Review: The Architects Golf Club (Part 1)

Nearly 8 years ago, I did a review of McCullough's Emerald Golf Links, a collection of replica holes based on the best golf holes from across the pond in Great Britain. It was a solid enough golf course, if a bit underwhelming. Little did I know, though, that New Jersey was hiding a second tribute golf course, one with a concept equally as intriguing, at Architects Golf Club, located just across the border from Pennsylvania.

As the name implies, rather than each hole being a replica of another, more famous hole, each hole at Architects pays homage to the style of a famous Golden Age architect (mostly, there are a few exceptions). So, there's a hole in the style of C.B. Macdonald, a hole in the style of William Flynn, and so on. At least, that's the idea. Whether or not the execution is there is another story, as some of the selected architects have notoriously difficult styles to pin down. But hopefully Architects will provide some fun, since it at least has some ambition behind it.

The first hole is in the style of Old Tom Morris, which right off the bat represents a challenge. While Old Tom is considered one of the first true golf course architects, to say he had a design style is really pushing it. He had no complex tools and worked with what the land offered in the most sincere expression of that phrase. Also, you know, he only worked with British linksland, not an old farm in northern New Jersey. So, interpreting his design into a single hole could really take any form.

What we have is a shortish par 5, playing 510 yards gently downhill to a wide fairway with several bunkers scattered around the edges. I will give it this; there are plenty of points where the green is blind, which is honest to Old Tom's style. He had to work around blindness, and so does this hole. For those laying up, there's a left-side fairway bunker about 75 yards short of the green to think about, and for those going for the green in two, there a small pot bunker with sod walls (naturally) right in front with another more traditional bunker right. The green itself isn't too interesting, though it isn't dead flat either.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a par 3 in the style of C.B. Macdonald, and the homage is a pretty obvious Eden. The hole is 195 yards but plays uphill, with deep bunkers left and front right, along with a hidden bunker behind. The green is sloped severely from back to front, making putts from above the hole very treacherous. Of course, the back of the green is the safe place to play, as the two bunkers in front make a more aggressive tee shot much more hazardous. No complaints about this hole, this is an honest and pretty solid interpretation of a Macdonald staple.

The second hole.

The third hole is another par 5, this one 520 yards and inspired by Hugh Wilson, who doesn't have many golf course credits to his name, but of those few, one obviously stands out: Merion. I've never played Merion (duh), so I'll just have to judge this hole on its own merits, and it's solid enough. To bring the green into reach on the second, a pair of bunkers must be cleared on the drive; bail out right and you'll have a terrible angle at the green, not to mention the small clump of trees guarding the right side of the fairway up in the lay-up zone. That isn't the only difficulty presented for those laying up, as there's another bunker left and two right extending from about 75 yards short most of the way to the green. The green isn't spectacular, but there's a greenside bunker left and a big falloff long and right, so accuracy is important.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a long par 4 at 440 yards, and it's in the style of Devereux Emmet, which of course got my brothers and I very interested. Of all the Golden Age architects, Emmet is the one we know best. So, does this feel like an Emmet? Sort of, I'll say. The big cross-bunker is reminiscent of hazards on other Emmet courses, particularly the 13th at Leatherstocking. The green is a different story. On the surface, yes, Emmet courses often did have mounding around their greens, and this green does have slightly interesting contours. But I just don't know, it isn't quite right to me. It's close, but not completely there.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is an homage to Walter Travis, who did the Country Club of Troy and Cape Arundel. Not his most famous work (that would likely be Garden City, which of course was originally by Devereux Emmet), but two very well-respected golf courses, particularly Cape Arundel and its wild greens. That, more than the heavy bunker scheme, is what Travis was known for, and while the heavy bunkering and mounding around the fairway of this 355-yard par 4 is solid and fun, there are plenty of non-Travis examples of similar holes. In particular, this hole reminds me of the last hole at Bedford Springs. Same length, same preponderance of bunkers, roughly similar green. It's a solid hole, honestly, but without a wild green it has to fail as a tribute to Walter Travis.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a tiny little par 3, playing under 150 yards from the tips. It's downhill as well, so you really don't need much on the tee shot here. However, the green is small and surrounded by deep bunkers, with a steep falloff behind leading into forest. It's supposed to be a tribute to H.S. Colt and C.H. Alison, but since I'm completely unfamiliar with either of them (Colt never did work in the US, and unless Timber Point gets restored, Alison's surviving work in this country is pretty much all private), I can pretty much only judge this as a fun little short par 3. It's a likeable hole and honestly one of the best on the course.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is the A.W. Tillinghast tribute hole, and if you know anything about Tillinghast's work, you'll know that distilling him down to a single hole is an effort in futility. A Tillinghast course can look like pretty much anything; he had no distinct style or calling card. But Architects tried to copy him anyway.

