When my brother, who graduated from West Point back in 2009, told my wife and I that he would be returning to his alma mater for a two-year teaching stint beginning this fall, we started looking for ways to visit before the summer was over. For the past several years, my brother and his family have lived up and down the east coast, but between us starting a family and me pursuing my PGA Class A Certification, we just couldn’t find a way to make a trip work… until now.
One of the courses my brother has had his eye on playing since relocating is The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge in Monroe, New York. It’s a little more than 30 minutes away from West Point and just happens not only to be a Troon Golf property but also a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course like La Paloma Country Club in Tucson where I work. I couldn’t wait to compare Nicklaus designs!
The course opened for play in 1999 and is located at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the historic highlands of what’s considered the Hudson Valley. It was built around natural tree lines and wetlands on an historic 220 acres with landmarks predating the American Revolution. The natural stone walls that frame the Par 3 5th and the Par 4 10th holes almost make you feel as if you could see muskets and smell gunpowder.
The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge plays 6,889 yards from the Tour Tees to a Par of 72, a course rating of 74.9, and a slope of 145. There are five sets of tees on each hole, and all of the tee markers look like headstones you would find in a cemetery and feature the Mansion Ridge “MR” logo. Here are some of the highlights of the round:
Holes Worth Writing Home About
When we rolled up to the first tee looking for a little local course knowledge, the starter told us to expect to be lulled to sleep for the first few holes before getting jarred awake at the 9th. He wasn’t wrong. Mansion Ridge was once ranked among the Top 20 Best Public Golf Courses in New York by Golf Digest, and holes like No. 9 are a big reason why.
The 9th hole, called Hunting Ground, is by far the most difficult hole on the entire golf course and can best be described as diabolical. The 539-yard Par 5 looks pretty tame from the tee, but between your tee shot and your elevated second, there is a sizable forced carry due to a creek bisecting the fairway. It’s high season in upstate New York. The fairways are green, and the native grasses are tall and lush.
No doubt, this was one of the “extreme elevation changes” that accompany the spectacular 50-mile views of graceful ridges and rolling foothills that make up the surrounding countryside described on the Nicklaus Design web site. This is a mountain course to be sure.
Should you clear that creek, there’s another one waiting to collect your ball short of the elevated green. Crushed shell bunkers short left and long right look to wreak even more havoc if your approach shot lacks the proper distance. All of the holes at Mansion Ridge have names, which I love, and I have to say that No. 9 is named appropriately. At one point, I didn’t know if we were the hunters or the hunted.
The course also features some pretty stunning rock formations throughout, none more evident than the gneiss rock face next to the green after you turn onto the 446-yard Par 4 14th known as Bear Corner. Gneiss (pronounced NICE) is a metamorphic rock common to the area and looks a lot like granite. This grass-covered outcropping on this slight dogleg right has to be at least 30-feet high in some spots and really frames the hole nicely (no pun intended).
Quiet Please…
Another thing the starter told us was that the greens weren’t all that undulating for a Nicklaus course. He was right about that too! These were by far the least-undulating Nicklaus greens I have ever played, which is surprising. The greens at La Paloma, in true Nicklaus fashion, have a ton of slope and break. Could this be a sign of a new, softer Jack?
While the fairways are completely bentgrass, the greens are bentgrass mixed with a little poa. “Unless your course is new,” one of the superintendents driving around the course told us, “you’re going to have a little poa.” Even though maintenance couldn’t mow them because it rained overnight, the greens were still really true.
About the only negative thing I can say about Mansion Ridge concerns the driving range located next to the 18th-century stone clubhouse. Because the carts were on GPS lockdown, you couldn’t drive them down the steep hill to the practice area, but why bother? The day we were there, you could only hit irons off of mats, and even if the turf tees were open, there’s no way it’s long enough for you to hit your driver.
The best warm-up you’re going to get will be off the grass over at the short game area where at least you can hit pitch shots and some approach wedges for a little turf interaction. It’s too bad there’s not more room for players to hit longer clubs before they play or even if they wanted to come out and practice.
There were several screeching hawks flying overhead and a ton of Monarch butterflies fluttering about when we played. Apparently, they were still a couple of weeks early. In late August, masses of Monarchs begin an epic migration stretching thousands of miles from areas across the United States and as far north as Canada (east of the Rocky Mountains) to overwinter in the mountaintops of Central Mexico.
Fore!
So there we no real candidates for a “shot of the day,” but since our threesome skipped the 3rd hole to get around a slow foursome, my brother and I asked if we could head back out to re-play the front nine shortly after we finished. Less than ten minutes after we finished, we were back on the tee, and flew around in about 1:15!
It was nice to get a little one-on-one brother time. It was just the two of us out there when we resumed, and it reminded me of when we were younger. As kids, we used to “put up the pirate flag” and sneak out to play a few holes at our neighborhood Forty Niner Country Club in the afternoon after school. Those times seem so long ago, and because of where we live now, we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. That’s what makes occasions like this so special.
While We’re Young
Pace of play is a hot-button topic on the PGA Tour, and it’s always a big issue with me. All Troon-managed facilities have a Time Par printed on the scorecard and posted throughout the property. The Time Par at Mansion Ridge is 4:33. We played the course in about 3:38 but again, decided to skip the 3rd hole because we were stuck behind a pretty slow group. That was a good call! The cart path only policy due to some overnight rain added another obstacle for golfers to have to navigate.
Next On the Tee
Hiland Park Country Club in Queensbury. We’re making our way further north to visit some family in the Saratoga area. It’s widely considered one of the finest public facilities in Northeast New York.