Review: En-Joie Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at the back nine at En-Joie, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a fairly short par 4 that goes slightly downhill. It's not exactly parallel to the first hole, though they share a teeing area, but in many ways it functions as a mirror. It goes downhill in a similar way and it has a pond by the green on the right side instead of the left. If you're a long hitter, you'll want to be careful as a 300 yard drive will reach the pond, and the fairway narrows considerably when the water starts. The water is just a foot or two off of the green, so there's no wiggle room right, and a big bunker left that makes for very tense recovery shots. Not much green to work with, a slope that runs right to left, water just beyond, I wouldn't recommend it.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a fairly long par 4 that bends slightly to the left around some big trees. There's a bunker on the outside of the dogleg, and the green is best approached from the right side, near that bunker. The green is slightly elevated and is protected by two bunkers on the left side.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is the shortest (and final) par 5 at En-Joie, playing just 510 yards. That means it's definitely reachable in two so long as you avoid the right side and the overhanging trees. Actually, if you can get close to the green with the second, you probably should, as there's a pond about 50 yards short of the green that complicates lay-ups. Either you've got to go out to the right of it, leaving a bad angle, stay short which leaves a long third, or go past. I think that's the best option. The green is angled 45 degrees to the fairway, which makes shots easier from the left side, especially with the bunker in front.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 425 yards, making it the longest par 4 at En-Joie. The playing corridor is wider than many others, so feel free to swing away with the driver. Just avoid the fairway bunker left. The second shot is to a slightly elevated green protected by a bunker right and two small bunkers left. It's the longest par 4 on the course, but it's honestly not that difficult a hole.

The thirteenth hole.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is 185 yards and plays parallel to the fourth, even utilizing the same pond. There's a distinct left-to-right lean to the hole, so keep that in mind when hitting your tee shot. There are two bunkers left of the green to catch shots purposely hit away from the pond. The green isn't bad, like the two par 3s on the front, but it suffers from playing almost exactly the same as those two.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is, at the very least, something different. It's a mid-length par 4, and for once it doesn't have trees lining one side of the fairway. Instead, it's got water. The pond runs down basically the entire left side, ending all the way at the green. The smart play is really to use a wood or long iron, since the hole isn't long and the fairway is widest about 200-250 yards from the tee. The green is big (though it's got quite a bit of slope to it), so it's okay to approach it with a slightly longer club. Use a driver and you'll be heading right into the narrowest part of the fairway for not a whole lot of reward. I'm not a big fan, but like I said, at least it's a bit of variety.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is easily the best hole at En-Joie, and a bit of an outlier, if I'm being honest. It's a quirky little par 4 that's drivable by quite a few people, being only 275 yards. There's also eight bunkers scattered about, which is two more than the fifth (the hole with the second most, and a long par 5 at that). The green is elevated and a group of three trees protects the green from the right side, meaning you'll have to hit a fade if you do want to go for the green. If not, you'll hit a long iron, avoiding all the sand, and then a little wedge up the hill. There's a small tier in the green, but it's enough to provide interest. It's a neat little hole and I wish En-Joie had more like this.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a little par 3, playing just 145 yards. The green is long and in a bowl of sorts, with a single bunker to the right. There's quite a bit of back to front slope to the green as well, though the back does flatten out. It's a pretty easy hole, but that's okay. It's nice to have a less demanding par 3, especially considering how similar the first three are. 

The seventeenth hole.

The eighteenth hole is a 400 yard par 4 that plays a fair amount up hill. It's not an easy drive – there's trees overhanging the right side and water left. But if you do hit the fairway, you're rewarded with a pretty easy second shot. The green is fairly large and receptive, with just one bunker to the right. It's definitely a reasonable birdie opportunity if you hit a good drive, and I appreciate that it's not extremely difficult while not being super easy. 

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

If you're looking for a golf course filled with interesting, strategic options, En-Joie is going to disappoint you. Wouldn't you know it, but it turns out putting a golf course on a small, flat property isn't a recipe for success, especially when the holes are all parallel and lined with big trees. Virtually every tee shot is the same, and unless you're extremely accurate, you'll be hitting punch shots out from underneath those trees all day. The greens aren't awful, but there's little imagination around them and not much in the way of advantageous angles. 