What they came up with is a mid-length par 4 with a tee shot playing through a chute of trees to an initially wide fairway below. A 3 wood or long iron will find the wide part of the fairway, but if you're feeling aggressive, you can try to thread a faded driver into a narrow gap guarded by bunkers on both sides. Do that, and the second will be a wedge; the safe play on the tee shot will leave a short or mid iron into the green, which is elevated and protected by two bunkers. Each bunker on this hole is supposed to refer to the bunkers from a different Tillinghast course, but they kind of just look like bunkers to me. Not every replica can be a winner. 

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

Speaking of not capturing the spirit of the architect, the eighth hole is pretty clearly the worst attempt Architects has to offer. This is supposed to be the homage to Seth Raynor, student of C.B. Macdonald and template hole extraordinaire. This would seem to be the easiest architect to copy for Architects' entire gimmick and yet, they screwed it up. 

The eighth hole is a mid-length par 3 playing uphill to a two-tiered green with several bunkers left. I suppose the bunkers are kind of geometric and hard-edged, but in no way does this resemble a hole Seth Raynor would have built. It just doesn't. A Redan would have worked; the tee shot approached the hillside in the appropriate diagonal fashion, and an uphill Redan would capture the traditional lower angle of approach that marked the original. That would have been a cool hole. Instead, we got something kind of boring and not related to Seth Raynor in any meaningful way.

The eighth hole.

The eighth hole.

The ninth hole is a long par 4, playing an uphill 450 yards, and is an homage to Donald Ross. Ross is another tricky one to try and emulate; he certainly had a style, unlike Tillinghast, but it was generally subtle and conservative, fitting the land. Which makes sense, considering how many courses he's responsible for. So basically, as long as you don't do anything really flashy, you can make pretty much anything a tribute to Donald Ross.

The tee shot here has to go past a pair of top-shot bunkers (which is a very Ross feature, to be fair) and needs to be hit with driver to get to the top of the hill. From there, the second shot appeared to be quite difficult, with a bunker right of the green and a pond short and left. However, while left is pretty clearly dead, there is a bit of visual deception at play with the pond short of the green; there's actually 10-20 yards of space between the water of the green. Not a huge amount of space, but far from nothing. And the green itself is actually kind of interesting, with a trench sort of cutting across the green diagonally. The front left and back portions are elevated, making hole locations on those sections quite tricky. It's apparently based on drawing from Mr. Ross, which explains why it's so much more interesting than the greens we've seen before. Overall, I think this hole is a decent facsimile of a Ross design.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll check out the back nine.

Review: Country Club of Troy (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at the Country Club of Troy, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is just under 400 yards, but it plays pretty long since it's uphill the whole way and you really can't use a driver. The fairway stops around 250 yards from the tee and heads up the hill you just climbed down on the ninth fairway. That leaves a short or mid iron up to a blind green; if you're lucky you'll be able to see the top of the flag. There are no hidden surprises around the green, which is nice, so you're not launching your iron into some deep bunker or oddly placed pond. The green is fairly undulating, but not particularly exciting. 

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green. Yeah, it's up there.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is the final par 5 at Troy, and it's a really good one. It's 530 yards, but the tee shot is dramatically downhill, so it's not unreasonable to reach the green in two. However, being able to get there in two and actually doing it are two completely different things. For one thing, if you're on the left side your view of the green will be obscured by trees, so you want that clear shot you'll need to stay out right. If you do everything right, your reward will be a long iron or fairway wood to a very small green at the top of a plateau surrounded by five pot bunkers. It's a bit of a Volcano green, though not a dramatic one. The way you play it and its treatment of less-than-perfect shots is the same. Trying to hit this green from 200-250 yards away is an exercise in futility; no golfer outside of the PGA Tour is that accurate. A wedge or a pitch third is certainly easier, but not to the degree you might expect. This is just not a friendly hole, and I like that. It's not often that a par 5 is one of the toughest holes on the course, but I think this hole is among the toughest at Troy. It's also one of the best.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

A slightly closer look at the little plateau the eleventh green sits on. It's really not an inviting target.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole may or may not be a 255 yard par 3. It says 255 on the scorecard, but there was no black tee during our round, just the blue tee at 230 yards. And you know what? That's plenty. I actually feel like this hole may have been a par 4 as first designed, judging from the four bunkers about 40 yards short of the green, but that's just a wild guess. The green is guarded by one small bunker front right, and there's also a swale in the right central portion of the green. That swale makes putts and chips involving the right side of the green quite complicated.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green. 

