Review: Walnut Lane Golf Club (Part 2)

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

The tenth hole is 340 yards and tumbles dramatically downhill. The hole bends slightly left and narrows as it descends, with dense forest encroaching on both sides. You can use driver here, but unless you have a reliable draw, there isn't much room for error. A long iron or fairway wood is plenty, and is probably preferable. The green here slopes from front to back and is cut off from the fairway by some rough and low mounding, making an aerial approach necessary. So while you can get within 50 yards of this green, the second shot will almost certainly not stop anywhere near the hole. The higher you can get that approach shot, the more likely you'll be able to stop it near the hole.

The tenth hole. It's a little tough to believe this is within Philadelphia city limits.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 140 yards but plays dramatically uphill, with the green perched on the edge of a small cliff leading down into dense forest. Trees also overhang from the left; that left-hand hole location you see in the pictures was all but inaccessible for me with a pitching wedge in hand. Maybe some people can draw their wedges 15 yards, but I can't. The green at least is on the larger side and sloped from right to left. Just don't miss left, and you should be fine.

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is 335 yards and wraps around forest and the same deep ravine from the previous hole. The fairway is tilted hard from right to left and climbs up and over a hill, then dips down before rising back up to the green, which is on its own isolated shelf. There's a big dropoff behind, and a very deep bunker to left. This is a really good hole, as you can play safely with a long iron out to the right, leaving yourself a fairly long and potentially semi-blind second, use a fairway wood to try and reach the highest, flattest part of the fairway, or bend a driver around the trees, catching the downslope and getting yourself within 50 yards of the green (albeit you'll have a tough, steeply uphill pitch shot). The green is sloped from back right to front left and has a mild false front (the grass is too long for balls to run fully down the hill, but the idea is there).

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 135 yards, making it Walnut Lane's shortest hole. It's also kind of weird. It plays straight up a hill to a tiny green tucked between a pair of bunkers in front, the road behind and to the right, and forest left. The green is highest along the center line and falls away on either side. My big issue here is that the margin for error on the tee shot is just so small, even with the hole's modest length. The fence marking the OB line is less than 10 feet from the back edge of the green and the bunkers short necessitate a fully aerial approach. It's just not a comfortable tee shot.

The thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is 160 yards and is a fine but pretty unremarkable par 3. It plays over relatively flat ground, the green is pretty flat, and the two bunkers on either side present a fair but pretty typical challenge. Nothing here to write home about.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a 340-yard par 4 that plays from a high tee down to a fairway that turns hard from left to right. OB in the form of a major road follows the same curve, which makes hitting driver a dangerous proposition. It is very easy to fly through the fairway into oncoming traffic. A long iron or fairway wood is much safer, and will still get you within wedge range. The approach is slightly uphill to a shallow, elevated green with two bunkers left.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is 150 yards and plays gently downhill to the most well-bunkered green on the course. There are three bunkers long and one short left. In addition, this green is sloped hard from back to front, and is incredibly slippery, even if you're putting/chipping up the hill. Like the fourteenth, this hole isn't particularly revolutionary, but it's decent enough.

The sixteenth hole.

The seventeenth hole is a very long par 3, playing 235 yards through a narrow chute of trees to a large green. It does play downhill, which slightly mitigates the distance. Still, for a course this short it does feel a bit more like a short par 4. There's OB left, but beyond that, no real trouble other than overhanging trees.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is 360 yards and plays to a blind fairway up on a plateau. The fairway is reasonably wide, which makes this a rare opportunity to use driver; the driver I hit here was just the second of the day. A bunker cuts into the fairway about 50 yards short of the green, but unless you're a professional golfer or close to it, you really don't have to worry about it on the drive. Far more people hit into on their second or third shots, I suspect. If you hit a good drive, the second shot will be a little wedge to a small green tilted noticeably from right to left. No bunkers around this green, though the left side is quite slippery and golf balls will easily run off. Overall, I think it's a decent finishing hole.

The blind tee shot on 18.

The eighteenth green.

