Review: Eagles Crossing Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Eagles Crossing, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is by far the longest par 4 on the course, playing a hefty 440 yards. There's a bunker left and a line of trees (with the fifth on the opposite side), but that bunker is pretty close and not difficult to carry with a driver. A good drive will leave a mid iron slightly uphill to a narrow green sharply sloped from back to front. It's definitely a tough hole, though hardly an interesting one.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a shortish par 4 at 365 yards, with the tee shot playing downhill to a narrow fairway with dense forest right and scattered trees left, along with a fairway bunker that, like the previous hole, is easily carried. It doesn't even come into play if you use a fairway wood, which is the smartest choice. The hole is short and a wood will still leave you with a wedge for the second shot. The green is on the smaller side and protected by a single bunker front right.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is the longest hole at Eagles Crossing, playing 555 yards to a narrow fairway pressed hard against O.B. mere feet from the right side. The left side is relatively open, but it's the second shot where things get complicated. Starting about 150 yards out, a cluster of dense trees cuts in from the left, narrowing the playing corridor down to something like 20, maybe 25 yards, and the fairway doesn't widen out at all until you're about 50 yards from the green. That is not an easy gauntlet to negotiate; of course, you can lay up short, but then you're looking at a mid iron third shot. That doesn't feel good either. Anyway, whatever you do decide, the green is fairly shallow and tilted from back right to front left, with bunkers in front and behind.

Ultimately, it's not the strategy itself I mind, but the execution. The idea of presenting a hazard in the lay-up zone of a long par 5 is sound and can work, forcing you to either challenge the obstacle or settle for a long approach. Here, the penalty for failure is too severe. If you're even slightly off on the second shot, you're looking at a lost ball, and that is no fun. If it were bunkers in similar positions to the tree lines, this hole would be fine.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is the shortest hole on the course, playing 145 yards to another relatively shallow green. This green is very sharply tilted from back to front, and there's a single bunker guarding the front left. Honestly, all this hole needs is a bit of tree pruning (the left hole location you see below is 100% obscured by overhanging tree limbs) and it's fine. It's a shame the sixth and the last par 3 on the course are so terrible, because this hole and the third are honestly okay.

The thirteenth hole.

The fourteenth hole is 370 yards and plays to a narrow fairway framed on all sides by dense forest. The fairway also runs out about 215 yards from the tee, making a long iron (or fairway wood for the shorter hitters) mandatory. I suppose one could try to fly the trees and cut the corner; I think the carry is doable, but I've never seen it done so I don't know if it's actually possible. For most, the second shot will be a short iron to a long, narrow green with multiple tiers.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a short par 4 at 310 yards, though since it plays uphill I doubt too many people are reaching the green in under regulation. The ideal tee shot is out to the right, which will leave yourself a direct line up the axis of the green, which is tucked into a small amphitheater and has a lot of back to front slope to it. Especially at the front; if you miss this green long you have to be very careful with the chip back down the hill. 

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is 190 yards and plays steeply downhill to a peninsula green jutting out into a pond, with water in front, left, and right, and two bunkers behind. This is not a hole I particularly enjoy, though I suppose it is easier than the seventh. At least here the green is relatively large and you can miss long safely. The chip down is tricky since the green slopes from back to front, but not impossible. If it were 150 yards, this hole would be fine, but 190 is a little too long.

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a mid-length par 4 at 385 yards, playing uphill to a fairway that bends left to right around a cluster of three bunkers. Obviously carrying those bunkers gives you a shorter second shot, but beyond that there's no real strategic advantage to challenging them too closely. The second shot is a wedge or short iron up the hill to a medium-sized green with a single small bunker front right.

The seventeenth hole.

Approaching the seventeenth green.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a long 550-yard par 5 that plays from a commanding viewpoint at the top of the property's central ridge. Unfortunately, that long view is pretty much everything the hole has to offer. The playing corridor is a million yards wide with the two bunkers within reach on the tee shot doing little besides simply being there. If you can reach the green in two, there are two bunkers in front to challenge you, but for most, the second shot is a simple matter of moving the ball forward. The green is a little tricky, but nothing particularly memorable. It's just a boring hole all around.

