Review: Piney Apple Golf Course (Part 2)

See Part 1 here.

And we're back. The tenth hole is another member of the Piney Apple Par 4s that dogleg nearly 90 degrees club. There's a ridge in the background. That's pretty much it, but actually, the course is about to get slightly interesting!

The eleventh hole is definitely the hardest hole on the course. It's a par 4, and at 400 yards, is a pretty long one, at least as far as this course is concerned. The first thing you may notice, and it was certainly the first thing I noticed, is that this is a very narrow hole. This is the sort of tee shot you would normally want to pull out a long iron just to get the ball in play, and you can certainly do that, but it has the effect of turning this into a three shot hole. Unless you hit that long iron onto the very right side of the fairway, you won't have a shot at the green. The further you hit your drive, the better look you'll have with your second. I'll admit, it's not the most compelling strategy in the world, but it is strategy, and I can appreciate that, even if it does rely on dense trees.

The twelfth hole is without question the best hole on this course. At 440 yards, this is listed on the scorecard as a par 5, but I like it more as a really tough par 4, and that's how I approached the hole when I played it. The fairway initially doglegs sharply to the left, and there is a marshy area about 250 yards from the tee. Again, there's nothing stopping you from hitting a long iron, then laying up at the corner of the second part of the double dogleg. That's the safe way of doing it. It is far more fun to try and hit a big draw with a 3 wood as far around the corner as possible so you can attempt to fade a mid-iron around the pair of trees sitting very close to the direct route between the green and the tee. I don't imagine too many golfers who play here are capable of that combination of shots, but I had a lot of fun trying. It's not complicated, but it was very enjoyable.

The thirteenth hole is a hundred yard par 3 played to a very elevated green. It would be much better if it were surrounded by intimidating bunkers in the true Postage Stamp spirit, but at the same time, it would likely be too difficult for the sort of golfers who play here regularly. Moving on.

The fourteenth hole is a member of the class of hole I like to call "Oh crap, we're out of room but we only have 17 holes what do we do?" The green is actually about 50 or 60 yards away from the previous green, but the hole is 260 yards. Clearly, the solution was to make the golfer trek that entire way to a tee, then play back along that path. Yeah, this isn't an excessively walker-friendly golf course. Anyway, if you've got the length to go for this green with your tee shot (and I do), there's no reason not to. Get past 200 yards, and the hole is completely open.

The fifteenth hole is a 370 yard par 5. That's not a typo. It says it right on the scorecard. I had a sand wedge into the green. Of course, I proceeded to airmail the green into the pond behind, so I couldn't take advantage of the world's shortest par 5.

The sixteenth hole is a 300 yard par 4, and unless you have enough length to actually get to the green, laying up about a hundred yards back is the better option. It's a tough green to hit from 50 yards away, the pitch is uphill to a shallow green, and you have to fly it all the way there because of the front bunker.

The seventeenth hole is another big dogleg. The bunkers to the right and short of the green mean you want to be coming at this hole from the left side, but since it doglegs left, you'll probably want to be on the left side anyway, since it shortens the hole. A bunker at the corner of the dogleg would improve the hole.

The last hole is yet another big sweeping dogleg, but at least this one goes right. You can hit your drive up over the trees to shorten the hole, and while you can't see them in my pictures, there are bunkers left of the green. I guess this is better, at least the trees give you something to think about off the tee. They present a mild challenge.

This is not a golf course that's going to win any awards. I'm not going to pretend it is and say, "Gee, what a wonderful golf course, 10 out of 10." It's not that. It's a simple, understated course for non-serious golfers that you don't even need a collared shirt to play. It was $28 dollars for 18 holes and a cart, and that's not bad. The course in general was solidly maintained, considering the cost, it was very good. And since the course is only 5,500 yards, the round didn't take too long. Also, the twelfth hole was a genuinely fun hole, way beyond the general caliber of the course. I played with a friend, and we had a very good time, more so than if we'd played somewhere more serious. That's the kind of course this is, and the golfing world could use more courses like it. Simple, understated, and inexpensive.

Review: Piney Apple Golf Course (Part 1)

A part of me wants to save this review for November. It would be appropriate, November is apple cider season, and this golf course is not only in an area replete with apple orchards, it actually contains an apple orchard within its boundaries. But it's the middle of September already, and it's the only course I've got on tap. So, Piney Apple it is.