There is a "but" coming, and here it is. While my brain wasn't particularly stimulated by anything En-Joie did, I can't deny the good things it has going for it. This is a golf course that has and currently does host professional golf events, that is a fact. This is also a fact: If you walk, you can play En-Joie for $27. That is a very good price for 18 holes of golf. En-Joie is a municipal course, so absolutely anyone can play it. You might think that it would be too difficult for the once-a-year golfer who can barely get a drive 100 yards, but it really isn't. There are no forced carries so long as you utilize the proper tees, and the only hole that might give a high-handicapper trouble is the fifteenth. Even that hole is tolerable, since the water is limited to one side. There are trees, yes, but the vegetation isn't dense, and when you play here at a time when the leaves aren't covering the ground, it should be relatively easy to find golf balls in the trees, and it's relatively easy to get out of them as well. I didn't lose a golf ball at En-Joie, and that is no small feat.

In the end, I didn't really like En-Joie and I have no particular interest in playing it again. But I'm glad it exists for the people of Binghamton, and I hope they continue to enjoy it for years to come. It's cheap, it's not particularly difficult, and it's friendly, and that's all you can really ask for from your local muni. Just don't go out of your way to see it.

Review: En-Joie Golf Club (Part 1)

When I went to go visit my brother in upstate New York back in October last year, our plan was perfect. Equinox one day, then Leatherstocking Golf Course in Cooperstown the next day. The fall foliage would be at its peak in both places, and I'd get plenty of great pictures. Then Leatherstocking had its green aeration delayed because of rain right to the day we had our tee time (though we'd get there in November, thanks to some unusually nice weather; come back next month for my review of that). We needed a backup course, and that brings us to En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott. 

If that name seems vaguely familiar, it should. En-Joie was the host of the former B.C. Open, a real fully fledged PGA Tour stop, for 35 years until the mid 2000s, and is the current host of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, a Champions Tour event (that's the senior tour, in case the excessive branding makes that unclear). This isn't the first former host of a PGA Tour event that I've played, since Mount Pleasant held one in the 50s and 60s, but I actually remember watching the B.C. Open on TV when I was young. Happily, just like Mount Pleasant, En-Joie is a municipal golf course accessible to all. Actually, reading through the course's history is fascinating; it dates back to the 1920s and was built because the owner of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company (which employed 20,000 people back then) loved golf and felt that his workers shouldn't be excluded from the sport. A round there originally cost just a quarter, which would be about $3.50 in 2021. It costs a bit more than that to play there now, but En-Joie is still very affordable. 

There is, however, a slight problem, one that you can identify by looking at the course on Google Maps. En-Joie is not located on a large piece of land, and the holes are, by and large, narrow, straight, and parallel with each other. The Susquehanna River is just a few hundred feet to the south and En-Joie has dealt with severe flooding in the past; it couldn't host the B.C. Open in its final year because the course had been damaged by flooding. So it's flat too. That is not a recipe for success. So, can En-Joie overcome those hurdles and be a golf course worth playing? Let's find out.

The first hole is fairly modest, being a shortish par 4 that plays slightly downhill. The drive is pretty straightforward unless you can it 300 yards, in which case a small pond comes into play, so if you're a long hitter a 3 wood may be the better choice off of the tee. The green is long, fairly narrow, and guarded by the pond to the left and a bunker right. It's not a particularly interesting start, but it's not awful or anything.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is 350 yards and the one true dogleg at En-Joie. There's no need to use the driver here, and doing so is really not a good idea. The fairway runs out about 250 yards from the tee and turns hard left, and there's a pond that separates the fairway from the green that a hooked or pulled driver could easily end up in. Either that or you could end up underneath a tree with water between you and the green. A conservative play is really the prudent option. The second shot is a wedge over water to a big green with a decent amount of slope to it. You'll notice that, while you're on the tee, the back tee isn't really the back tee. A good thing that En-Joie does is not even put tees out where the professionals play from. They get a 7,000 yard course, but the normal back tees are at 6,600 yards. Basically no casual golfer needs a course that's 7,000 yards, and removing the option surely speeds up the pace of play, because we all know golfers love to play from the wrong set of tees.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green. The pond is invisible but definitely there.

