Review: Armitage Golf Club (Part 1)

I've lamented the thoroughly underwhelming stable of public golf courses in the Harrisburg area before, but there's a golf course in Mechanicsburg that I've actually overlooked completely. Armitage Golf Club is honestly pretty easy to miss; it's a tiny place, playing less than 6,000 yards from the tips and squeezed into a small property in a quiet residential neighborhood. And even if you do see it on Google Maps, you'll be greeted with a series of parallel holes that look to be the exact opposite of interesting.

But this little course, designed in 1975 by the omnipresent Pennsylvania design company of Ault and Clark, is hiding a little secret that one can't see from above: some fascinating land movement. I happened to look through a drone tour on Armitage's website and was very intrigued by what I saw. So, let's find out if Armitage was worth the trip.

The first hole is 415 yards, making it the second longest par 4 on the course. This is not a particularly interesting hole, being dead straight and laid out over flat terrain. There aren't any fairway bunkers in play, though there is O.B. far to the left. The second shot is slightly more interesting, being a short iron into a slightly angled green with bunkers front left and back right. In general, this is a pretty nondescript and relaxed opening hole.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole, unfortunately, was actually closed the day my brother and I played here; they were doing some sort of construction, as you can see in the pictures I took. Hey, no reason to let not playing the hole stop me. 

The hole is a 510-yard par 5 – one of only two par 5s at Armitage, which is why this specific hole being closed was quite annoying – and while I can't offer any specifics on what the drive looks like, there is a large fairway bunker right of the fairway that likely provides some challenge. Mostly though, I'm disappointed I didn't get a try at this green, as it looks quite fun. Tiny and sharply tilted, with four bunkers around it to challenge people going for the green in two, I don't imagine this green gives up many eagles or even birdies, despite the hole's modest length.

The second hole.

The second green.

The second hole from behind the green.

The third hole is 180 yards and plays slightly uphill to a small and very shallow green, with a bunker front right and another far right that likely only comes into play when the flag is cut on that side of the green. The flag we saw, out on the left, was pretty generous, but those right-hand flags have got to be pretty tough. There is very little green to stop a mid iron, especially since you need to carry it the whole way there. This is a hole where you probably want to aim for the safe left side every time and just content yourself with a long putt or relatively straightforward chip.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is 350 yards, and for the first time we have some real decisions to make on the tee shot. For the first 225 yards the playing corridor is quite generous, but after the fairway turns left around the large fairway bunker, it gets much narrower, squeezing between lines of trees and another smaller bunker further up the hole. If you want to hit driver, you have to carry that first bunker and challenge the narrow part of the fairway. It's very easy to run out of space right and run into the trees beyond. However, if you do cut the corner correctly, you'll be left with a little pitch shot second, and you'll have a good angle into the green, which is guarded short, right, and long by sand. 

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is 170 yards and plays slightly uphill to an angled, shallow green. This seems like a similar setup to the third, but there are some differences. For one, the green and bunkers around it are flipped, with everything angled right to left. Also, there's a dropoff behind to make the golfer worry about going long. Also, this green is much more interesting than the third's. In particular, the back left hole location is cut onto a little plateau that takes up about a quarter of the greens surface. Miss the green slightly long, like my brother did, and you will have a very dicey chip back. Hit it even a little thin or a little too hard, and you're going to end up with a 50-foot comeback putt.

The fifth hole.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is the start of an eight-hole stretch consisting entirely of par 4s. Mohawk has some company in that department now. To kick things off, we have a narrow 325-yard hole, playing to a winding fairway threaded between trees. While one could use driver here, a fairway wood or long iron is more than enough to get you within wedge distance of the green. The second shot isn't exactly straightforward, since there are flanking bunkers and the green is small and a bit lumpy, but it isn't too tough a shot either.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green. There's actually a slight bump integrated into the green right in front of the flag here, which helped my second quite a bit; it was short and the bump kicked it on. It's a fun little micro-contour and I'm glad Armitage has it and a few other features like it.

The seventh hole is 310 yards, and it's here that we really start to get a taste of Armitage's interesting topography. The fairway is tilted sharply from left to right, which presents an issue as the green is best approached from the left side. A pitch from a hanging lie over a large bunker is not a shot you want to have. You need to hug the left side, flirting with the pine trees in the corner of the dogleg, to leave the best angle for the second shot. The green is a bit bigger than many at Armitage, but it's not exactly a generous target.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 315 yards, and generally plays slightly uphill to another tilted fairway. But the story isn't that simple. About a hundred yards from the green, the land dips down severely into a valley, and while you can hit a golf ball into it, you almost certainly won't enjoy the second shot. A severely sidehill stance awaits you, with the green 20 or 30 feet above your head. Oh, and there are multiple bunkers in front of that elevated green as well, just to make extra sure you can't run a shot onto it. The green itself is fairly generous, being fairly large and sloped from back to front to accept low-running shots, but the odds of getting a pitch shot from the bottom of the big hole onto the green just aren't in your favor. A lay-up to the relatively flat portion of the fairway will leave a wedge and give you a much more realistic look at attacking this green. Honestly, I really like this hole; it technically doesn't take driver out of your hands, but using it is an incredibly bad idea.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is the shortest par 4 at Armitage, playing a thoroughly modest 295 yards. A long hitter could definitely hit a high draw and get to the green, but for most, the play here is a long iron out into the wide part of the fairway before the clusters of tall pines that line both sides. Do that, and you'll have just a wedge into the green, which is pretty nondescript aside from the two bunkers in front. Not the most exciting hole the course has to offer.

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.