Matt F.
Yelp
Played here last Saturday and enjoyed it. The course is situated on the side of a large hill overlooking Copake Lake. There are a ton of awesome lake and mountain views, definitely a visually inspiring course. Both the Berkshires and Catskills were in view on a lot of the holes. Although relatively short at 6200 yards from the back tees, certain holes play a lot longer due to the elevation changes. Also, it's a challenging walk, as I elected to carry my own bag, and noticed that the hills were rather large to traverse. There is a very tiny driving range, maybe 90 yards in length, that you have to shag your own balls on, there are not range balls for purchase.
The pro shop and restaurant are in a cool spot right on top of the first tee, and you walk down a steep set of stairs from the pro shop right onto the first tee box. The restaurant wasn't open early in the morning when we teed off, but there is a snack shack located 5 feet off the first tee box. In the shack, the guy was making fresh egg sandwiches with the meat of your choosing. I went for a double egg, bacon, and cheese on a hard roll for $4.50, and it was really good.
Now, the course is in great condition, really splendid for a public track out in the middle of nowhere. But they were having a tournament later that day, and the greens were just unfairly fast. They were super sloping, and any shot not hit on the precise location of the green would run off. They were just too slopy to be as fast as they had them running, easily above 11 that day. It got to be frustrating towards the end of the round, as shots hit toward the center of the green would inevitably roll off the front, back, or sides. The putting was just as unbearable, my playing companion and I putted many balls off the greens throughout the course of the day. Word to the greenskeeper, slow the greens down and you'll have happy customers and faster play. Apparently Devereaux Emmet designed the layout back in the 1920s, and I'm sure his original super sloping greens have only sped up over time.
Many of the holes were varied and scenic, and almost every shot was blind. This is a course you will definitely pick up a few shots on playing it a second or third time. The people here are very nice though, although we did not see a cart girl the entire day. Round cost $50 for the greens fee, and $19 for a motor cart. I'd say with the conditions and views as good as they were, it was a justifiable price. I want to come back and tear up this track, seeing that my score was pathetic on first go around. Although short, I still found myself hitting many drivers off tees and being challenged by the longer par 3s. However, back to my earlier point, the 5 iron second shot I hit into the dead center of the 15th green, a par 5, ended up off the left. Upon hitting the shot I thought I'd have a makeable eagle putt, but it just kept rolling and rolling off the false side of the green.
We played as a twosome, teeing off at 845 on Saturday morning, and many groups let us play through, allowing us to finish in 3 hours flat. We were really happy with the pace and that we could play as two.
