To get pumped up for the 9/27 outing at Mountain Ridge, I decided to make a day trip and play a Ross layout I had yet to see--Thendara Golf Club. Thendara is about one hour from Utica in the Southwestern portion of the Adirondacks. It consists of two vastly different nines. The back nine is a newer layout by Russell Bailey cut through virgin woodlands along the Moose River. Because of the beautiful forestry and hilly terrain, the back nine presents a lot of interest. 10 and 18 have brilliant raised greensites that can be diabolical if missed in the wrong spot. The 11th is a beautiful short par four along the Moose River, where player is asked to flirt with the river off the tee on the right to get the best angle into a green snuggled into a wooded hillside. The 14th and 15th are also highlights, weaving back and forth around hillsides to create illusion and strategy.
While the back nine is interesting enough, it does not have enough variety in the greens to be considered anywhere near great. It is the Donald Ross-designed front that is the real treat for GCA junkies like ourselves. The nine holes are routed beautifully in typical Ross fashion, with a tee being no more than fifty yards from the previous green. The course has some beautiful rippling terrain and some vintage bunkering. The short par four 3rd hole is best example the good terrain that is used perfectly by Ross. The player can either lay back to a flat lie off the tee, or he can gamble with the driver with the risking of leaving a downhill lie for the approach. The rub is that the plateau green is best approach from both a flat lie and the out of bounds-defending left side of the fairway. However, the 3rd hole not withstanding, the tee to green strategy is by no means the strength of the Ross layout. The real treat is the collection of Ross greens. While greens at 4 and 5 appeared to have been altered, the greens at 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9 appear to be original and contain wild interior contours.
7 and 9 are two greens that are unlike anything I have seen before. 7 is set in a field with the elevation change of a billiard table. Yet the green contains two giant, manmade mounds within the green. The two mounds run perpendicular to the line of play. One mound is 5 yards deep into the green, and the other is 25 yards deep into the green. These two mounds make the approach into the short par four vexing, and the green as a whole provides a great defense for an otherwise benign par four. The 9th green, like the seventh, is set in a field and uses wild contouring to spice up benign topography. Unlike the seventh, the 9th is a long par three, meaning that the wild green turns a tough hole into the most difficult hole on the Ross nine. The 9th consists of one dominant contour: a giant mound 10 yards wide and 20 yards deep in the middle of the green. Any shot not hit with accuracy and conviction will be shrugged well away from the usual pin placement atop the mound. The green is borderline goofy, but it is also tons of fun. Like many long par threes of the Golden Age, the best miss at the ninth is short and straight to give the best opportunity for a three. The ninth also remains reasonable because there is plenty of putting surface surrounding the mound. A shot that rolls off the side of the mound will stay on the green and leave a difficult putt, and it will only be poorly played tee shots that find the greenside bunkers.
While every hole on the Ross nine has some merit, the course is worth seeing for the 3rd, 7th and 9th alone. Coupled with a different but fun back nine, Thendara presents a great opportunity for a golf excursion into the Adirondacks. The Ross fanatics will love the front and find enough interest on the back nine to accept the jekyll and hyde feeling. In other threads, people mentioned that Thendara was a good course, but it was not worth playing over courses in the area like Teugega or Yahnundasis. Of course, they did not mention that Thendara is public, cheap ($25 twilight), and very laid-back (jeans are a staple). In short, it is a haven in an era of overpriced and overproduced layouts, classic and modern alike. Thendara is DEFINITELY worth a play if you are in the area. ROSS FREAKS UNITE!