The second green.

The third hole is the first of three par 5s on the front nine. It's 545 yards, so it's not really reachable unless you're a really long hitter, and a bunker that eats into the fairway on the right side right where a drive would end up makes the tee shot a bit complicated. The lay-up shot is best hit down the left side, flirting with the bunker about 75 yards short of the green. Then you've got a little wedge into a big green guarded by two bunkers on the right side.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

I hope you like mid-length par 3s with water on one side, because En-Joie has three of them. The fourth is the first and the longest at 190 yards. The water is left, along with a single greenside bunkers. The green is actually not too bad, with a swale running across the middle making putts hit from the wrong level very tricky.

The fourth hole.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is 5 yards longer than the third, making it En-Joie's longest hole. It plays slightly uphill down yet another narrow fairway (I haven't really commented on that because every hole is the same in that regard), with the fairway bunker in view being more decoration than an actual threat. The second shot has a bit more to consider. Two crossbunkers cut in about 75 yards from the green, which is right where a lot of people will try to lay up. Unless you're confident you can carry them, I'd recommend restraint and settling for a longer third shot. The green is medium sized and has three bunkers around it.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

If you're laying up on the fifth, do it short of the bunkers.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is 420 yards, slightly downhill, and dead straight through the trees. A single bunker on the left side narrows the fairway, but it can be easily cleared with a good drive. That will leave you with a short or mid iron into a very slightly elevated green. I'm really trying here with this course, but I can't pretend there's really anything interesting going on here.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is 170 yards, and features water on the right side instead of the left, plus it has two bunkers – left and right. The green has two separate levels separated by a tier, with the back higher than the front. 

The seventh hole.

The eighth hole is 530 yards, and while there are no bunkers on the tee shot, you'll want to avoid the left side, otherwise your second shot will be blocked out by big trees that come into play more than most trees at En-Joie. If you're going for the green in two, you'll have a tough long iron or fairway wood over a cluster of bunkers to a shallow green with a false front. If you're laying up ... well, it's a wedge instead of a wood. 

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green, featuring some weird guy.

The ninth hole is a mid-length par 4 with fairway bunkers left and right that you're probably supposed to hit a draw between. Alternatively, you can hit driver over both bunkers if you're fairly long. Then you've got a wedge to a green with a bunker left and a mound to the right. At the very least, this hole doesn't play through a 30-yard-wide corridor of trees, so it's got that going for it.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green, featuring a very angry golfer.

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

PGA Tour Issues First Slow Play Penalty in a Long Time

More than 20 years, as a matter of fact. So, congrats to Miguel Angel Carballo and Brian Campbell, who finally managed to break the streak. Interestingly, both them only got one bad time, but since the tournament this week is a team competition, one bad time each combines to two. So their team got a penalty.

Might this open the floodgates for more slow play penalties? One can hope, but probably not. Still, the precedent has been broken.

A GOLF.com Story on the Pro Life Before the Big Tours

This is a story about a guy who dreamed of making it to the PGA Tour. He was good at golf, very good. But there's the thing about professional golf, or professional sports in general. Very good isn't always good enough. And talent isn't enough, you need more than that. Having money to throw at it is helpful, but even then, you need to be incredibly resilient and patient, and having a bit of luck helps.

Anyway, it's an excellent (and long) story, and I enjoyed reading it. You should go read it too.

Make Bunkers Hazardous Again

This looks way too nice.

Professional golf needs to be more interesting. People with cookie cutter swings win on cookie cutter golf courses, all set up to immaculate perfection. Maybe a few are more difficult than others, and weather can have dramatic effect, but on a typical sunny afternoon on the PGA Tour, you can expect to see lots of birdies, and the drama must rest almost entirely on which golfer is putting the best. And that's just not that exciting.

So, what can be done? Well, you could go the U.S. Open route and make the rough ridiculously thick and narrow the fairways, but that's even worse. Rounds take longer, and golfers will always choose to play it safe. Safe gets the lowest score, but is also boring. Dramatic U.S. Opens occur despite the course conditions, not because of them. No, I think there's a better way, and Golf Digest thinks so too. Or at least, someone does.

