Conklin Players Club

By Darryl Berger, (Conklin, NY)

Conklin Players Club is one of those courses that defines the term, hidden gem. It's in a small town, hasn't gotten much pub and was designed by Rick Rickard, who's not a household name in the golf architecture business. But the course is special and definitely worth your time and money to seek out and play.

The course combines the use of water, dramatic elevation changes and TLC to provide some fantastic holes and some awesome vistas to go along with it. The course plays up and down the side of a hill. That, in combination with a series of small ponds and a 10-acre lake make for some outstanding golf.

The up and down nature of the course does a couple of things. It makes it almost impossible to walk unless you're in remarkably good shape and it makes the distances on the scorecard irrelevant. Take the 16th and 17th holes. The 340-yard 16th plays just as long as the 402 yard 17th because the shorter hole climbs steeply uphill, while the longer tumbles down the hill.

Water also presents its challenges at Conklin Players Club. Nowhere more than the par-4 8th hole. There the lake tempts you to cutoff as much of the dogleg right as you can. Having a short iron in your hands will help because the lake is still in play on the approach.

The par-3 10th is another where water comes into play. A pond surrounds the green on three sides. Here the water is more visually intimidating than actually threatening. The hole is very short and the green has rough all the way around it before the water comes into play. It's a short shot and room for error, but even with a wedge in your hand sometimes the visual can be unnerving.

The Conklin Players Club is never dull, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone. High handicappers will likely struggle and some traditionalists might think the elevation changes are a bit overdone.

From the tips the course plays 6,772 yards. From the front tees it plays 4,699. The middle tees play to 6,128 yards with a 121 slope and rating of 69.5. But again, remember those distances are relative to the up and down play from hole to hole.

Orientation

The Conklin Players Club is in Conklin, Broome County, N.Y. just a 15-minute drive south of Binghamton. From I-81 south take the Kirkwood-Conklin exit make a right off the ramp. At the first traffic light make a left onto Route 7 and the course will be about a mile on the right.

Where to Stay

The Colonial Brick Motel is just down the road and offers a stay and play package. Call (800) 290-3922 for more information. If you prefer the B&B experience call the Larrabee Bed and Breakfast in Conklin at (607) 775-1304.

Where to Dine

Take the short drive to Binghamton for more options. The Bulls Head Restaurant on Front St. (607) 723-7331 and Number 5 on S. Washington St. (607) 723-0555 are a couple of possibilities.

Off Course

The Roberson Museum and Science Center on Front St. in Binghamton is touted as a nationally recognized interactive museum. It's also rumored to be haunted! (no doubt delighting Mr. Serling, where ever he may be). Binghamton also has a neat little zoo, The Ross Park Zoo and Carousel Exhibit (Broome County is known as the Carousel Capitol of the World). More info at rossparkzoo.com.

The Verdict

Find the Conklin Players Club and play it! The course has lots of interesting holes, it's kept in good shape and you definitely will not be bored. Playing it a second time will certainly improve your chances of scoring. The elevation changes are tough on first time players and knowing where to place your shots is a big help in certain holes. There are some scary shots, but most golfers are going to enjoy this 'other dimension'.

The Conklin Players Club
1520 Conklin Rd.
Conklin, N.Y. 13748
(607) 775-3042
www.conklinplayers.com

En-Joie Golf Club

By Darryl Berger, (Endicott, NY)

En-Joie Golf Club is a municipal golf course owned and operated by the town of Endicott, New York. In many ways its like other munis, very reasonable green fees and as a result lots of play. But En-Joie is unlike almost all other munis in that it hosts a PGA tour event!

Every July the tour stops at En-Joie for the BC Open. What's the BC Open you ask? It's named for the BC comic strip and dates back to the early 70's. You can be excused if you don't recall much about the tourney or past winners, because it falls during the same week as the British Open. So Tiger, Vijay, Phil and the other top pros skip the event. The 2003 winner was a well-known tour fixture, The Walrus, Craig Stadler took home the more than half million dollar first prize after shooting 21 under par. Not bad when you consider he had turned 50 and won the previous week on the Champions Tour.

So here's your shot at playing where the pros play and doing so at a blue-collar price. It's popular with the locals, so if you're passing through don't expect to cop a weekend morning tee time. You can ride on the weekend for just over 50 bucks! You can walk during the week for just over $30!

En-Joie's distinguishing feature is small ponds that are ringed with stone walls. Many of the ponds also feature fountains. It's a nice aesthetic and they come into play often for those of us not playing on the PGA tour.

