Review: Penn National Golf Club - Iron Forge (Part 1)

For 30 years, Penn National operated as a one-course business, but in the mid-90s that changed with the Iron Forge course. Designed by Bill Love (no relation to Davis Love), who also did Dauphin Highlands, Iron Forge is much wider and far more open than its older sibling. You know, the old "links-style" course that isn't actually a links in any way. One of those kinds of courses.

I make fun, but this round was actually pretty exciting for me. You see, back in the old days, before I started doing this whole golf course review thing, if you'd asked me what my favorite golf course was, I would have said this one. It suited my eye very well, and I had fun playing it. Naturally, having played over a hundred golf courses since 2017, Iron Forge has slipped precipitously in my overall rankings. Coming back to it after gaining so much experience in the ways of golf course criticism raises the obvious question: Does Iron Forge hold up in any way as a good golf course? Or was the young version of me just happy to play a course where I could hit driver all over the place and not have to hit a million punch shots underneath trees?   

The first hole kicks things off with a shortish 530-yard par 5. The tee shot is blind, but the fairway and playing corridor are quite wide and absent any real hazards. There are a pair of staggered fairway bunkers about 150 and 100 yards out from the green to give lay-up shots something to think about, but it's not until you get to the green that the hole presents any real challenge. This green is quite small, smaller than any over at Founders, and it's sloped very hard from back to front. It's also got three bunkers around it, with the bunker right being the one to especially avoid. Go in there, and you'll have very little space to work with, and the green you do get slopes away from you. Still, even with the well-defended green, this is still a reasonable birdie opportunity.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is the longest par 4 on the course, playing 460 yards. That said, all it really has going for it is the length; there are no bunkers and the land it traverses isn't particularly interesting. The drive is a bit uphill and the second fall gently back down. The fairway is again quite wide, and with no hazards or bunkers, there's no strategy other than hitting the ball as far as you can. The green isn't even anything to write home about. The second is just kind of boring.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is 215 yards, which is made even longer as the hole plays consistently uphill. The best play here is a gentle fade around the big front-right bunker; the green slopes from left to right, so a fade that lands short of the green (or just on) will roll out toward the flag quite nicely. 

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is 420 yards, with the tee shot playing downhill to a fairway pinched at the landing area by two bunkers. The left bunker is very large and definitely the more threatening of the two. Using 3 wood gives you more space, but will leave you with a mid iron back up the hill to a partially obscured green. That said, it is completely open in front; the three greenside bunkers are all off to the right. That said, a hooked second will hit a moderate sideslope left of the green and bounce pretty far away, leaving a tricky chip off a tight lie. Not every hole at Iron Forge is amenable to a running approach, but at least this one is.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a shortish 380-yard par 4 and the most interesting hole so far. The fairway is well guarded by four bunkers, two right and two left, beyond the fairway of this dogleg right. On the tee, there are two options: lay up out to the left, short of the left-hand bunkers, leaving a full wedge or short iron into the green, or challenge the right-side bunkers with a driver, taking the left-hand bunkers mostly out of play. Doing this will leave just a pitch into the green, but since this green is not large, slightly crowned, and has a large bunker front right, you won't have a great angle to attack the flag. It can be done, of course, but the margin for error is small. The green opens up much more if you come at it from the left, but you'll be 50 yards farther back, and that isn't nothing. The lay-up is probably the smarter choice, but I don't think either is definitively better or worse than the other.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole has no business being on a links-style course. Nothing says Scottish links quite like a forced carry over a pond. It's kind of a shame too, because I like the green here; it's long and thin, and has plenty of little undulations to it. Hitting the green is far from a guarantee of making par if you find the wrong portion. I don't necessarily think it's a bad hole, just out of place.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a 540-yard par 5 with a tee shot that's fairly similar to the first, in that the landing area is blind and wide open. The fairway bunker visible on the tee is easily carried by even a mildly competent shot. The rest of the hole, fortunately, is more interesting; a line of bunkers crossing the fairway diagonally from 150 to 100 yards out from the green is of immediate concern to golfers who have hit poor tee shots or are looking to lay up. For golfers who can get a bit closer in two, the big issue is the massive bunker dominating the left side of the green and stretching back nearly 50 yards down the fairway. It makes any shot from the right side awkward, and considering the fairway slopes significantly from left to right, a lot of shots end up on that right side. You really do need to stay left if you want to hit your third aggressively at the hole. The green here is medium sized but pretty heavily sloped from back to front, with a noticeable shelf at the back.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is a mid-length par 4 with a drive over a pond (ugh). At least this pond is mildly strategic; the more you carry, the shorter your second shot. Carry the pond fully, and you'll have a wedge or short iron up the hill to a long, narrow green with three bunkers right. Play more safely, and that short iron quickly becomes a long iron, so it is worth the risk, at least in my opinion. 

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole starts off at the farthest point from the "clubhouse" – technically Iron Forge has no clubhouse, with the main Penn National clubhouse all the way back at Founders, though there is a small parking lot by the first tee for the few people who don't take their carts out here – so at least Iron Forge got the out-and-back routing right. The drive here on this mid-length par 4 is steeply downhill and quite a lot of fun, but while it's tempting to just blast away, you're better off favoring the far right side of the fairway. That lengthens the hole slightly, but it does give you a better view of the green, which is angled from right to left and is protected by a large bunker front left. Also, missing the fairway left can give you tree trouble, making this one of the few places where that's really the case.

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.