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WPCNR PRESS TENT. By John F. Bailey. May 5, 2004: Well, we’ve just finished a St. Pauli Girl brew at the Lookout Grill, overlooking the foothills of the Catskills in the distance, and we’re ready to tackle the brutal back nine of Westchester County’s newest golf course, Hudson Hills. Let’s go pick up our satellite-equipped golf cart and head to the 10^th Tee.  (To view the WPCNR Play of the Front Nine, see previous story.)

 

TENTH TEE. Hudson Hills. In an earlier article, WPCNR took you on a round on the Front Nine, now we’re heading home. Links Aficionados should note that the holes of Hudson Hills do not have names, but as a reporter, I have invented names for the holes to give them cache. Grab your clubs and head with us to the 10^th , on an WPCNR virtual round at Hudson Hills, where all the tee shots are dead solid perfect, all the approaches up and down, and every putt “in the hole.”Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

                                                       Lost Valley. 10th Hole Par 5

                                                          Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

The golfer starts his long trek home on Lost Valley, yet another blind tee shot, a macho man’s hole demanding a 250 yard fade drive for eagle to clear the cart path (not visible on the right)  and land into the second fairway.  You’ll get lots of roll because the hole is downhill to the right down in the valley.

 

This is a blind tee shot with the green lying 250 yards from the cart path 300 yards diagonally from the wall of trees on your right. Your shot must carry with precision over the cart path to have a clear shot at making the green in 2 for bird.

 

The driver-challenged golfer may choose to lay up in the middle of the first fairway in front of  the tee.

 

The second fairway is no White House Lawn, there is a rock creek crossing the fairway and the diminutive green is guarded by traps left and right and water deep right if you hit your approach fat.

 

10th Green, Looking back to Tee.

Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

Lost Valley  plays 521 yards from the black, 491, 452, and 413 from the green, blue, and gold tees. The green is beveled making for a tricky putt from front and there’s tendency to fly the small green and land on the 11^th tee, or for a prevailing west wind to knock down your shot.

 

 

                                                            Pine Glen. 11^th Hole. Par 3

Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

An innocent looking hole giving you a false sense of relief coming off the challenges of the 10^th. But, don’t let it fool you.  The green is like the infamous postage stamp at Troon, but slightly larger, and not much apron between the back of the green and the pinetrees. Your shot has to carry a precise 190 yards and bite that carpet. Too strong and you’re in the pines. Green is relatively flat. A birdie opportunity.  As the weather gets warmer the green will get faster and demand more caution on the part of the birdie hunter.

 

Pine Glen is 200 yards from the Black; 174 from the Greens, 151 from the Blues, and 120 from the Golds.

 

The Tower. 12^th Hole. Par 4

Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The 12^th hole leads you back to the summit. Your tee shot should be aimed for the below right of the Tower seen on the horizon. The green is up the hill and to the right, demanding the ability to hit cleanly off about a 45 degree angle uphill lie.

 

12th Green: The green is narrow and hourglass shapped, sloping up hill and then down with a swale in the middle (not a good thing). Watch the grass bunker on the left with your approach. Photo by WPCNR CourseCam 

 

The Tower plays 435 from the black, 400, 362, and 313 yards.

 

                                                          Westward Ho. 13^th Hole. Par 4

                                                           Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The thirteenth hole is one of the most beautiful on the course and does not demand precision off the tee. The green is curled into the copse of trees on the upper left of the crooked fairway.  The leftside bunker is 205 yards from the green, offering an inviting target to go for the up and down.

 

 

13th Green: Your approach though demands elegance and touch because you have to thread your 8-er or 9-er into the deep throated green that again is beveled. Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

Westward Ho plays down hill left with a very manageable 474 yards with a lot of roll. 424,380, and 337 from the Green, Blue, and Gold Tees.

 

 

                                                     THE GRAVEYARD. 14^th Hole. Par 3

 

This hole’s name was coined by one of the golfers WPCNR interviewed, so called because the tee is right along side a 19^th century cemetery whose silent stones observe your tee shot. It can be a graveyard for your round, too. Don’t the “Graveyard Gallery” scare you.