Walnut Lane may only possess two-thirds the length of your standard 18-hole golf course, but don't let that deceive you into thinking there's nothing of interest here. The lack of length certainly does hold it back, but that doesn't stop holes like the fifth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth from being genuinely good holes. Plenty of golf courses don't come close to Walnut Lane in terms of strategic interest. And most golf courses don't have a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant (the equivalent of a Michelin star for restaurants people can actually afford to go to) literally a block away. Dalessandro's is a cheesesteak staple, and a round at Walnut Lane feels incomplete without indulging in a Philadelphia classic.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the drawbacks to Walnut Lane. The weekend walking rate is over $50, and that's kind of a lot for a par 62 golf course that's in typical municipal playing condition. Plus, while its great that such a beginner-friendly golf course exists in Philadelphia for all to enjoy, it does mean that Walnut Lane attracts a wide and ample crowd. I played on a day after a big rain, with no carts allowed on the course. I figured that would make for a recently quick round. No, it took nearly 4.5 hours to finish. And for this course? That's simply not acceptable or any fun at all. 

So then, what's the final verdict? Walnut Lane is a fun course, and if I were guaranteed a 3-hour round, I'd happily play it again. But I just don't see a world where that can practically happen. Which is unfortunate, seeing as it's less than a mile away. I'd play with friends if they wanted, but I wouldn't come here on my own again.

Review: Walnut Lane Golf Club (Part 1)

One of the major benefits of moving to Philadelphia back in April was access to an entirely new realm of golf courses. Central Maryland and Pennsylvania were tapped out, and while I've certainly played some courses in the greater Philadelphia region, I've hardly scratched the surface on what Golf Digest referred to as the most underrated golf city in the country. I don't know if the city that can claim both Merion and Pine Valley as its own counts as "underrated," but by any standard, Philadelphia is a great place to play golf.

We start off our Philly golf journey with a humble executive course tucked into the northwest corner of the city, perched above Wissahickon Creek Park. Walnut Lane was built in 1940 by Alexander Findlay, making it one of, if not the last golf course he was involved with over his 45-year golf course design career. It's a par 62 and barely tips over 4,500 yards, so if you're expecting a stern design, look elsewhere. The longest hole here is 370 yards, making Walnut Lane a true beginner-friendly course, open and welcoming to all. But is there anything here to interest the serious golfer? Let's find out.

The first hole is 325 yards and not the most interesting hole in the world. It's dead straight, and beyond the lines of trees closely guarding the fairway, no hazards either. Okay, technically there's OB left of the trees, but the trees are there to keep golf balls from getting that far, so it barely counts. Anyway, while you certainly could hit driver here, the narrowness of the playing corridor strongly precludes that choice. A long iron or fairway wood is the smarter play, and will still get you within wedge distance for your second shot. The green here, like many greens at Walnut Lane, is medium sized and, while not flat, doesn't have anything particularly exciting going on. 

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is 195 yards and plays slightly downhill to a green sloped fairly significantly from back to front. There is more OB long and left, but it's pretty tough to get to. Beyond that, there's really not much to this hole.

The second hole.

The second green.

The third hole is 320 yards and thankfully has a little bit more going on. The tee shot is blind, heading up to a plateau fairway that bends left about 250 yards out. If you want to hit driver, you need to either hit a big draw or stick very close to the left tree line. A long iron or fairway wood out to the dogleg itself will leave you with a wedge from a flat stance; going much further will result in a stance with the golf ball noticeably above your feet. The green is, again, not particularly exciting, but the back right to front left slop is definitely not something to be taken lightly either. Long putts will have several feet of break.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a 230-yard par 3 playing downhill, and while that length makes the hole challenging on its own, a few things conspire to make this feel even more difficult. Because the entire hole slopes from left to right, any sort of fade or slice is doomed to bounce well away from the green. If you don't have a draw (or at the very least, confidence in your mid to long irons), you might honestly be better off playing this hole as a short par 4. Lay up 30 to 50 yards short and chip on. The green is sloped significantly from back left to front right. Four is honestly a completely reasonable score here.

The fourth hole.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is 200 yards and is what I'd call Walnut Lane's first really good hole. This mid-length par 3 crosses a valley, with the small green perched on the far side. Two large bunkers guard the left side, and a large tree protects the right. The green itself is pretty heavily sloped and actually falls away slightly toward the back, making precision very important. With tree branches encroaching from both sides, a little draw is the best shot to hit here. End up short, and you may fall back down the hill significantly. This hole feels a lot like something you'd see at a Donald Ross course, which is a good thing.