Most of the fairways are tree lined. You shouldn't loss many balls in the trees, but you could very well end up punching out if you're not straight off the tee.

The pros tend to score well at En-Joie for a couple of reasons. By their standards the course, at around 7000 yards, is not overly long. Also the greens do not have a lot of wild undulation. So if they've got the flat stick working, they can go low.

En-Joie has four sets of tees. The Pro tees stretch it just beyond 7000 yards. The front tees set the course at 5200 yards. Most golfers will play the tees at about 6200 yards with a slope of 125 and course rating of 70.4.

Orientation

Endicott is just west of Binghamton, N.Y. Take Route 17 west and exit onto Route 17C west. The course sits right along 17C on the left.

Where to Stay

En-Joie Golf Club has stay and play packages with three nearby hotels, The Treadway Inn, Holiday Inn Express and The Kings Inn. Call (607) 785-1661 to find out more or make reservations.

Where to Dine

Right in the town of Endicott try the American cuisine at Jonathan's Restaurant on Hooper Rd (607) 754-6244 or Italian cuisine at A Touch of Sicily on Main St. (607) 786-0215.

Off Course

A good first stop would be the Endicott Visitors Center housed in Colonial Hall on Lincoln Ave. (607) 785-0978. If you are there in the late summer or fall, visit the Cider Mill on south Naticoke Ave. The authentic mill turns out sweet cider and homemade doughnuts from late August through Thanksgiving.

The Verdict

You're probably not going to get too many shots at playing a PGA tour venue. Take this one! Granted this isn't Pebble or Torrey Pines (courses you can actually play if you've got the necessary financial resources). Like many popular munis, getting a tee time isn't always easy and some rounds might be a slow go. Also conditions won't be at their best during times of heavy play. But that taken that into account, for muni prices you can tee it up at a course that delivers much more than the run-of-the-mill municipal track. I'm probably not the first to say it, but here it goes anyway. "You 're sure to enjoy En-Joie!"

En-Joie Golf Club
W. Main Street
Endicott, N.Y. 13760
(607) 785-1661
www.enjoiegolf.com

Links at
Hiawatha Landing

By Darryl Berger, (Apalachin, N.Y.)

The Links at Hiawatha Landing is like so many courses that use the word 'links', it is more accurately called a heathland design. It doesn't have the geography (close to the sea) to be a true links course, but it is an outstanding track. If you didn't bring your thinking cap, you're probably in for a long day. If you employ some good judgment and discretion along the way, you're likely to shoot a decent score.

Several ponds on the course are used to great affect. The 18th is a great example of what all closing holes should be, equal parts danger and opportunity. The par-5 swings left around a large pond. The safe route is a fairway wood or long iron straight off the tee. But if you need that final hole birdie, you'll probably look to cut the corner of the pond. That can shorten the hole to give you a chance to get home in two or dump you in the water and a chance to post an ugly digit.

Course architects Brian Silva and Mark Mungeam have created a par-72 layout that requires you to make shots and think your way around to score. There are no blind shots and no forced carries, so the less accomplished player can also get around without too much damage to their pride or scorecard.

The Links at Hiawatha Landing allows you to dial in the distance from which you are most comfortable. There are five sets of tees. The tips stretch the course to over 7,000 yards. The front tees shorten it to 5,100. The middle tees play to 6,200 yards with a slope of 121 and course rating of 69.6.

Orientation

The Links at Hiawatha Landing is in Apalachin, Tioga County, N.Y. It's a 20-minute ride west of Binghamton off Route 17. Exit 17 at Apalachin and make a right onto Route 434. Go a mile and a half before turning right onto Marshland Rd. You'll drive another mile before coming to the course.

Where to Stay

The Links at Hiawatha Landing has stay and play agreements with four local motels. Call (800) 30GOLF3 to find out about packages at the Binghamton Regency, Holiday Inn Arena, Kings Inn and Owego Treadway Inn.

Where to Dine

Your options are few if you stay close to the course. Better to head east toward Binghamton on Route 17. Before you get there, exit at the town of Vestal. Among your choices there is the Kampai Japanese Steakhouse on Jensen Rd (607) 798-7521 or the Phoenician on the Vestal Parkway (607) 729-9447.

Off Course

Since you've stopped there to eat, might as well check out a few things in the town of Vestal. The Vestal Museum on the Vestal Parkway can provide a overview of the region 's history. More info at (607) 748-1432. Also in Vestal is one of the largest observatories open to the public in the Northeast. The Kopernik Space Education Center/Observatory can provide some entertainment and education.

