[Jay Flemma]

You know we never hear anything on this list about this $45 hidden gem.  Its totally strong 1-18, has interesting greens and hole templates, is treeless, so the wind whips, has solid bunkering and great strategy (7,9,16) and an excellent finish!

[Dave Bourgeois]

I have been meaning to get up there as I have heard nothing but great things about it.

I've also been Jonesing for a Lupo's Speedie as well.

[Jay Flemma]

I have been meaning to get up there as I have heard nothing but great things about it.

I've also been Jonesing for a Lupo's Speedie as well.

Yes, Dave, the speedies are the BOMB

Speedie shish kebab...I lived on that half the time in law school.  Best recipe my SE PA roommate ever taught me.

[Jerry Kluger]

Okay Jay, where is it, is there a link?

[Jay Flemma]

http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=6

www.hiawathalinks.com

See also Conklin Players Club and Greystone GC in Waltham, NY (near Rochester)

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played the course the year it opened.  The conditioning was a liitle ragged but the layout was fun and gave the players a lot of different options of the tee and into the greens. I'd like to get back there again.

[Jay Flemma]

Conditioning has been great every time I've been there...except when I played in the golf writer's tournament two years ago...we had 6 inches of rain in two days...

When we arrived for the second day, the tourney organizers (Sylvania) gave everyone nice blue pullovers they thought were water proof, so 48 golfers put them on

Turns out they were only water resistent  We all played between 9-12 holes and that was it...a mad rush to the showers!

[Mike_Cirba]

Jay,

I like most of HL a great deal, but 17 and 18 are really two clunkers to finish.  

Fortunately, the best stuff is in the middle of each nine, and it's an absolute steal for anyone travelling through south-central NY State.  

I drive past there more often than you'd imagine, including last weekend, but it appears they're presently closed for the winter, with tarps on the greens.

Shame too, because it was about 60 degrees and sunny.

[Thomas_Brown]

It's remote.
Conditioning was very good when I was there.
Some fun holes - middle of the front nine is exceptional.
Unfortunately it's in the state of NY which has a strong Top 100 without leaving the state.

[John Foley]

I tell everyone I can that Hiawatha is one of my favorite courses. The strategy that the course demands you execute, the great layout & the imaginitive greens brings you a great golf course. Done by Brian Silva.

The value is fantastic and the course is always busy. The one downside is it is hard by the Susquehanna and has had some flooding on the front side over the last few years. Not sure how it made out w/ this past summers rains that forced the BC Open to leave near by En Joie.

If this course was anywhere other than the suburbs of Binghamton NY iot would be raved about.

Here are some pics & descriptions from Hiawatha:

Hole 1 - Par 4  414 yards Dogleg left - Challange the inside bunker your rewarded w/ a short ewedge in your hands.



Hole 3 - Par 3 179 yards - Tucked into a side opening on the front. Small green.



Hole 6 - Par 3 223 yards - Hard by the irrigation pond w/ a narrow green. Bail out to the left and you are left w/ a pitch/chip over some rumpled ground to a very shallow area.



Hole 7 - Par 5 525 yards. - Great hole. River right, pond left bunker down the right side. Plays to an offset green. Long looks safe but the green will run away from there.



Hole 10 - Par 4 391 yards - bunker right Fescue/hill/nasty stuff left to slightly elevated very large green. Plays tough. this view is from the 11th tee looking back to the green.



Hole 11 - 433 yards dogleg left - Not a bunker in sight. Tree's right punish a too agressive line. Green sight is cut into the hill side w/ alot of movement.






Hole 12 - Par 5 583 yards. Very serpentine goes left off the tee then back right towrds the green. Great bunker guards the green from agressive play.



Hole 13 - Par 3 160 yards uphill . Small hourglass-shaped green w/ a spine bi-secting front left and back right. Miss the green and par is a fleating dream.





Hole 14 - Par 4 356 from the tips 330 from Blues - Severly downhill. Drivable or close to it, if it's F&F. Marsh on left and grove of trees & bunker short guard the green. Plays from the highest point on the course.



Hole 16 - Dogleg left par 4 - Tee shot w/ options conservative right agressive left. Catch the downhill & it's a fli[p wedge to the green - Hiss the tee shot it's double-bogey ville. Love the pedastal green.



Hole 17 Par 3 - 210 from tips 178 from blues. Trouble left (water) and right fescue .

Sits right there in front of you and tells you to hit the shot.



Hole 18 Par 5 523. Cut off as much as you can or play safe down the right. Failure to execute eiother will cause very large score. Very small green cut into the hill side w/ a very tough bunker fronting.

From tee



From corner



From about 90 yards in.



From behind green looking back.


Anyone traveling through it's a definite must play & a phenomenal value.

[Mike_Cirba]

John,

Thanks for sharing the pics....some really good holes overall.

Next time I'm going to be in the area without kid duties, I'll let you know.

[Jay Flemma]

Jay,

I like most of HL a great deal, but 17 and 18 are really two clunkers to finish.  

Fortunately, the best stuff is in the middle of each nine, and it's an absolute steal for anyone travelling through south-central NY State.  

I drive past there more often than you'd imagine, including last weekend, but it appears they're presently closed for the winter, with tarps on the greens.

Shame too, because it was about 60 degrees and sunny.

With great respect, they are a striong finish.   17 is a gorgeous draw par-3, but with plenty of bail room.  18 has tons of options and you can make 3 or 10 or anything in between...16 is stuilll one of my fave drives of all time...carry the cross bunkner you have 8-iron in....play safe to the right, its 5-wood...or pick any diagonal angle of attack form the tee in between and you'll have any club...plays differently each day because of the wind...its a spectacular ever-changing finish.

[Mike_Cirba]

Jay,

My gripe with the final two holes are as follows;

The 17th is a good par three on the left side.  The right (bailout) side is squeezed into the routing awkwardly and tightly.   The cart path is squeezed over there between the green and the protection mounding such that it's just a few paces off the green to the right, in an absolutely horrible place.   There is very, very little room to bail out and given the length of the shot, probably not the place for a hole configured as such, and certainly not where someone's screaming 3-iron played "safely" is going to richochet 50 yards in some direction off the cart path coming down to the end of an important match.

The pic below exemplifies it, although it should be kept in mind that the tee area is about 50-60 yards left of where this pic is taken from.



On the 18th, once again I think the angle of tee to fairway makes it very, very difficult to play safely.   In fact, one almost needs to aim "away" from the green to play safely, and there is very little fairway there, and a drop off to the right.

Yes, a big drive played heroically gets the desired result for the better player, but playing there with my 70 year old dad at the time had me wondering where the heck he was supposed to go.

I had the feeling on both holes that due to some other considerations, they ran out of room, and had to squeeze the final two holes in there rather awkwardly, which affects their playability.

Hope that helps you to understand where I'm coming from.

[Jay Flemma]

Mike, I understand where you are coming from...I just think that the act that the bail out on 18 is small and the drive on 18 tough is "sweating the small stuff" in light of the much larger picture...a terrific, flat-out unbeatableprice for great greens, excellent bunkering, solid design, some template hoes...etc.

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike, I understand where you are coming from...I just think that the act that the bail out on 18 is small and the drive on 18 tough is "sweating the small stuff" in light of the much larger picture...a terrific, flat-out unbeatableprice for great greens, excellent bunkering, solid design, some template hoes...etc.

Jay,

Oh, I completely agree.   I really didn't want my post to come across as overall critical at all.   It's a fabulous hidden gem just off the beaten track and I recommend a visit to anyone in the area!

Also, the majority of the holes are really, really good.  

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