The fifth hole.

The sixth hole is 175 yards and is ever so slightly similar to a reverse Redan. The semi-blind green slopes gently from left to right, and there's a deep grass bunker guarding the front-right section. A gentle fade played around that pit is the best shot to play here. This hole would be a little better if the green had a little more bite to it; right now, it's very flat.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is, at 370 yards, the longest hole at Walnut Lane. Hey, for a 4,500-yard course, what do you expect? Happily, this hole is also pretty good. The fairway is tilted significantly from right to left for the first 250 yards, than drops down off the hill into a valley, with the green perched partway up the far side. A good driver, hit down the left side, will catch the slope and bounce well down, leaving you with just a little half-wedge into a very open and inviting green. But you will need to draw your drive around a couple of large trees lurking about a hundred yards from the tee. The safer play is out to the right, leaving a full wedge down the hill from a hanging lie. The hole would be better if the green were more interesting or had any sort of defense, but still, the topography provide a decent amount of strategic interest.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 150 yards and is ultimately one of the weaker holes here. The single bunker is well short, leaving the green itself pretty undefended, and the green contouring isn't enough to make the hole interesting. Still, I do like how the hole feels very carved out of the woods, something Walnut Lane does quite well. You wouldn't think we were inside Philadelphia city limits, looking at the verdant forest immediately behind this green.

The eighth hole.

The ninth hole is 335 yards and demands accuracy and solid decision-making. The fairway is initially decently wide, but narrows significantly as you progress. It falls off precipitously into trees and a ravine left, which naturally leads your eye right. However, playing too safely will result in a second shot blocked out by a large tree about 75 yards from the green. Technically, you could use driver to get past that tree, but the fairway is not wide that far out. The green itself is closely guarded by two large bunkers, and is sloped significantly from right to left — another great reason to avoid the right side. You are far better off playing a long iron up the left side, then coming in with a full wedge. Even so, this may be the toughest hole on the course.

The ninth hole.

The ninth green.

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

Review: Coudersport Golf Club (Part 2)

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

The tenth hole is not especially long at 340 yards, but you have to add a fair amount to that distance, as the hole climbs dramatically uphill as it bends left to right up the side of the ridge. While the drive is incredibly wide open, the second shot will be from a precarious hanging lie. And when you take a peak at the green, carved precipitously from what is very nearly a cliff, it doesn't matter that you probably only have a wedge in your hand. This is a white-knuckle approach; you drift right at all and you're making a very large number. The green, while not super dramatic, is hardly easy to putt and has a couple of humps and bumps to make things interesting once you get onto the surface. I'm not sure which approach is tougher, this one or the one at the third, but they're both very fun.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

Speaking of fun, the eleventh hole may technically be the longest par 4 at the course, playing 430 yards, but it descends the same hill we just climbed on 10, cascading down the hill as the fairway bends right to left. A big draw, aimed at the end corner of the right tree line, will go a very, very long way. Even golfers of relatively modest length like me could reach the final big downslope and end up having just a little wedge second shot. That said, the green here is the most undulating and difficult to putt on the entire course, and there's no help from a general back-to-front slope here either. Overall, this is just a really fun hole; there's nothing to distract you from enjoying the fun tee shot and the green is no pushover.

Interesting fact, a eleventh used to be a short par 3 at the top of the ridge, with this hole (the twelfth) being a more direct and shorter par 4. I'm not sure when the change was made, but both Google Maps and the course website still talking about or showing the old eleventh. A 2019 Google Earth image may show the new routing (there's a cut in a small group of trees behind the former eleventh green, showing where the new eleventh tee is), but everything is covered in snow so it's difficult to tell for certain. I'm going to go ahead and say that the course was changed between 2016 and 2019. Whether or not the change is good is obviously not a question I can answer for certain, though just judging from the new hole I did play (we'll see it later), I would be inclined to favor the old routing. 

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

From the twelfth hole onward, Coudersport is restricted to parallel holes alongside a stream, so the dramatic elevation changes we've seen previously are done. Ultimately, that does mean we've seen the best the course has to offer, though these last seven holes certainly don't lack strategy or charm.