The thirteenth hole is a mid-length par 4 with a fairway that's sloped significantly from right to left. Two bunkers on the left side narrow the landing area, but while going down the left side shortens the hole, it does mean the second shot will be directly over two pot bunkers next to the green. The right side gives you a better angle, but you'll also have the ball significantly above your feet, encouraging a hook, again leading you toward the greenside bunkers. The green itself is on the larger side, but there's a swale running through the middle of it. There's also some mounding around much the back of the green. You need a precise second shot; even being on the wrong portion of the green brings bogey into play, let along missing the green.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

A better look at the thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a relatively straightforward par 4, playing just under 360 yards. However, while it certainly looks simple from above, the reality on the ground is different. The tee shot is even more blind than on the ninth; none of the fairway is visible. The fairway then slopes down for a couple hundred yards, then rises back up again about 100 yards from the green. There are two small bunkers right of the green, which is semiblind from the fairway and filled with the usual undulations.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is 140 yards, technically making it the shortest hole at Troy, but since the green is 50 or so feet above the tee, in reality the second does play a bit shorter. Aside from the obvious giant hill, the fifteenth is actually pretty similar to the second. The small, semiblind green is sloped significantly from back to front and has several small (and deep) bunkers in front. While I do like that this course has two sub–150 yard par 3s, I wish they didn't effectively play exactly the same.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is about 425 yards and may be the best hole at Troy, which is saying something considering the quality of the course thus far. The drive is downhill to a wide fairway, but a pair of bunkers right and a group of trees left narrow the fairway where a good drive would end up. Hit a drive into those bunkers and suddenly the crossbunkers 40 yards short of the green become something to worry about. Lay back and you'll have a pretty long shot into the green, and that's not something you want. There are two bunkers right of the green, but the main feature of the sixteenth green is the two small plateaus in the back corners. They're big enough so that the hole can be cut on them (though they weren't for our round, sadly), but even if the hole is elsewhere, they still dominate the green. Troy has a lot more subdued greens than Cape Arundel, the other Walter Travis course I've played, but this one would fit in nicely there. 

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a basically straightforward 370 yard par 4 playing over roughly level ground. There's a bunker on the right side of the fairway, and hitting your drive close to that bunker will give you the best angle into green, which is protected by two bunkers left. Shots hit out to the right of the green will funnel back down, taking the slope. It's not the most compelling hole in the world, but it's far from the worst.

The seventeenth hole.

Approaching the seventeenth green.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole is a grand, sweeping finisher, yet still has the quirk one has come to expect from this course. Obviously, there's the fairway, which is decidedly crooked, but first I want to talk about the back tee. I feel like this hole was originally designed as a 360 yard hole, with the back tee partially up a hill. At some point though, a very well-hidden tee was added 50 yards back, next to the fifteenth green and tenth fairway, positioned so that you actually have to hit over the sixteenth tee. The things you can do on a private golf course. Okay, now we can go back to the fairway. There are three bunkers right and two left, right where you'd want to hit an aggressive drive, but laying back of them leaves a long, uphill approach. The green is slightly domed and sloped from right to left, with the four bunkers right being very poor places to end up. Go left and you'll have a tricky shot from fairway, but at least the green won't run away from you. It's not the best hole at Troy, but it's a good way to end the round.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

Like I said at the beginning, the Country Club of Troy is one of the best courses that I've played. It's a ton of fun right from the start, and it keeps that sense of fun throughout the entire round. The first hole is amazing, the fourth is a rollercoaster from start to finish, the ninth is delightfully quirky with its blind tee shot and wild green, the eleventh is an almost-brutal par 5, and the sixteenth is just great design on relatively flat terrain. There are a few problem trees that I wish were cleared, and the place was just playing too slowly (which may have been outside of its control), so it's not perfect or my absolute favorite course. It doesn't have to be though. It's just a fun, quirky course, and I'd love to play it again.