COURSE REVIEW

Tee times for you!
Today's Saranac
Inn is a great
golf play for all

By Chris Baldwin,
Senior Writer

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. (Sept. 5, 2006) - The last owner of the Saranac Inn Golf & Country Club frequently sat on the clubhouse porch next to the first tee, watching first-time visitors tee off. Golfers who took an ugly divot out of the owner's beloved tee box would often get their money handed back to them.

By the owner himself, effectively delivering an unmistakable Thanks, but no thanks.

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No golf for you!

You’ve heard of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. For years, Saranac Inn Golf & Country Club had the Golf Nazi. A guy named Walter Smachlo who protected his course with the fierceness of a mother bear.

"Guys would be afraid too tee off on No. 1 because they knew he was watching,’’ current co-owner Jim Conners said, chuckling. "You’ve never seen so many good golfers that nervous."

You think putting under major tournament pressure is a big deal? Try hitting your first drive of the day with your chances of continuing depending on it. Imagine the conversation with the wife for the guy sent home before his round’s two shots old. He pleaded, charmed and schemed his way into getting out of the house for an afternoon of golf with the boys. Then, he has to slink back home and spit out, the owner didn’t think I was good enough to play.

Oh, the wife cackles could be heard from here to Albany.

Thankfully, Saranac Inn has had its gates - and porch chairs - thrown wide open to public play. The wonders and quirks of a 102-year-old Seymour Dunn design are available as seldom before to average folks under the ownership team of Conners and Steve Wilson. Saranac Inn is a course that long catered to the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of the first half of the 20th century. The lavish hotel of the course name is long gone, having burned down in a fire in 1978 (the name remains out of tradition).

Now Saranac Inn is one of the history-steeped, reasonable plays in the Lake Placid region, a winter haven that carries plenty of underrated summer punch.

Modern royalty can still be found out on Saranac Inn’s narrow fairways with the great lies though. A Morgan Stanley founding family heir played the morning of this visit.

"We’ve had guys who are members at Baltusrol and Pine Valley out here,’’ Conners said, only name dropping arguably the two most exclusive country clubs on the East Coast, places where you need money, power and family history to even sniff membership. "They love this course."

Only now they’re loving it playing behind and in front of the teachers, electricians and salesmen who’ve plunked down the $65 greens fee (including cart). Saranac Inn carries a little different atmosphere than Pine Valley. Even if those chairs are still out there on the porch overlooking the first tee.

"Those guys from Baltusrol and Pine Valley need a break from that overbearingness too sometimes,’’ Conners said.

Not that Saranac Inn doesn’t aim to please in its own way. When a golfer requests a special made-to-order sandwich, Conners is likely to jump in his truck and drive it out to him on the course. For the non-Star Jones personality golfer, the fact that Saranac Inn rakes its bunkers every day is a much more important dedication flex. Post Golf Nazi there may be more divots made, but there’s still an obsessiveness toward repairing them.

You will find a grassy hill in the middle of one fairway. It blocks the green on the par-3 seventh. From the tee all you see is the top corner of the red flag flapping behind a hillcrest. Hit that iron short and you're looking at a difficult pitch from an awkward hill stance.

"I love that hole with the cute little hill. It's my favorite," vacationing golfer Lori Daniels said.

"I'm not a fan of that hill hole. I don't know what they were thinking on that one," another vacationing golfer, Dave Stopera, said.

Saranac Inn is 6,631 yards with a 124 slope rating - but it plays much tougher than the numbers indicate.

Such is life at Saranac Inn - it's love or hate on several holes. This course doesn't do ambivalence, and it doesn't do cookie-cutter.

Take the opening two holes. Saranac Inn begins with a 415-yard par 4 that usually plays right into the wind (the better to uncover hacks from drive one). No. 2 is a monster 560-yard par 5 that partly plays uphill.

Welcome. Here's a slap across the face.

"I tell golfers to remember that there are 18 holes on the golf course," Stevens said. "You can't get too intimidated by those first two. You've got 16 more to go."

And probably some big numbers to work off.

The verdict

Driving out to Saranac Inn on a windy road (it’s actual nine miles from downtown Saranac Lake) really gives you the feeling of being in the Adirondack woods. It’s more than worth the little trek. This is one of the more memorable courses in the entire region, one that’s liable to stick with you for several reasons.

Sometimes on the same hole. On No. 9, you really hear the birds squawking in the tall trees. It sounds like you’re in a jungle in upstate New York with Tucan Sam yapping away. Of course, you’re likely to even more wowed - and bowed - by the three-tier green at the end of this par 5 that looks like a green ocean wave and sends approach shots that land on the wrong tier flying off like a discarded surfer.

There's also a great closing run: a par 4 with a mountainous plateau green, a long par 3 with a lake clear, a long par 4 with trees and fescue pinching the fairway opening tighter than Jessica Alba's waist and a long, long uphill climb to a par 5 exclamation.

At least the bentgrass greens, a rarity for this region, give you a chance to sink some putts.

"It's in great shape for a public course," said Stopera, on his fifth overnight trip to play Saranac Inn. "It gives you a new idea of what a public golf course can be."

Stay and play

Saranac Inn & Country Club 125 County Route 46 Saranac Lake, NY Tee times: 518-523-2445 Web: www.lakeplacid.com

While there’s no hotel anymore, the Saranac Inn course ( (518) 891-1402) does have a modest 10-room, one-story motel that’s not much farther from the first tee than that clubhouse porch. Groups who stay here turn it into something of a tailgating/college dorm atmosphere. Be warned though: you should really like the people you’re staying with because once it gets dark and the course is closed, there’s no here out here, except for your conversation and card games.

For those interested in non-golfing activities, a hotel in downtown Lake Placid’s a better bet. Mirror Lake Inn and Crown Plaza Resort are the top choices.

Dining out

Golfers can order lunch in that charming porch clubhouse before they tee off and have it delivered out on the course. If you're looking for a special meal, you're not going to do better than The View (518-523-2544) at the Mirror Lake Inn. This is sophisticated food served up by a doting staff.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.