The last golf course review I did was Atlantic City Country Club. That golf course had over 100 years of history, featured work by some of the greatest golf course architects of all time, a harborside location overlooking Atlantic City, and a position at the top of Golf Magazines Best Public Golf Courses in New Jersey list, not to mention coming in at number 74 in their top 100 Courses You Can Play list. Piney Apple Golf Course...has none of those things. This is golf in a far more basic state. I've played courses with fewer bells and whistles, certainly, but this is not a fancy place. You don't even need a collared shirt, which is very nice. It's cheap to play, and the scenery is quite nice. And frankly, I could not have asked for a better day to play golf, it was bright and sunny, and the temperature was in the low 70s. Perfect golf weather. Anyway, let's get to business!

The first hole is a steeply downhill par 4, and is technically the longest par 4 on the course. You'll see why I say technically when I cover the back nine. You can sort of see the green from the tee, but you can't really see the fairway. There's not much to this hole, but the view off the tee is a good one. Probably the best view on the course.

The second hole is a very short par 4, and I can imagine this hole making me irritated were I to play here on a regular basis. 260 yards. That's all it is from the back tees. However, I don't imagine this green gets hit in 1 very often. For one thing, the back tee is offset, making this hole a dogleg to the right. That means you either have to get your drive high enough to clear the pine on the corner of the dogleg, or fade it around. And if you're short, you have a pitch up the hill to an extremely shallow green. Getting it to stop is tough unless you really get the ball up in the air. This is not as easy a hole as you might think.

The third hole is a mid-length par 3 that plays slightly uphill. Not much else to it.

The fourth hole is downhill like the first and plays the same general direction as the first. I like this hole more though. For one, I like the aesthetics of the tee shot, it has an almost alpine feel to it. This course is definitely not misnamed. As for the second shot, it's a drop-shot wedge down the hill with an appealing background. The picture I took of the approach is almost identical to the picture the course put on the scorecard. The only big difference is the flag, it's yellow and on the middle of the green on the scorecard, and red and on the front here.

The fifth hole is a short par 3. We've had the piney part of Piney Apple, now comes the apple part. South Central Pennsylvania is a big apple growing area. I know this, I've seen plenty of apple orchards, but the sheer concentration of them in this area, caught me off guard. I guess there's a reason Adams County produces 70% of the apples in a state that produces a lot of apples. Anyway, the golf. It's a simple hole, not much in the way of strategy here. This may be the easiest hole on the course.

The sixth hole is a par 4 with a big dogleg to the left. This is actually something you don't see too often, holes that bend this much, but this course features quite a few holes like this. If you don't cut the dogleg with your drive, you'll definitely want a long iron off the tee. I didn't quite know what the hole was doing, used a driver, went through the fairway and was extremely lucky to have not gone in the pond by the seventh green. The second shot is pretty straightforward, but the green does have a fair amount of size and slope to it, so putting can be tricky.

The seventh hole is the longest par 3 on the course at 190 yards. There's a pond front right that you can't really see, but interestingly, if you had to pick a place to miss, that's the place to be. Bailing out left leaves you with a much tougher chip shot, potentially over bunkers to a green sloping away from you. Missing right, provided you don't go in the water, leaves a very simple chip back up the hill, and as you can see from the picture, the day I played you would have much more green to work with.

The eighth hole is the longest hole on the course at 500 yards, the only par 5 on the front nine, and arguably, the only real par 5 on the course. The tee shot is normal enough, but the second shot is strange. The green is small and nestled among a bunch of trees and the fairway all but disappears. If you hit a drive up the right side, you won't be able to go at the green in two. I'm not sure, of course, but I don't think this is the original green. There's an unused green about 75 yards right of the one you see below, and what seems to be a more appropriate playing corridor in front of it. This one's a mystery.

The ninth hole is...not very interesting. Dead straight, no bunkers or hazards of any kind. The tilt of the green favors a shot from the right, but there's not enough on the hole to make that any more than a vague suggestion. A bunker short left of the green or right of the fairway in the driving area would make the hole a bit better.

That's it for the front nine, you can find the review for the back nine here!