We get rid of bunker rakes. Bunkers are a joke to the average PGA Tour golfer. When they hit a bad shot, they want to end up in a bunker. When they're not sure if they can reach a short par 4 or par 5 in 2, they aim for bunkers. That's not what bunkers are supposed to be. Bunkers are supposed to be hazards, as in, you should be punished for going in them. An unmaintained bunker is something to be avoided, but unlike long rough, the opportunity for a great recovery still exists. It's just more difficult, and perhaps not every pro golfer could pull it off. So I say we take away the bunker rakes, trim back the rough to bring the bunkers back into play, and we see just how good the pros really are.

The Grand Slam of Golf is No More

Yes, one of the stalwarts of the old Silly Season is going away forever. The Grand Slam of Golf, a 36 hole event that ostensibly featured the major winners of the previous year, had been around since 1979, outdating even the Skins Game. Like all of the other Silly Season events, it was a decidedly unserious affair, so I won't pretend this is a great loss. Ever since the PGA Tour started doing the Fed-Ex Cup and the emergence of late season, big money European Tour events in China and the Middle East, the Silly Season has become, well, silly. It just isn't necessary anymore, not when a bunch of rich international tycoons are willing to pay out millions for the big names.

In 2013, the PGA Tour decided that the seasons, rather than being contained within a calendar year, would be wrapped around in a similar fashion to the European Tour, which I'm not sure ever takes a break. This, the Tour hoped, would add some relevance to the often ignored Fall Series, a group of official events that often felt more like Nationwide Tour events (is that what it's called now? It's been through so many names). But it also made Silly Season events that much more unnecessary. Still, the Grand Slam continued through 2014. Then it was decided that in 2015, the Grand Slam would move to Trump National LA. Now, if you've been paying attention to the news, or have been a resident of planet Earth, you might realize why it might not be a great idea for the PGA Tour to hold an event on a Donald Trump course. So, the Tour announced after Trump made disparaging remarks about (insert minority here) that they would move the Grand Slam to a new location. Well, plans fell through, and the 2015 event was called off. The Grand Slam was missed by precisely no one, and so, it was cancelled permanently.

Credit: Sean Salamon/Wikimedia Commons/CC by 2.5

Despite all that, judging from the Grand Slams that I saw, it was a nice little event. I don't think I ever remember it having the 4 most recent major winners, but I think it usually did at least have major winners. People you might have heard of, unlike the Golf World Cup, where the U.S representatives seem to get more and more obscure every year. I first remember watching it at the amusingly named Poipu Bay, but I most distinctly remember the 2 years it was at Mid Ocean, in Bermuda. At that time, other than a few modified holes at Waialae Country Club, I don't think the PGA Tour visited a course designed by C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, 2 of the Golden Age's finest architects. Of course, now there's the Greenbrier Classic at the Old White, but when the Grand Slam was at Mid Ocean, that tournament didn't exist. Also, the Old White, while an excellent course, hardly has the reputation that Mid Ocean has. The fifth hole at Mid Ocean, the premier example of the Cape, one of the Macdonald/Raynor staple template holes, is especially notable, but the entire course is beautiful. Also unlike the Old White, Mid Ocean is very private, and basically the only way an ordinary golfer like me would ever get to see it is to see it on TV.

So, here's to the Grand Slam of Golf. You weren't the flashiest tournament, or the best, but for a little while, you gave us all a tour of a golf course with interesting architecture, lots of great scenery, and for that, it's a tournament worth missing.

TPC at Scottsdale

From boring to exciting.  That's the PGA from last week to this week.  Torrey Pines was a snooze, but luckily, Scottsdale is much more interesting.  Now, I'm not going to claim that it's a particularly good golf course, I certainly wouldn't put it on any top 100 list.  It's not bad, but it's not great.  It isn't very hard, and I think that's a good thing.  The course will give up lots of birdies if you play it well, but there's enough trouble that if you miss some shots, you're going to make bogeys.  There are two decent eagle opportunities in the last four holes, and even the last hole is not too difficult, which is a welcome change from something like the last hole at TPC Sawgrass.