The eighteenth hole. Way to waste a commanding vista with the lamest hole imaginable.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

I played Eagles Crossing twice in 2025, so clearly the answer to "would I play this course again" is yes. However, much like Maple Run last month, that has more to do with geographic convenience and a relatively empty tee sheet than anything else. Really, Maple Run and Eagles Crossing do sort of fall into the same general class of golf course: They're not good, but they do definitely offer things for me to write about. The worse thing a golf course can do is be boring, and for the most part Eagles Crossing is very far from boring. That seventh hole is certainly something else, and the tee shot on 9 will continue to irritate me for years to come. 

However, I can't bring myself to fully hate this place. When you charge me less than $30 for 18 holes and get me around in a little over 3 hours, particularly post pandemic, you can get away with a lot. Would I recommend it to others? Hell no. It's an absolutely baffling, often very annoying and stupid golf course. But sometimes all I want is a place to play golf at a quick pace, and Eagles Crossing can offer that.

Review: Eagles Crossing Golf Club (Part 1)

Ah yes, Eagles Crossing. This golf course.

If you played high school golf in south-central Pennsylvania, this was a golf course you dreaded. It was the bane of country club kids everywhere — a public golf course with less-than-optimal playing conditions. Also, it was tough and weird and punishing, and just not a lot of fun. Of course, not being a country club kid, I usually did comparatively better here than my peers since I grew up playing on a crappy 9-hole muni. 

That doesn't mean I liked Eagles Crossing, or that it's a good golf course in disguise. Because I don't, and it isn't. However, it still deserves its time in the review spotlight. Because while this is about as far removed from good, strategic golf as can be imagined, it is at least interesting. For better or worse. Mostly worse.

The first hole is a shortish 365-yard par 4 that plays downhill to a broadly rippling fairway pressed against dense forest left. You have the whole world to the right though, and while the large greenside bunker theoretically offers a worse angle, in reality it's so far separated from the green that it's almost irrelevant. The green here is at least fairly undulating, with the back-right corner being noticeably perched up over the rest. Honestly, not a terrible opening hole.

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is 380 yards and bends right around a cluster of trees to a fairway banked from left to right that's pressed close to a line of trees that marks an O.B. line. Obviously, the closer you take your drive to those trees, the shorter your second shot will be. The green here is tilted from left to right and has a single bunker left.

The second hole.

The second green.

The third hole is 165 yards but plays downhill. This hole is actually pretty tricky when it comes to judging the distance; not only does the hole play downhill, the green slopes significantly away from the tee. Land a ball on this green, and it won't stop easily. The water past the green is a threat, particularly if you pull your tee shot, but because you should really be aiming to land the approach short and bounce it on, it's not as much of a concern as it looks.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is 375 yards and plays dead straight to a wide-open fairway. If you're a long driver, a few pine trees on either side do narrow things slightly, but there's really no reason not to use driver here. The second shot will be a wedge up the hill to a semi-blind green with bunkers on either side.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a 500-yard par 5 and Eagles Crossing's first really strange hole. The tee shot plays gradually downhill to a fairway that's initially quite wide, but around 150 yards out from the green, dense forest cuts in from the right, narrowing the playing corridor significantly. Also, from the hole's low point, roughly the same place the trees start, the fairway climbs something like 50 feet up to the green, which is small, shallow, and virtually impossible to hit without a wedge in your hand. So while you might technically get in range to reach the green in two with the drive, there's really no point in trying. 

