revisiting Pilgrim's Oak (Hurdzan/Fry in Peach Bottom, PA)

[Joe Bausch]

With the recent "affordable golf" thread, I thought I would revisit Pilgrim's Oak.  I had done a thread back in late 2007 with pics of the green.  Let's do something more now.

I've only played a handful of Hurdzan/Fry courses, and Pilgrim's Oak in Peach Bottom, PA is a lesser known of their work, a neat little public course built on a former farm out in the beautiful Amish country.  What really strikes me most about Pilgrim's Oak is that the greens are fairly bold, more like for a private club than public.

Here is the routing, and it appears the aerial was taken not long after some greens were punched and sanded:



All the pictures are 'clickable' to a larger size.

#1:  Slightly downhill par 4 (428 yards) where big hitters will likely just hit a 3 wood as a booming drive can roll down a big slope, but the fairway is S-shaped and the ball will end up in the rough.







#2:  Par 4 (414 yards) with an uphill tee shot with fairway bunkers left and right.







#3:  The angle from the tips is interesting on this par 4 (382 yards) where a creek comes into play about 100 yards short of the green, as well as tree near the creek:







#4:  This is sort of a simple par 3 (130 yards), to a fairly large green, but missing the green leaves a fairly tough up and down; stay tuned, however, as I think the other par 3's are better!





#5:  A shortish, but quite uphill, par 4 (338 yards) with OB left and a fairly shallow green.







#6:  The first par 5 at PO (515 yards) is a sweeping dogleg right with water to the right.  Your better players will probably expect birdie here.  The tee shot is blind but I love a landscape where you can line up off the right silo to leave maybe 200 yards in for the 2nd shot!







#7:  A par 4 (423 yards) with a two-tiered green.







#8:  A downhill par 3 (204 yards) with a stream and pond short, and a green that slopes fairly hard from right to left.







#9:  The No. 1 handicap hole is this par 5 (548 yards) that is a very steady climb uphill.







And here's the view of the countryside from near the 9th green.  Note the horse-pulled implement in the distance of what is likely an Amish farm.



Now it is time for the back nine at Pilgrim's Oak, which I find harder to score on than the front.

#10:  A par 4 (423 yards) with a small, three-tiered green.









#11:  This par 4 (383 yards) starts from elevated tees, a dogleg-right that goes very uphill at the end.







#12:  (groan) The signature hole at PO is this 198 yard par 3.







#13:  A slight dogleg-left par 4 (364 yards) where the tee shot looks very narrow and there is OB left; but the fairway opens up at about 250 yards so driver is really the play for most here, IMO.









#14:  A dogleg-right par 5 where bigger hitters may try to consider biting off some of the yardage by carrying part/all of the bunker right; the green is narrow and tucked up against a lateral hazard.







#15:  A long par 4 (434 yards) with an interesting two-tiered green, with the lower tier sitting down ~5'.









#16:  A blind tee shot on this par 4 (390 yards) with another wonderful green with so many pin locations, the most devious being back left.





#17:  Another beautiful par 3 (179 yards).







#18:  A short par 5 (493 yards) but lots of water in play on the 2nd (and perhaps 3rd shot) shot in.









Here is my photo album with all the photos and formatted at a larger size:

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/PilgrimsOak/index.html

Enjoy!

[Michael Blake]

Nice job Joe.

Pilgrims's Oak is a fun course.
Good rolling terrain, interesting greens, relatively minimal yet effective bunkering.

I wish it were just a tad closer.

[mike_malone]

 While it does not show up in the photos very well I find the greens to be raised too much and often they fight with the rolling terrain.

[Mark McKeever]

Great photo tour Joe.  Its been a while since Ive played it, but very fond memories.  Its a pretty neat golf course.

Mark

[PThomas]

thanks Joe, looks like some good holes out there

what was the green fee?

[Joe Bausch]

thanks Joe, looks like some good holes out there

what was the green fee?