Scottsdale is set up very well for spectators, and the 16th hole is one of the most exciting holes in golf during the tournament, thanks to its stadium setting.  It's a shortish par 3 with a large green and no water, but whenever a guy steps up to the tee, he's got 25,000 rowdy fans watching him, and suddenly a simple short iron becomes not so easy.  This tournament is ridiculously popular, and while I think the course is simply set up to handle a lot of people, it is also geared towards producing exciting golf, and contrary to what a lot of people think, golf can be a very interesting spectator sport.  There's about 170,000 people on that course, and they're there because the golf being played is worth watching.  I really think that the PGA Tour would be better off if they played courses like Scottsdale every week.

Torrey Pines

It's been a while since I've talked about the PGA Tour here, but frankly, there hasn't been much to talk about.  I know that the season technically started last year because the Tour is still desperately trying to find a way to make those fall events relevant, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to care.  It's 2014 now, which is when the season should start, and so I have been paying attention.  However, there hasn't really been much going on yet.  This week was the first one that felt significant in any way, or at least when the tournament started, it did.  But the South Course at Torrey Pines is playing at U.S Open level difficulty right now, and that is not a good thing.  I don't care how exciting the U.S. Open was there, Torrey Pines South is not a good course.  You can really see that this week, just by looking at the leaderboard.  The people at the top are not people who are established good players.  Yes, I know Jordan Spieth shows a lot of promise, but for now, that's all it is.  You don't get to be a good player until you've actually proven it, and right now, he's just not experienced enough.  So, what we have this week is a course that discourages bold, heroic, skillful play in favor of plodding along fairways and greens and making par after par.  That's just not very exciting.  Watching birdiefests gets boring, but this is even worse. 

Tour Championship Thoughts

Henrik Stenson.  Of all the people who I thought were going to win the Tour Championship and the Fed-Ex Cup, he would have been very far down the list.  But what can I say, he's played very well in the past few months and he played by far the best in the playoffs, so he earned it.  At least it made sense this year.  But let's not get too into the Fed-Ex Cup, because that is a long and confusing road.  I want to talk about East Lake.  Let's get the record straight, the Tour Championship is sponsored by Coca-Cola, which is based in Atlanta, and East Lake is the most high-profile course in Atlanta.  So, the tour gets a loyal sponsor and a ready-made tournament venue.  But East Lake is not a very interesting course, especially not for such a significant event.  Unfortunately, Georgia used up its one really good golf course on a rather well-known place in Augusta.  There really isn't anything of note in Atlanta to take the Tour Championship.  So, let's get imaginative.  The tournament worked well here in the past because the Tour Championship took place much later in the year.  It's still warm enough in mid-late September in the North to have tournaments here.  So, where would I take the Tour Championship, given free reign?  Lots of places, actually, I really like the idea of moving sites, because it gives exposure to courses most people wouldn't really think about.  That's my take, anyway.

Barclays Championship

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1749909-barclays-2013-leaderboard-day-4-analysis-highlights-and-more?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial&hpt=hp_t2

Looks like it was a crazy finish.  Wish I had gotten to watch it.

Fed-Ex Cup

So, the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs start tomorrow.  Truly, this is an exciting time, all those majors were just a warm-up for the sheer adrenaline that the playoffs will offer.  Unfortunately, I can be as sarcastic as I want to about it, but the fact is that the playoffs could hardly fail to be less exciting than the last major.  Of course, you can see my views on that here:

http://looseontheinternet.blogspot.com/2013/08/thoughts-on-pga-championship.html

The Fed-Ex Cup has been going on for several years now, and while it has gotten easier to understand, it still doesn't feel very important.  I think they've run into the same problem that they ran into with the Players Championship.  Golf has four majors, and it really doesn't have room for another big tournament.  I know the LPGA has five majors this year, and it just doesn't feel right.  Inbee Park has won three out of the four, and if she wins the last one, people aren't sure if it's a Grand Slam or not.  Personally, I would say no, but that's not the point here.  The point is that golf, no matter what tour, only has room for four major tournaments, and the PGA Tour already has four.  I don't think it matters how much the Tour puffs up the Fed-Ex Cup, it will never be particularly important.