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is 310 yards and plays significantly downhill. Now, normally when you have a short par 4, you're usually given a reason not to use driver. Here, a "pond" — more of a drainage spot than anything — placed between 200 and 250 yards out pretty much precludes the use of anything but driver. Using driver grants you pretty unlimited lateral space and takes the hazard out of play. There is literally no reason to use anything else. Anyway, the green is medium sized, slopes from back right to front left, and has a single bunker left. This hole feels more like a super-long par 3 than a short par 4.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is probably the most infamous of any hole at Eagles Crossing. It certainly is to me. At 170 yards, both the length and elevation change from tee to green are modest, but the reality on the ground is very different. The first 150 yards of the hole are over a pond, with the last 20 going straight up a 25-foot-hill. The green is wide and incredibly shallow; we're talking maybe 15 yards deep. That is not a lot of space for the short or mid iron most people are going to use here, especially considering the dramatic falloff in front. Even if you clear the water initially, if you come up even an inch short, odds are you're rolling right back down into the pond. And it's not like there's any breathing room long, as the landscape quickly rises up into dense forest. If the seventh was 50 yards shorter, I wouldn't mind it so much. It would be a classic do-or-die short par 3, but 170 yards is way too much for the shot this green is demanding.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth tee is situated back in the trees, which means the tee shot has to negotiate a narrow chute of trees to reach the admittedly quite-wide fairway. If you've got a big cut on command, you can use driver, but most will want to stick with the 3 wood. That makes this 550-yard par 5 a distinctly three-shot affair. A bunker 150 yards out on the right side of the fairway does give you a little something to think about, as do the trees left, but mostly the second shot is just about advancing the ball. The green here is on the long and narrow side, and slopes pretty severely from back to front.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

Did you come of the eighth tee and think, "Gee, that tee shot was tough, I sure hope I get to do the same thing again, but with way less wiggle room and with an even shorter club." Well, you're in luck, because the tee shot here on the ninth hole is far more punishing than the previous hole. There's maybe 20 yards between the trees on either side, and the fairway on this 350-yard par 4 turns about 250 yards out, so that means you can probably use, at most, a 3 wood. A long iron is better though, particularly since the penalty for being slightly off-line is so harsh. A careful tee shot will leave a full wedge slightly uphill to a green protected by two small bunkers left. That's fine, but the tee shot is absolutely miserable, and in five-plus rounds here over the years, I'm not sure I've once managed to avoid the trees.

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.

Review: Armitage Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Armitage, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is the longest par 4 on the course, playing 420 yards into the wind. The hole is essentially straight, but a large tree just right of the fairway in the landing area gives it a feeling of playing like a dogleg, and it makes a fade the best play on the tee shot. It's a fun drive, going down into the valley, but the second shot is where things get really interesting. It's uphill, but what makes things tricky is the green, which actually slopes from front to back. That makes the short to mid iron approach from 20 feet below the green tough to control, since you'll be coming in from a lower-than-normal angle. It's a bit reminiscent of the third at Oakmont (my brother made that connection, not me), and it reminded me of a typical down-than-up Donald Ross long par 4. Either way, simply tilting the green slightly away from the line of play made this hole quite possibly the best on the course.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 340 yards, and it looks quite inviting on the tee. It's a downhill tee shot, and while the fairway definitely isn't wide, it really is very tempting to blast away with driver. That fairway bunker makes it even more tempting, since you can get past it with a solid drive. And there's nothing stopping you from making that choice. It is also a colossally stupid thing to do. If you happen to get the drive onto the right side of the hole, than it can work out, but if you end up 50 yards out with a bunker between you and the hole, than you might as well write a bogey on the scorecard, because you are not getting that golf ball anywhere close. The green is highest in the middle, which will give running shots from a half-wedge approach even more momentum as they head toward the back. 

A long iron on the tee will stop short of the fairway bunker and leave a full wedge back up to the green. It is the safe, boring play, and no one wants to do that. It's also indisputably the right way to play the hole. I know that, and yet, I would still try driver here again. I know the odds are against me, but it's just so tempting. And that's the sign of a good hole.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole isn't quite on the same level as the previous two holes, but it is at least fairly memorable. You don't often see double-dogleg par 4s. But this fairway, threaded through large trees, bends hard right in the landing area before immediately turning back to the left. This has the effect of dramatically tightening the space one has if they want to hit driver. It also means that, if one plays safely without challenging the trees on the right side, there's a very good chance they'll be blocked on the second shot by trees on the left, effectively turning this 360-yard par 4 into a three-shot hole. If you do thread the needle, the second shot will be a wedge uphill to a medium-sized green protected by a large bunker front right.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole would be a really good hole if it were 50 or 75 yards longer. The idea is there: On the tee, you're supposed to fade your tee shot between the bunker left and mounding right (there was pretty obviously a bunker here), then you draw your approach onto the green, which is angled right to left and has bunkers back right and front left. But long drivers can carry all the trouble on the tee shot, rendering the challenge and shotmaking that the hole wants you to employ obsolete. At the very least, the green here is still quite tricky, with a back tier presenting some particular difficulty. I didn't often miss length at Armitage, but this hole was an exception.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