Last week it was 12 bucks.

Twilight rates during the summer are around 20 bucks.

[PThomas]

thanks Joe, looks like some good holes out there

what was the green fee?

Last week it was 12 bucks.

Twilight rates during the summer are around 20 bucks.

sweet - i'd pay at least twice as much at one of the 2 Cog Hill courses that stay open year round

[Matt_Ward]

Joe, et al:

Pilgrim's Oak is a fine diversion but frankly let's not the $$ item be the sole ingredient for discussion.

If you want a better all around golf option that's very affordable try Greencastle Greens at the south end of I-81 before you leave Pennsy.

Hurdzan / Fry did well with the course -- just people need to realize you are not playing something akin to Wild Horse or Black Mesa.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe, et al:

Pilgrim's Oak is a fine diversion but frankly let's not the $$ item be the sole ingredient for discussion.

If you want a better all around golf option that's very affordable try Greencastle Greens at the south end of I-81 before you leave Pennsy.

Hurdzan / Fry did well with the course -- just people need to realize you are not playing something akin to Wild Horse or Black Mesa.

Thanks for checking in Matt.

Joe (from Pennsy)

[John Shimony]

Great stuff, Joe.  The course doesn't seem to have an excess of mounding that assaults the eye.  Looks interesting without forcing anything.  The par 4 second hole has a triangular bunkering pattern that reminded me of the 14th at Lancaster CC (as seen from Ran's course review), a bunker on each side and one further up on the outside of the dogleg that adds that little something else for the player take into account off the tee.  Is the far bunker reachable on #2, seems like fairly good rise.

[Joe Bausch]

Is the far bunker reachable on #2, seems like fairly good rise.

The far right bunker isn't really in play.  From the back tees it is 320 yards.

I could get real snarky at this point, but I won't directly.  But thanks John for asking a substantive question, as that is the primary point of these photo tours.

[Mark McKeever]

Joe, et al:

Pilgrim's Oak is a fine diversion but frankly let's not the $$ item be the sole ingredient for discussion.

If you want a better all around golf option that's very affordable try Greencastle Greens at the south end of I-81 before you leave Pennsy.

Hurdzan / Fry did well with the course -- just people need to realize you are not playing something akin to Wild Horse or Black Mesa.

Thats a hike.    You might as well drive to Bedford Springs at that point...

Mark

[Rory Connaughton]

Joe

  Thanks for the photo tour.  This course is about 30 minutes south of my home.  I'm not sure there are many courses that are a better value.  Its privately owned and priced like a municipal course.  Conditions are usually very good and it sits on some great rolling land.  Perhaps most important, it keeps strong and weak players alike interested for the entire round. Some excellent par 3's.

[Matt_Ward]

Rory:

I concur -- great value and generally good turf quality with a fine design. For most people Pilgrim's Oak is just the right connection.

I simply mentioned Greencastle Greens because so few people ever mention it when Pennsy public golf is discussed.

[Rory Connaughton]

Matt

  I had never heard of Greencastle before you referenced it above. Its about 100 miles southwest of Lancaster. Took a quick look at the site but didn't see any architectural attribution.  How did you find it and who designed it?

[Ronald Montesano]

If peaches are roundish, can they have a bottom?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Never heard of Greencastle Greens. From it's location west of Gettysburg, it looks like it may get play from the Baltimore area. I found this at golflink.com:

Designed by John Elder, the Greencastle Greens golf course opened in 1991. Troon Golf, LLC manages this facility, with Michael Reid as the Golf Professional.


Also, from the user reviews, it seems like there are some blind shots:

http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.aspx?course=1379956

[Matt_Ward]

Rory:

You should play it when time allows.

Gets little attention because too many of the Phillie boys don't drive beyond a 50-mile radius of the city.

Conveniently located just off I-81 and minutes from the PA / MD stateline.

I would place it among my top ten Pennsy public courses that I have played -- keep in mind my last round there was about five years ago.