league keeping us from playing the whole course. But new golf is new golf, even if it isn't the entire course. It's better than making the long journey to New York and reviewing no golf at all. 

And as it turns out, Schenectady Muni has a neat little bit of history behind it. Dating back to the 1930s, it was designed by Jim Thompson (the then-professional at Mohawk Golf Club, which is incidentally less than a mile from Schenectady Muni) and Arthur Knight. If you're read my review of Mohawk, then Arthur Knight's name should be familiar. But if not, he was the engineer who invented the infamous Schenectady putter, used by Walter Travis to such effect during the 1904 British Amateur that the R&A banned it.

Schenectady Muni is also noteworthy in that it's a Depression-era municipal golf course in the Northeast that wasn't designed by Donald Ross. It did happen on occasion.

The first hole is an unremarkable if quietly pleasant shortish par 4, playing 360 to a narrow, gently rolling fairway threaded between scattered clumps of large trees. That said, there's more room than it looks from the tee, so if you swing confidently with driver, you should be fine. A solid drive will leave just a little wedge into the green, which is sloped pretty significantly from back to front and has a single bunker right.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is a 500-yard par 5 bending right around a group of dense trees. Naturally, the presence of those trees so close to the direct line of play will draw you out left, but bailing out will likely put the green out of range in two. Also, there's more room out to the right than it looks. The green is partially tucked behind a hillside covered in tall grass, which, once again, you'll be tempted to steer clear of. Playing safe is fine, so long as you commit to the lay-up, but be aware that there is a pond left of the fairway that can absolutely catch out shots that try to split the difference between a true lay-up and going for the green in two. The green here is bunkerless, small, and tilted from back right to front left.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a modest par 3 at just 150 yards, playing gently uphill to a green tilted severely from back to front. There's a single bunker left, which gives you something extra to think about on the tee shot. Mostly though, you just want to be below the hole here. Miss the green long, and par will be a struggle.

The third hole.

The fourth hole is a mid-length par 4 – though it's the longest on the front nine by almost 50 yards – that plays dramatically downhill to an ever-narrowing fairway far below. It's always hard to resist hitting driver on holes like this, but you really don't need to. A 3 wood is more than enough, and it gives you more fairway to work with. That will leave a wedge or short iron back uphill to a wide semiblind green. There's a single bunker front right, and it is not a place you want to be. You're quite far below the level of the green there, which is never fun. 

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a short par 4 of the drive-and-pitch variety, playing 345 yards. The fairway is initially quite wide, but about 200-225 yards out, the hole bends right and squeezes between a dense treeline left and a cluster of large, less densely packed trees right. The tree right in the corner is especially big and wide; it certainly had a magnetic attraction for the golf balls of my brothers and I. Thankfully, it's not a pine tree, so it is possible to play underneath it. The smart play is a long iron out to the center of the fairway, leaving a full wedge into the green, which is perched partway up a hillside. While the green is bunkerless, there is another large tree front right, which does an excellent job of acting as an aerial bunker. Still, leave your tee shot in the right place and the second shot is quite simple.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a 180-yard par 3 where the strategy is simple: don't miss left. If you're lucky, you'll catch the front-left bunker. If not ... well, good luck. Naturally, with left being dead, the temptation is to bail out right. Now, if you're confident in your bunker play, being in that right-hand bunker is no problem at all. But for the average muni golfer who's apt to skulling greenside bunker shots 50 yards long, that simple bunker shot is a lot more intimidating. At the very least, the green's quite receptive, even to lower shots that are bounced on.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is kind of a shorter version of the fourth; it plays similarly downhill to a fairway that narrows the further along you go. But at 340 yards, the prospect of leaving just a little pitch into the green makes it much harder to ignore the driver. With tall grass on both sides, though, you need to be quite accurate with the driver to make it work. The smart choice, as painful as it is, is a long iron tee shot, which should leave a full wedge second shot. The green here is elevated, with a single bunker front right.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is a 365-yard par 4 that plays downhill to a rolling fairway. The best place to leave your drive is at the top of the plateau, about 225-275 yards out from the tee. That should give you both a level stance and a clear view of the green. Driver is both unnecessary and unwise, as the hole is short and dense forest creeps in from the right; hitting driver reduces the margin for error way more than it's worth. A solid drive leaves a wedge second into a green, sloped sharply from back to front, that's tucked into a corner of a hill, with a single bunker left. Of the nine holes at Schenectady Muni I saw, I think this is my favorite.

The eighth hole.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a short par 5 at just under 500 yards and is a great birdie or even eagle opportunity. The fairway is flat and pretty wide, so long as you don't go left. The green is bunkerless as well, though with forest left and long it's not quite as inviting a target. It's also sloped pretty heavily from back to front, so if you leave your second shot just short, it's not difficult at all to get up and down for birdie.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

Before the round, Schenectady Muni was described to me as being "maybe a bit above average." And I think that's a pretty fair way to describe the nine I played. Definitely solid golf with some interesting land movement. Also, the course was in excellent shape for a municipal course. We played Mohawk the day before this, and dare I say it, the conditions at Schenectady Muni were no worse than the private course. Different, obviously, as the greens were much slower here, but overall, I think Schenectady Muni had more thorough grass coverage, particularly in the rough. I was surprised. And the price is reasonable here as well.

Overall, while I'm not in a hurry to see the other nine holes, I definitely wouldn't mind playing the full course the next time I'm in Albany. It's a solid addition to the Albany golf scene and I'd happily play there again.