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WPCNR PRESS TENT. By John F. Bailey. April 27, 2004: Hudson Hills brings the country club experience to the public course golfer, and it certainly is a step up and away on a different level from other county courses. Every hole is a fair challenge, according to golfers we spoke to. The venue, perched high atop a north county ridge of hills overlooking the Hudson River Valley, brings to mind the exclusive country club vistas of mountain courses in The Berkshires, the Adirondacks, and Colorado with no parkways in sight.
APPROACH TO HUDSON HILLS off Croton Dam Road. Exit 134, off the Taconic Parkway. You go up the long winding drive, just like a real country club. Clubhouse is perched on a knoll. All Photos by WPCNR CourseCam.
How does it play? Let’s take you by the magic of WPCNR’s CourseCam, on a round at Hudson Hills. The course is very intelligently and fairly designed requiring demanding shots, but offering little rough. Every hole is worthy of its own name, which have not been created yet, but WPCNR is taking reporter’s license and has created names for the various holes. Ready for your Opening Tee Shot? Let’s play Hudson Hills:
Coyote Woods 1st Hole Par 4.
Opening Tee Shot. First Hole.
Perhaps the easiest long hole on the course to put the unsuspecting golfer in a good frame of mind.
Coyote Pines is wide fairwayed, forgiving dogleg left with an oval, elongated green guarded by a gaping trap on the front left approach that tests the long hitter. The shot called for is a draw, right to left. If you land by the two trees to the right of the cart path are 135 yards clear entrée to the green. Left pin placement is a difficult approach. The green is relatively flat. And nowadays, golfers last week told me the greens are playing firm with little break, but they expected as the weather got hotter the greens would play faster and deliver more breaks.
Every hole at Hudson Hills gives the choice of 4 tees. This plays 444 from the Pro Black Tees, 405 from Green tees, 372 from the Blues, and 300 from the Gold Tees.
Crooked Valley 2nd Hole Par 5
Into the Valley.
A demanding split-fairway 530 or 500 yard Par 5, this hole snaps the golfer into reality, and is characterized as one of the four most demanding holes on the course. The Tee shot is an exacting carry over one of the two worst hazards on the course, a gorse, into the approach fairway.
Approach to the Second Green.
The meadow you have to carry on the tee shot is a gorse reminiscent of St.Andrews, composed of environmentally sensitive meadow inhospitable to golf shots. If you carry the gorse, you’re on a sloped fairway with 300 to 250 yards carry to the green, tucked around a corner that requires a tricky approach to a very diminutive circular green. After the fairway splits you are 208 yards to the green. For the scratch golfer it’s a challenge of shotmaking and club selection to par. For the average golfer, good luck, compadre. You have to know your clubs, and not be intimidated by the visual challenge.
This diabolical creation plays 530, 502, 469 and 427 yards.
Westchester Winds. 3rd Hole. Par 3.
Into the Sky. Third Hole.
An elevated 171-yard Par 3 plateau that on a windy day will knock down your shot. On a calm day, you have to be careful to select the right club to prevent rolling down over the tabletop green. The voracious trap will swallow a short shot. You do not want to miss left or right. When we were on this high point of the course, the wind could be felt on a calm day. But, love that view, a lot better than the Hutchinson River Parkway and the Sprain Parkway, don’t you think.
Third Green With Wind, Looking North.
The tabletop green is relatively flat and will hold the accurate shot. I repeat, the accurate shot. Note the flag whip-snapping in the wind, however.
This baby plays 171 yards from the black tees, 151,135,and 119 from the Green,Blue, and Gold Tees.
Horseshoe Curve. 4th Hole. Par 4
Teeing Off Blind.
Another of the four most difficult holes on the course, being that when the trees are in full foiliage, you cannot see the green. Your tee shot needs to be a left to right fade to have a clear shot in at the green. At this time of year the trees on the right side are not in full leafage, so you can see the green. If you draw too much you are in serious trouble with no shot. Aim for the big house and hope for a hook. Do not even think about a slice, that trap is big and a long way from the green. There is a bunker to the right of the green, 92 yards to the green. The big bunker on the left is 208 yards from the green. It plays 456 Yards from the Black, 423 from the Green Stakes, 393 and 324 from the Blue and Gold Tees.
Andy’s Alley. 5th Hole. Par 4
VISTA FOR THE STRAIGHT SHOOTER.