Anyway, the twelfth is a 350-yard par 4 that plays straight ahead to a fairway of modest width. The ridge comes in from the left, so any drive that misses a little left will bounce back into play. The green is medium sized and bunkerless, though there is enough undulation to it to make the approach matter and putts from the wrong part of the green a bit tricky.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 340 yards and features a drive from an elevated tee carved out of the forest. It turns the hole into a slight dogleg and also means that, if you want to hit driver, you really do need to hit a draw. Otherwise, you'll run out of space and run into the stream that runs down the right side of the hole. Since the hole is of modest length, a 3 wood or long iron is really all you need on the tee shot. That will leave a full wedge for the second shot, which is admittedly fairly tough. This green is two tiered and flanked by bunkers, and even if you do find the right section of the green, the surface has some pretty noticeable break to it. It's not the most difficult green on the course, but it's no slouch.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is just under 300 yards, making it potentially drivable for longer hitters. However, the stream cuts diagonally across the hole about 200 yards from the tee. That's a modest carry, but with trees lining the right side, the amount of space on the far side of the stream is not massive. A fade is the shot to play if you are going for the green; if not, you're better off hitting a mid iron to 200 yards, leaving a full wedge for the second. Laying up also takes a bunker that's about 10 yards short left of the green mostly out of play. 

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a mid-length par 3 playing over completely flat ground to a fairly undulating green that slightly falls away from front to back. There's a bunker just behind the green, and one short right, and while you'd need to hit a pretty big hook, the stream is lurking 20 yards or so to the left.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is technically (by a single yard, according to the scorecard) the longest hole at Coudersport, playing nearly 530 yards. The hole sweeps left around a hill, with only a small amount of fairway visible from the tee. You do not want to aim at that, however; the ideal aiming point is either directly over or just left of a small tree halfway up the hill. Failing to do so will bring the stream right and beyond the fairway into play. A good drive can bring the green into play on the second. The hole is bunkerless, so lay-ups have little worry about, but if you are going for the green in two, there is a pond left of the green. This, I would say, is the last good hole on the course.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The sixteenth hole from behind the green.

The seventeenth hole is the new addition, replacing the old eleventh hole. It's a downhill par 3, playing just over 150 yards over a pond to a large, wide-open green that really does just sort of sit out in the middle of nowhere. I guess the stream is technically in play long and left, but for the most part this hole just has very little to offer. It's not even a particularly interesting green. As I said earlier, I don't know for certain that the old eleventh was better, but considering how bland this hole is, I can't imagine this is the better choice, interest wise. It does present a nice view, at the very least.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a par 5, being virtually identical in distance to the sixteenth. It does play in the opposite direction, at least, so the change in wind direction provides some variation. The hole is essentially flat and the fairway bends only slightly left; otherwise, this playing corridor is wide and there are no bunkers. You're basically just hitting it as far as you can, and like the previous hole, the green isn't anything to write home about. Definitely an anti-climax at the finish, unfortunately.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

Coudersport Golf Club has a lot of pressure on its shoulders; this is quite literally the only golf course in Potter County. That's not a huge population, granted, but it does mean that, if this course doesn't satisfy you, you've got a long drive to find something else.

Fortunately, I think this is a fine golf course. There are some bland holes, but never anything bad or unlikable. It's got some funky quirk to it, and the third hole is legitimately fantastic. The tenth and eleventh as well are very fun holes, and while the stream section at the end lacks visual drama, there's some good golf there as well. The conditions were better than I was expecting, particularly for mid-October at a point where winter was rapidly approaching. Not pristine, of course, but for a public golf course in the middle of a forest the place was certainly very green. As one might expect from rural Pennsylvania, the cost is pretty modest; it was under $30 to walk 18 during the week. Maybe slightly more than I anticipated, but not anything too crazy. 

While it's not something I'd go an hour-plus out of my way for, I enjoyed playing Coudersport, and if and/or when I'm in town again (I'd like another try at Cherry Springs with a functioning telescope), I'd happily play here again, and not just because it's the only place to play. It is genuinely a worthwhile course from a design point of view.