After eight par 4s straight, the fourteenth finally presents something different. And it's a tiny little 125-yard par 3, which I very much appreciate. Short par 3s are underutilized. This is not a particularly tough hole; there are three bunkers around the green, but the green isn't particularly tricky and it's not that small either. Realistically, the only real challenge is judging the distance, since the hole plays significantly downhill. But still, it's a charming, likable hole, and I'm happy it's here.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is the longest hole at Armitage, playing 530 yards. One might expect that a basically straightaway par 5 with no bunkers or real trouble for the first 500 yards of the hole would be not that interesting, but that is decidedly not the case here. This fairway rises and falls over multiple landforms, with much of the hole tilted sharply from right to left. The tumbling land is always something you have to account for, and it provides built-in interest on both the drive and second shot. The green itself is kind of tucked behind a pair of bunkers up at the top of a ridge, and while it isn't that exciting, it definitely isn't flat either. Overall, considering this was the only par 5 we got to play at Armitage, the fifteenth held up very well.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is 365 yards, and the first thing you'll notice is that the fairway is rather precariously sloped from left to right. Any sort of fade or slice is going to bound off the fairway toward the cluster of trees right. To complicate matters further, while the hole has no bunkers, the green is definitely best approached from the left side, thanks to the steep dropoff right of the green. The ability to hit a draw on command is very useful here. The green itself is quite small, which presents its own challenge, since no matter where you're playing your second shot from, you'll have to account for the massive sideslope. That makes this already-small target even more elusive.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is by far the longest of Armitage's par 3s, playing nearly 240 yards. It is slightly downhill (and was downwind for our round), which helps, as you can run a golf ball along the fairway either up onto the green or at least quite close, leaving an easy chip. Right is very much something to be avoided; if you must miss, miss left. The green is sloped from back to front and has some little wrinkles and bumps to it that make chips and putts not entirely simple. Overall, a tough hole at the correct point in the round.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a rather underwhelming finish to the round. At 325 yards, it's not driveable, and the fairway is both flat and pretty wide, so there's nothing to think about on the tee beyond getting close to the green. I guess if the flag is cut close to one of the two front bunkers you don't want to hit driver onto that particular side, which would leave you with a half-wedge with little green to work with, but that's not exactly riveting strategy. This green isn't even particularly interesting. At least it gives you a good opportunity to close things out with a birdie.

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

I'm actually really a little disappointed that it took me this long to play Armitage, it's actually a pretty fun golf course, a lot better than I was expecting. It's not on the level of Paxon Hollow and certainly not Cape Arundel, two other sub-6,000 yard golf courses, but it's certainly in the conversation for best public course in Harrisburg. The only other competition is Dauphin Highlands, which may be going away if Dauphin County has anything to say about things.

Armitage's biggest strength is how it embraces the landscape: Remember, this golf course is tiny and on an equally tiny piece of land. Pretty much every hole runs parallel with each other. But when you're out there, you really don't feel it. Each hole presents you with different looks and feels different. Even on that stretch in the middle of the round where you get eight straight par 4s, most of which are pretty similar in length, I didn't really feel like I was missing anything in terms of variety. Actually, the stretch from 7 to 11 is perhaps the strongest group of holes on the course. Plus, Armitage manages to include a tiny little par 3 and rambunctious long(ish) par 5 in direct succession, both of which are appreciated.

The cost to play is also quite modest: just $28 to walk during the week, and it's never more than $40 to walk on the weekend. The conditions are also pretty solid, though mid-spring is pretty much ideal for any golf course to present solid grass conditions. I do, however, have a bit of a bone to pick regarding cost. Right now, Armitage has 8-minute gaps between tee times, which is absolutely not enough time. It took my brother and I just over 4 hours to play, which is absolutely absurd for such a short golf course with pretty much nowhere to lose a golf ball. Frankly, I think Armitage should charge more and space out the tee times more. They'd make the same money and the golfers would have a better experience. I'd pay more to play Armitage, I think it's worth it.