An innocent looking Par 4 with one of the better tee shots on the course. However, the fairway slopes downhill from right to left, making for tricky lies. However, the close cropped, bent-grass, immaculate fairways deliver a clean lie (something no other county course does). The green is triple-trapped protected calling for a straight in approach. Fading either way, or getting your shot caught by the wind, will catch the traps, leaving you a very demanding up-and-down where you cannot see the green. It is 165 yards from the front of the left bunker to the green and 120 yards from the front of the bunker to the green. The Alley plays 371 from the black tees, 340, 285 and 275 from the Green, Blue and Gold Tees.
Lost Lagoon. 6th Hole. Par 3
Seduction of the Overconfident.
A foursome surveys the seductive classic pin placement on one of the two water hazards on the course. Three golfers put their tee shots in the water, and the fourth was short right. This is a 155-yard Par 3 from the Pro tees, and 127,107 and 85 from the other three tees.
The wooded amphitheatre surrounding the green seemed to make shots hold up and fall short from our observations.
The Great Wall of Spano. 7th Hole. Par 5
Delicate Power Shooting Challenge.
This is a rugged and fiendish hole worth of Fu Man Chu.
It is described as the toughest hole on Hudson Hills. It requires careful club selection off the tee, because if you hit it too long, you are in approximately a 100 yard stretch of unforgiving gorse “Outer Mongolia,” placed ruthlessly in front of “The Great Wall of Spano.” Andy’s “Great Wall” guards a fortress of a green that not only is narrow and elongated, but has an uphill approach, too and has a trap that will ruin your birdie bid if you miss left with your 8-er or 9-er.
It requires about a 350 yard tee shot to carry the wall. Should you carry the gorse and the wall, you have an uphill “have-to-be-on-the-money” second shot of around 200 yards.
The golfers we observed chose to lay up in front of the gorse (you have to know your clubs) and carry the Great Wall (maybe) with their second shot. It is 208 yards to the green from the back of the second fairway just above the Wall.
The Evil 7th Green, Looking back to Outer Mongolia and the Tee in the Distance.
As if the shot demands are not enough, the 7th green is beveled and long, and tricky with breaks. If you lag, it does not reach the hole, and if you putt past the hole it rolls to the back. Pebble Beach quality hole.
The Great Wall of Spano plays 564 yards from the black, 514 from the Green, 490 from the Blue, and 455 from the Gold Tees.
A vicious hole, not for the faint of heart.
100 Acre Wood. 8th Hole. Par 4
Enchanted Wood Needed.
The second blind tee shot on the course, calls for a straight shot short of the split fairway, otherwise you have a wretched choice of flying your approach right of the green, or hooking it into the water, if you try to draw it.
Classic Draw. 8th Hole Approach.
If you nail your tee shot dead solid perfect you’re in good shape to go for birding with an accurate approach. I stress the word accurate again. A draw can put you in the water. A fade lands you in the trap to the right. Too strong a pin shot plops you in traps back right. The green is in a hollow so your shot will tend to die if there’s a North wind and drop like a stone.
She plays 389 from the black, 368, 326, and 287 from the Green, Blue, and Gold Tees.
The Towers. 9th Hole. Par 3.
KNOCKDOWN SHOT. 9TH Hole.
The backdrop of tall sentinal trees stand guard on the final hole of the front nine at Hudson Hills. The second of two elevated Par 3s, the ninth hole demands a 150 yard tee shot from the Blacks to birdie. The short shot catches the deep front bunker. The fat shot to the left or the right catches the other two traps on the hole.
As you make your way to the clubhouse for a lunch break, you have to reflect that you have played a front nine that has preoccupied your mind brilliantly with demanding club and shot selection. Getting to the greens is a sense of accomplishment, with putts that at this stage of the year hold line and roll at a good pace. The fairways, once again deliver excellent lies. Golfers were already falling in love with the course on Opening Day.
The Clubhouse Looking North.
Why not settle in at the Lookout Grill (scheduled to open this weekend, according to a Billy Casper representative last week), have a brew, before we hit the back nine.
Hudson Hills is expensive to play, but delivers holes exceptionally well thought-out. It plays not overly long, and cart paths keep you close to the fairways. The carts are terrific, equipped with the GPS satellite system that gives you the distance to the hole. A feature that the course pro said would be in effect this week.
The Fees. All Photos by WPCNR CourseCam.
