Lake Placid Golf

[Will Lozier]

In 2008, Neil Crafter started a thread about MacKenzie's Adirondack Club which had been listed as NLE only to conclude through some great research and with the help of many others on this site, that the course was ultimately doomed by the Depression and likely had only one green built - the 18th. 

Sadly, in my 5 years as a teaching profession in Burlington, VT, I never visited the Lake Placid area to play either of the two courses with great architectural pedigree (Dunn, Findlay, MacKenzie), nor Craig Wood GC, nor Stiles & Van Kleek's Whiteface, nor the quirky Ausable Club. 

The aerials of the LP Club's courses look about as old school as it gets - in particular the bunkering looks fantastic, especially on Dunn's Links Course.  As there is so little information on any of these, and almost no good photos, has anyone played at LPC or at any of the other courses mentioned above?

Cheers

[Keith Doleshel]

Will,
I am going to preface this by saying that I loved Lake Placid on my one and only visit there last summer.  Beautiful area of the country, fun downtown area, and a GREAT brewery in Lake Placid Brew Pub (try the Ubu or Moose Island ales).   

As far as golf goes, I only played one round, it was on the Mountain course at the Lake Placid Club.  It was a little underwhelming, I guess I was expecting a little more MacKenzie there.  I have played Pasatiempo, Valley Club, Meadow Club, Green Hills, and didn't get the feeling that the same designer was a part of all those courses.  It was ok, nothing to make a special trip for.  It was strange in that the course has the longest par 3 I have ever played (around 280 yards, downhill, but still hitting driver) and then a drivable par 4 of around 255 yards.  It was kind of bizarre.  The Links looked pretty cool, but I only saw it from a distance.

I have a buddy who is an assistant pro at a club in upstate NY who favors Whiteface Club when he makes his rather frequent trips up to Lake Placid.  We passed by Craig Wood on the way into town, it looked quirky, a little rough around the edges, but thought it would be a fun place to play.  I don't have any knowledge of the Ausable Club, that is one I will ask him about next time I talk to him.  He favored the Links course of the two at LP Club, but I know he prefers Whiteface above all else up there.

[Will Lozier]

Keith, 

Thanks for the info, I had expected that AM never really left his mark in terms of the bunkering which to me is his most obvious trait.  I'd love to know what all he is responsible for there.  The Links really intrigues me looking at aerials and the newest pics on the website - reminds me a lot of Kebo Valley in Bar Harbor, ME, one of my favorite golf experiences and a course I've played probably 30 times.  The bunkering on the Links looks so interesting from above. 

Interesting that your buddy prefers Whiteface Club but not totally surprising as what (little) I'd heard was positive.  I would like to take my wife and 1-year-old up to the Adirondacks sometime in the next few years for a summer getaway and your input really helps.  Would love to hear more when you get a chance.  Thanks again.

Cheers

Here is the link to the photo gallery and, while many pics really show very little, there are some (newer ones) that make me really want to ckeck it out!

http://www.lakeplacidcp.com/photo_gallery.html#Golf

[Carl Nichols]

My mom lives about 15 miles from Lake Placid, so I'm quite familiar with courses in that part of the Adirondacks.  My favorite, by a pretty big margin, is the Links at Lake Placid Club (Seymour Dunn) -- a really fun course with some quirk and incredible views.  At one point the Saranac Inn course (also Dunn) was highly touted, but I have always been underwhelmed.

[ed_getka]

Will,
   I played both courses there with my brother years ago. When I learned before our round about the Mackenzie connection I was even more excited. When we played the "Mackenzie" course I was convinced he hadn't done anything there except possibly #18 which is the hole you mentioned. An enjoyable day of 36 holes, but nothing one should ever go out of their way to see.
   The club seriously misrepresents the Mackenzie stuff in their advertising (at least back then).

[Keith Doleshel]

Ed,
I agree with you.  When I heard that there was a MacKenzie up there I was really excited to play it.  It was fun, but nothing that I would rush back to.  The club's advertising of the course does exaggerate things quite a bit.

Will,
Lake Placid is a really neat place.  Really glad my buddy suggested spending a weekend up there.  I was looking forward to going up there due to the Olympic history and everything, but was even more impressed than I had anticipated.  The downtown area was really neat, the Olympic stuff was awesome to check out, great fishing on the Ausable and on Lake Placid itself, hiking trails galore, a number of golf courses, just a cool place to spend a vacation.  Keep in mind LP is a small town, so there aren't a ton of options for kids.  Still, a place that is well worth checking out. 

[Brad Tufts]

Can someone giive a brief overview of the lake Placid golf options?  Maybe just a sentence about each course?

I've considered doing a weekend up there for golf from Boston...the town is obv cool, but never been sure if the golf was worth it.

[Neil_Crafter]

Will
While the Lake Placid Club website claims that Mackenzie redesigned the Mountain course I have not been able to find any corroborative evidence for this. When searching the northern NY newspapers for Mackenzie and the Adirondack Club of LP I never found one mention of him in connection with the LPC. It is certainly possible that they availed themselves of his services when he was visiting Lake Placid for the Adirondack Club project, I just haven't found anything to support it.

Interesting that those who have played the Mountain course say that they could see no Mackenzie there. That may well be true. One for us to dig into a bit more no doubt.

[Dan Byrnes]

I always felt Saranac Inn was the cream of the crop in the greater Lake Placid area.  I haven't played Whiteface since the opened it up, major tree removal several years back.

Dan

[Jim_Kennedy]

It's been over 20 years since I played golf in Lake Placid, but it's scenes like this that make it all worthwhile.... and as mentioned, it's a really cool town (especially in the winter  ).
 

[Carl Nichols]

Jim:
Am I correct that that's a picture of #1 on the Mountain course, taken from the clubhouse/patio above the pro shop?  [#1 is one of those first tees where you have lots of people milling about because the pro shop is right on the other side of the blacktop, they sometimes stage carts right there, and there is a patio and restaurant above the pro shop from which #1 is visible]