 

 

This 187 yard par 3 carries over a gulch,  to a broad triangular green with two traps. You have to be straight.  Graveyard Gallery is at your left. Again the copse of trees surrounding the hole will drop your shot dead when you hit into the west wind, while a North-north east wind will drift your shot left into a very nasty rough.

 

 

                                                           Hudson Crest. 15^th Hole. Par 5

                                                           Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

Holes 15 through 18 challenge your final leg with a Par 5 and three Par 4s.

 

Fifteen is a Big Time Hitter’s delight and a duffer’s nightmare. Here is a chance to show and use your power if you hit it straight. This is an uphill climb, the longest hole on the course from any of its four tees, it runs straight up hill but relatively free of pitfalls (unless of course, you slice or hook).

 

Here you’re looking up the hill to the green. The hole demands a carry of 250 yards to clear the scrub in the middle of the fairway Once you drive past the “scrub” in the middle of the fairway,  you are 245 yards from the center of the green.

 

 

Hudson Crest’s green is guarded by a trap to catch the weak approach, which will roll back if you do not clear the crest. There is a forgiving apron surrounding the green, which is beveled to cup and hold your approach, but a “hot” low approach will shoot right through if you’re going for the green in 3. Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

Hudson Crest plays 568 from the Black, 532, 502 and 464, respectively from the Green, Blue and Gold tees.

 

 

                                                    Big Sky Country. 16^th Hole. Par 4

                                                      Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The most scenic of the Par 4s, Big Sky Country is welcome relief from the trek up 15, presenting an inviting birdie target. Plenty of room for your drive. The only panoramic fairway on the course.

 

Beware the two traps on the right. Big Sky Country plays 407 yards from the Black, 375, 351, and 324 from the Green, Blue and Gold tees.

 

 

                                                   Stairway to Heaven. 17^th Hole. Par 4

                                                         Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The hole on this 458 yarder is tucked away on a notch on the upper center right where the cart path leads. The skinny green is slightly to the right of the white sandtrap speck, and to the left of the cartpath. The fairway gradually then steeply rises up to the hole, which is guarded again by a trap and mogul like hills to the left of the crested green. It is 142 yards to the green from where the cartpath appears on upper right. Again the green is elongated beveled and tricky to putt. The “Stairway” plays 458, 393,348, and 316.

 

 

                                                             River Ridge 18^th Hole. Par 4

                                                            Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

WPCNR’s round finishes with a walk up 18 which with its classic clubhouse is reminiscent of Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The finishing hole is forgiving, and delivers breathtaking views west to the Palisades and mountains across the Hudson. You cannot quite see the Hudson River but it is there.

 

                                                                      Walking the Ridge.

                                                             Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The fairway leaves no margin for error, hooks and slices will make the sayonara hole not very pleasant. A trap right in the landing area awaits, and two traps left of the green menace your second shot.

 

18th Green: A Demanding Approach to an uphill lie green. Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

The course is relatively short for tournament play, County Executive Andy Spano told WPCNR Sports, but he hoped the course could be used for championships of some kind.

 

The course design was by Mark Mungeam of Cornish, Silva and Mungeam, Inc., and runs 7,000 yards.

 

Cornish, Silva and Mungeam have created Stow Acres in Stow, Massachusetts, a GOLF DIGEST top 75 public course, Shaker Hills in Harvard, Massachusetts which was named Runner-Up by GOLF DIGEST as The Best New Public Course to Open in 1992, The Captains Course, selected by GOLF DIGEST as the Best Public Course to open in the USA in 1985 and currently ranked in the Top 25 Public Courses in America by GOLF DIGEST. They also created Cyprian Keyes Golf Club, selected by GOLF DIGEST as the Fifth Best New Affordable Public Courses for 1998.

 

Their renovation work includes Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach, Florida,

Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago, site of the 1997 U.S. Senior Open and 2003 U.S. Open,  The Broadmoor in Colorado in preparation for the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open, Jupiter Island in Florida, Lookout Mountain in Georgia and

Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts.

 

Be Careful out there.

 

WPCNR likes the front nine, because of the charming and challenging shotmaking required that challenges the skills and decision-making, self-analysis club selection required. You, sir, have to know your limitations and your capabilities.

 

I consider the back nine slightly anticlimactic. It could use more hazards, after the considerable creativity and use of terrain on the front nine.

