Hidden gems in Harrisburg Pa?

[mike_malone]

 So that means not Dauphin Natioinal or Iron Valley. Ideas please

[Kyle Harris]

West Shore
West Shore
A million times West Shore!

[Joe Bausch]

West Shore
West Shore
A million times West Shore!

Mayday, try West Shore.

Or Iron Valley.

 

[mike_malone]

 Thank you so much; I guess I'll keep my gca.com membership for one more day!

[Dan Herrmann]

Links at Gettysburg (other than the waterfall on 18) is good fun.  Not world-class GCA, but it's sporty.

I really like Hershey Links (Wren Dale) - they often have deals on golfnow.com

[Jim Sherma]

Mike

I sent you a PM. For the broader audience my personal thoughts of the area courses are as follows:

Hershey West - I think this is the best of the bunch by a decent bit - really good set of holes and with cool history

The next three are all good:

Lebanon CC - classy old Findlay - front nine is good...back nine is great
Hershey East - Not everyone's cup of tea - very "Dark Ages" stylistically and very difficult - I personally like it a lot and learn something new every time I play it - I've seen many pretty good players just beaten down and demoralized playing it - back tees will test anyone
West Shore - real good old school course - I think more plays will only make me like it more - not overly difficult but quite good

These are good and I would definitely not turn down a game here:

Harrisburg CC - I need more rounds here, I think it might be closer to the group above than I am giving it credit for
Colonial CC - good course over good land - now public - I last played it after the flooding last year and it was fairly beaten on, not sure what the condition is at this point
Dauphin Highlands - I really like this course and it generally is in decent shape - slow rounds in prime time but a very solid layout
Hershey Links - should be generally kept more firm - the architecture is good and would be in the above grouping given a better maintenance-meld
Spring Creek - 9 hole course in Hershey that used to be the "Hershey Juvenile Golf Club" - still has 5 original Maurice McCarthy greens and I can walk it in just under an hour

These are not my cup of tea but all have some good stuff going for them:

Blue Ridge - tough but doesn't really do it for me - Routing is classic sardine can and the greens are pretty uniformly front to back, severe and fast - first time I played it a member said hit it straight and keep it below the hole, that was the strategy for all but two or three holes on the course - I have not played it since it went public
Iron Valley - I know many guys that like it - does absolutely nothing for me and I have little to no desire to go back, saying that, there are a few really good holes and then some that just leave me scratching my head
Royal Oaks - some decent holes but have heard nothing good about conditioning this year

Nothing else in the area rises above basic muni-level stuff.

[Lance Rieber]

I spent week last summer in Harrisburg/Hershey. What is the course behind the Giant center in Hershey?  Never saw it even tho drove around it a bunch

[Dan Herrmann]

Lance - I think that course shut down when Hershey (the company) bought Wren Dale and renamed it "Hershey Links"

[Rob_Waldron]

Mayday

Hershey West has always been one of my favorites. Unfortunately, it had become a bit rundown over time. I played there in July and it was spectacular! They have spent a few dollars on the conditions and it shows. They have also completely renovated the clubhouse and locker rooms which was a pleasant surprise. HCC West and HCC Links now make a great pair of courses. I am still not a big fan of the East course, however it will due in a pinch.

Rob

[Jim Sherma]

I spent week last summer in Harrisburg/Hershey. What is the course behind the Giant center in Hershey?  Never saw it even tho drove around it a bunch

That was old Hershey Parkview. Maurice McCarthy that predated Hershey West by a year or so (When American Golf ran Hershey's golf operations it was called the South course). Some of the map sites still have it shown. It was a neat old course with a bunch of half par holes and had to have been one of the better public courses back in its time. You really needed to be able to move the ball around to score there. It closed almost seven years ago and many of us are still annoyed by the loss of the course. It was very land-locked and really had no good way to lenghthen and/or toughen it. That coupled with the placement of the waste disposal plant right next to one of the greens probably made it obsolete as a way of helping fill hotel rooms.

[Lance Rieber]

Thanks, I didn't think I was that crazy to have missed it.   Let me second or third the West course at Hershey. I loved it. Great fun with some interesting use of land. Particularly liked the par five 2, 7,10-17.  Fun course. I also enjoyed the East also, but not as much as the west, didn't seem to have the same charm.

[JNagle]

Mike - Kyle is right about West Shore.  Worth a visit.  Excellent greensites and a good routing.  If you are in Harrisburg you are close enough to Rt. 83.  I would suggest the 1/2 drive down to the Country Club of York.  Nothing south of Hazleton/WB/Scranton area along 81 or over the A/B/E or Lancaster matches York.  West Shore is good, but York is the better of the two.  Lebanon is cool and funky, there are two contrasting nines.  We visited there with Ron Whitten last year during a tour of Bedford and Lancaster.  He loved the back nine Findlay holes, especially 10, 11, 12, 16 and 18.  York is good Donald Ross with an EXCELLENT set of untouched pure greens.

[Mark McKeever]

Agreed with Kyle.  West Shore is really good.

Mark

[Rob_Waldron]

CC of York approximately 30 minutes south is definitely worth a visit as is Lancaster CC about 45 minutes east!