The Verdict

The Links at Hiawatha Landing is generally ranked among the best public courses in New York. That ranking is well deserved. I'm not generally a fan of heathland style courses. I think there are too many of them and they often seem plunked down where there is some open ground. This course is different. The design team of Silva and Mungeam has created a layout that's playable for the novice, challenging for the accomplished golfer and makes everyone think their way around if they hope to shoot a good score. It's a course that's worth going out of your way to play. Because it's not located near a metropolitan area the greens fees are very reasonable.

Links at Hiawatha Landing
2350 Marshland Road
Apalachin, NY 13732
(607) 687-6952
www.hiawathalinks.com

Mark Twain
Golf Course

By Darryl Berger, (Elmira, NY)

The Mark Twain Golf Course in Elmira, NY represents the intersection of two great men who were arguably the best in their respective fields. The course is named for perhaps the greatest American writer. Scottish born Donald Ross, architect of some of this country's greatest courses, designed it.

First some history and then we'll get to the course. In 1870, Samuel Clemens (better known by his pen name, Mark Twain) married Olivia Langdon of Elmira, NY. The couple and their children would summer in Elmira at the farm of Olivia's sister. It was there that Mark Twain wrote such seminal literary works as 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn' and 'Life on the Mississippi'.

And so it was that Elmira named its municipal golf course after Mark Twain. It was built in 1937 and exactly how much of a hand Ross had in building it is debatable. At that time his company had grown to the point that Ross wasn't intensively involved in all his projects. That said, Mark Twain Golf Course possesses the qualities of classic design. It seems to come naturally out of ground on which it is built. The terrain is gently rolling and the course was built without moving around massive amounts of dirt.

Like good Ross designs, Mark Twain has an organic, unforced feel to it. The No. 1 handicap hole is a good example. The fifth hole is a more than 550-yard par-5 with a severely canted green that's set an odd angle for the approach. There is a dramatic elevation drop from tee to green, but it's along the slope of the land. The hole doesn't seem imposed on the land, it seems to come out of it!

Ross didn't like water hazards and that's reflected here. There are no water hazards on the course. He did like visual deception and that's evident on the first hole. A bunker that appears to be directly in front of the green is actually several yards back in the fairway.

The slope of 126 from the white tees, with a 71.2 course rating is an indication MTGC is no pushover. The par-72 design has just three sets of tees. The blues stretch to almost 6900 yards. The whites play more than 6,400. The front (red) tees play just over 5,000 yards.

Orientation

Elmira is in Chemung County, NY and located along Route 17 about 60 miles west of Binghamton. If your traveling on 17 west exit onto 352 west to Route 14 north. The course will be 3 miles up on the left.

Where to Stay

The Hilton Garden Inn on Arnot Rd in Horseheads (unusual name) is close by. More info at hilton.com. If you're looking for something a little different. A half-hour drive to the north will take you into the Finger Lakes wine region. The Inn at Glenora Wine Cellars along Rt. 14A in Dundee, NY provides a comfortable stay and a chance to explore that part of the Empire State. Contact the owners at glenora.com or (607) 739-3681.

Where to Dine

A Step Above on Lake Rd. in Elmira is good for soup and a sandwich. It's even better for a decedent dessert. Their number is (607) 732-3960. Mustico's Irish Brigade has traditional pub food on Ithaca St. in Horseheads and you can call them at (607) 739-7373.

Off Course

If you time your visit right you can see one of the major near by sporting events. Watkins Glen is a short drive north of Elmira. NASCAR fans flock to 'The Glen' in mid-August for the speed and fury of that annual Nextel Cup race. More info at theglen.com. In late May the LPGA makes an annual stop in close by Corning, NY for the Corning Classic. You can visit Corning anytime to pick up some cookware. Not surprising that's the headquarters of the Corning Cookware Co. You can also visit Mark Twain's Study where he penned so many of his classic works. It was moved from the farmhouse where he originally wrote them, to the campus of Elmira College. Mark Twain's burial site is also located in town.

The Verdict

Mark Twain Golf Course is much better than the average muni. The course has a solid, if unspectacular design. Like any muni it gets heavy play, so its conditions are not country club pristine. You might not plan your next trip around a loop at MTGC, but if you're in the neighborhood you won't regret playing there. As for value, the $20 greens fees represent a real bargain!

Mark Twain Golf Course
2275 Corning Road
Elmira, NY 14903
(607) 737-5770