 

The course is very fair, but requires some awfully long blasts of 250 yards or more off the tees to carry you over disaster trouble. The greens are very slow now without a lot of break, but golfers tell me that would change as the weather gets warmer.

 

Three of the final four holes are relentless challenges to hit the ball up hill, which you really get tired of along about the 18^th  tee.  I would have liked to see some water hazards on the back nine. (How about some sandtraps crossing the short fairways? A humpback fairway? A shrub encrusted green? How about some mogul hills in the fairway or along the fairway? How about some tree placement around the greens? Could we have a moat around one green? Or at least one multi-tiered green on this entire course? (Sadistic, I know, but no less so than the back nine.)

 

Know Your Game, Baby.

 

You have to know how to hit off a sloped lie on this course. It is a narrow precise game called for on most holes, but forgiving in the fact that the rough is almost nonexistent, not like the jungle rough of all other county courses. The fairways are like most greens on other county courses.  The greens on Hudson Hills do not appear extraordinarily difficult, but  are relatively small, narrow and conducive to rolloffs.  They offer you no margin if your approach is hot and low or your tv shot approach has no bite.

 

Amenities.

 

The clubhouse is small, and should have been built larger, which it was originally planned to be. It is advertised to accommodate 175 persons for a golf outing, but that would be a tight fit, in WPCNR’s opinion.

 

Here you have this beautiful spot, and it deserves a really good restaurant venue, with some major league cuisine found in any country club, where corporate types could entertain. This place is classy, but cozy.  Though I love the pampering at curbside by the very hospitable staff, the clubhouse could have a little  more style, style, sprawl and opulence, yet I love the wrap around deck, from which you can sip a foamy brew and watch approaches to the 18^th green.

 

 

 

 

On the positive side the Lookout Grill, though it was not open when I was there, is tranquil, has great views, and is a cool place to sip a crisp cold, dewy chilled glass of brew after a round. I like what we have in the Lookout Grill, but it could have been so much better. Think the sprawl of the Ridgeway Golf Club lounge, for example.

 

 Perhaps in the future the county would consider adding a separate sprawling restaurant interested in putting in that missing piece.

 

Play it. Enjoy it. Stay Home in Westchester.

 

The course is easily the best public course in the metropolitan area, Shinnecock Hills and Bethpage Black not withstanding.

 

WPCNR would be interested in golfers’ comments on the layout after they have played it.

 

Hudson Hills Scorecard and Souvenier Golf Cap. Photo by WPCNR CourseCam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By Captain Ann FitzSimmons, White Plains Police Department. May 4, 2004: The WPPD has issued a set of citizen crime prevention tips for the summer months to protect yourself and deter potential criminal activity. If citizens have further questions and concerns, contact the Community Advocacy Division at 422-6227 for further recommendations:

CRIME PREVENTION TIPS

                  For the spring and summer

 

The warm weather of spring and summer is upon us and here are some tips on how to safeguard your home and family during this season

 

Protect your home while you are out ….

• Always keep doors and windows locked – even for a five-minute trip to the store.


• Use strong reliable locks such as deadbolts, which can resist ramming and kicking.


• An easy and inexpensive way to secure your windows is to use the “pin” trick.  Drill an angled hole through the top frame of the lower window partially into the frame of the upper window.  Then insert a nail or eyebolt.  The window can’t be opened until you remove the nail.


• To improve security on sliding glass doors, you can install keyed locking devices that secure the door to the frame or place a piece of wood or a metal bar in the track of the closed door to prevent the door from being opened even if the lock is jimmied or removed.

• Turn on lights and leave a radio or TV on so it looks like someone is home.

If you are away for vacation…

• Call 422-6111 (Police Bureau) and ask for your home to be checked in your absence.


• Get an automatic timer for your lights and consider leaving a radio on. Make it look like someone is home.


• Make certain that you arrange to have the mail and newspaper delivery stopped or picked up by a trusted neighbor.


• Arrange to have your lawn mowed while you are gone.


• If you have an alarm activate it.


• Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway overnight.

Use common sense to spot a con….

• Beware of cheap home repair work that would otherwise be expensive.  The con artist may only do part of the work, use shoddy materials and untrained workers, or simply take your deposit and never return.  Never accept offers from the drive up workers who “just happen” to be in the neighborhood. 

When driving….

• Always lock your car and secure valuables in trunk or where they cannot be seen.


• Never leave the keys in the ignition, even for a few minutes.


• Park in well-lighted, busy areas.

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CALL THE COMMUNITY ADVOCACY DIVISION 422-6227

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. May 3, 2004: In the matter of the preparation, or lack thereof, of the Eastview Middle School athletic fields, which WPCNR reported as being rejected by the School District last week by an Athletic Department source, for the condition of the outfields and infields, Mike Lynch, School Facilities Director denied today as inaccurate that he had ever “rejected” the fields.

On Monday afternoon, Mike Lynch, Facilities Director for the school district, called WPCNR and said he had not rejected the fields, (as WPCNR was told by a school district authority) and that the fields were not offered by the city to the district to accept or reject. Lynch said he, his foreman, Bennie Cipriano, and Athletic Director Mario Scarano had toured the field and met and Lynch said he had discussed with the foreman and Mr. Scarano ways the field could be improved.

When asked if he felt the fields were fit for the White Plains children to play ball on at that time, Mr. Lynch did not answer my question. When asked what improvements he felt had to be made at that discussion, Mr. Lynch did not tell me what the improvements he had to be made. He did say the city had discussed borrowing a roto tiller to loosen up the infields.

When asked if he knew a date when the city would have the fields “ready,” Lynch said he did not have a date.

 

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WPCNR PIPE AND HOSE. May 3, 2004: White Plains firemen put out a truck fire in the CITGO station parking lot this morning that broke out under the hood of a 1988-make truck owned by John Holden, a landscape contractor and White Plains resident. Mr. Holden told WPCNR he noticed sputtering in his truck after he had picked it up where it was parked early Monday morning and decided he would pull into the CITCO station. When he pulled in, he noticed smoke coming from the hood, exited the cab, taking his dog with him, and phoned 911 on his cellphone at about 7:07 A.M. Fireme from White Plains Maple Avenue Headquarters arrived shortly, and put out the fire within five minutes with foam from Pumper Engine 70.

CLOSE CALL: The WPFD Luietenant Ron Gramolini inspects engine of Holden’s truck that burst into flames approximately 7 A.M. Monday morning, causing police to close Mamaroneck Avenue between Old Mamaroneck Road and Shapham Place. A closing that actually put White Plains on the WCBS Radio Traffic Report. Photo by WPCNR News.

A Total Loss: John Holden of White Plains, owner of the truck, told WPCNR he had had the fuel line  of his truck repaired two weeks ago. Firemen on the scene speculated that a gas leak from the fuel line, was set afire by heat from the engine. Holden said he lost the records from his business that he had with him in the cab. Photo by WPCNR News

FIREMEN REMAINED on the scene as gasoline continued to leak from the truck after the fire was extinguished by foam from Pumper 70 at right. Tow Truck awaits to transport the truck hulk away. Photo by WPCNR News.

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By New York State Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th District. May 2, 2004: Many consumers are discovering the hard way that all gift certificates are not created equal.

 

Because certain companies impose hidden fees that nibble away at the face value of a gift certificate after certain periods of inactivity, I am a sponsor of new legislation which would protect consumers from hidden fees and undisclosed conditions – that have become all too common – with gift certificates and cards.

 

The bill will ensure consumers know exactly what the terms are when purchasing a gift certificate, and more importantly, that they get exactly what they pay for.

 

This new legislation would require vendors and retailers to eliminate any retroactive fees and would only allow them to collect monthly service fees after a gift certificate or gift card is unused for 13 months (A.10333). Another measure requires vendors to disclose the terms and conditions of a gift certificate at the time of purchase (A.10334).

 

Already, the attention around this issue has prompted two large sellers of gift cards – Starbucks and Blockbuster – to eliminate fees on their own accord. Unfortunately, many other companies are keeping them, and in some cases, increasing fees.

 

As gift cards become an increasingly popular alternative to hand-picked gifts, many companies have imposed fees to increase profits. This practice is wrong, and this  legislation will set proper guidelines to protect consumers.