A lot is said about Northeastern Pennsylvania golf. Most of it is negative.

Yes, the Poconos have given us such great tracks as The Country Club of the Poconos at Big Ridge complete with Fazio, Jim strategy and about 12 miles of cart paths.

But when one looks a bit deeper, we find several museum pieces of architecture from the bygone era of design. Few of these courses would ever host a championship or maintain any national notoriety, however, the likes of Walter Travis, A.W. Tillinghast, Donald Ross and William Flynn have left an indelable mark in what may be the first example of the "Golf Resort region" in the country.

I've made a lot of mention of Donald Ross's work at Schuylkill Country Club, and had an oppurtunity to see the on-going Ron Prichard restoration (and actually take some pictures this time) there.

With the foliage in peak form, here are some views of this gem.

The 18th green and clubhouse:


The view from the middle of the 10th Fairway when one looks right:


The Par 3 11th Hole, looking backward:


The newly restored/renovated 16th Green:


The view from behind the 9th Green:


Valley Country Club, near Hazleton, PA, was something of a surprise for me to find. Mike Cirba informed me the night before that the club was attributed to Tillinghast, and this piqued my curiousity immensely.

What I found the next day was perhaps one of the best set of preserved greens on which I've ever played. This is Tillinghast in raw form, with some work apparently retained from the original 9 holes built in 1906. The original nine hole designer is still in doubt, but A LOT of the features remind me of Walter Travis.

Valley features many Tillie calling cards, including a short Hell's Half Acre Par 5 and some of the most treacherous greens I've seen. At 6200 yards, this hilly course resembles a very small version of Huntingdon Valley in terms of both fairway severity and green complexity.

Valley gets off to a quirky start with the Par 5 first featuring one of the most abrupt Tillie complexes I've seen.

The approach shot looks something like this:


The green's bunkering is severe on both sides, from short left:


The right bunker is like none I've seen, with a steep berm between bunker and green, and the bunker floor about two feet above the green's grade:


One of the more severe greens in terms of front-to-back slope is found on the short Par 4 Third Hole:


My favorite green on the course is on the mid length, uphill Par 4 Fourth, I wanted to chip to this green for hours. With two distinct teirs, a built up back right and a roll up of 4-5 feet in elevation in front, this hole has near infinite options for setup and difficulty:


Of the three Par 3s on the first nine, this one features the most severe green with subtle bumps, ridges and hallows compounding any less-than-perfect approach.



Here's one of the original nine greens, today playing as the mid-length Par 4 6th Hole, I see some Travis in this green but am certainly no expert. He built the first 18 holes at CC of Scranton, which our own Ian Andrew restored recently.



The Par 3 9th Nine features a green benched into the hillside attractively with the putting and 18th greens in the background:


The 18th green exemplifies the nature of the preservation of greens at Valley. Note how the squareness and breadth of the green is preserved by maintaining the green edge all the way out on the green pad, view ain't that bad either:


With Fox Hill, Shawnee, and Valley (All Tillinghast) all within an hour's drive of each other and other Ross, Travis and Flynn courses in the Scranton area, it's surprising that more good in not heard about NE PA golf.

Who is the contractor doing the restoration work for Ron Prichard???

I believe it's Ron's brother, Sid.

Kyle, those are great pictures and a fine way to pine away your time as the Penn State team takes another hicky. I look forward to meeting you down in Orlando this winter.

Tiger,

Losing to what looks like three Top 5 teams isn't all that bad. I'll be available after Nov. 11 and looking forward to meeting you, and all other Florida GCAers.

Kyle

Thanks for all those photos.  This sure is a nice time of year walk in the park on a golf course.

Pat,

That's the reason I took the picture, that green fascinates me to no end. (I assume you're speaking of the green and not the girl  ) The site is very well chosen, IMO.

The green is not a part of the original 9 holes built in 1906 which Tillie added on to, so I'm inclined to think this is a Tillinghast original.

The left side of the ninth green has a similar feature, here's the best picture I have of it.



I was also struck by a lot of the narrowness of the bunkers, which I suppose lends itself to being used on a hilly site like this.

I can't recall any on the second nine (we only played the first nine yesterday as the antiobiotics for my Lyme Disease limits how long I can out in the sun).

Kyle, very cool and very funky.  Thanks for giving us a peek at something we apparently have not examined on here before.  

For Jim Nagle:  Could the Valley Country Club be something like the conditions at Lawsonia prior to your firm's tree removal-resto program.  Anotherwords, do you think that despite the beauty of the various maples and other ornamental trees, that the course would be opened up and many more strategies and playing corridors revealed with serious tree removal? Or, are the corridors wide enough as is.  It is hard to tell from these pictures, and some of them look like there is plenty of room on approaches and off tees, while a few look too tight.

Sean,

I have no idea re: bunkers on 6, but according to Jim in his prior post, he's seen them on a Tillie course before. I am left to wonder if the bunkers here (the "standard" shaped ones) had more sand flash to them. Not necessarily a criticism, just a speculation.

As per your request:

The 180 Par 3 2nd Hole, one of the things about Valley CC is the use of fallaway features in a green to compound the approach. On a firm day (like this one) it's possible to chip a shot short of the green and have it run off the back. The trajectory control required for the short game shots to these greens is unlike anything I've encountered so far. I'd go so far as to say that these are some of the most severe greens I've played upon:


The 6th Hole from the tee, I love the lack of definition and the target line is at those pine trees to the left of the hole. I'd like to see all the evergreens removed though:


The 8th hole from the tee, LONG par 5 sweeping up the hill. That's Interstate 81 going up the mountain to Hazleton, PA in the background:


Looking back from the 8th green to the 10th green and 17th green up the hillside:

Kyle -

The Supt.  at Valley is enjoying reading about this wonderful "sporty" course.  A couple of answers to questions asked.  The bunkers at Valley were very much grassed faced.  Many of them resemble what you would find in the old photos of Newport.  Newport has evolved over the years and their desire was to keep a flashed look.  Valley wanted to retain the grass face and narrow bunkers(as found today).  A number of the bunkers were reinstated during the reconstruction.  In-fact there were the surrounds without sand on holes 6 and 7.

Yes, the pines on the outer right of #6 should go.  However, they do knock down errant shots heading to the right and ultimately close to an adjoining property.

To remove a number of trees at Valley would create a number of safety issues.  You have parallel holes (1-2), (3,4,5,8 & 9), (11 & 17), (8, 10 & 18) and (13 & 14) all on 98 acres.  Removing the trees left of #2 / left of #1 would get someone killed on #2 green.  Tree removal decisions cannot simply be made by looking at photos.  

#10 and #4 greens were reconstructed.  Much of the internal contours of #7 green were replicated while lifting the front and extending the approach.  The only bunker added to #7 is the outside right bunker closest to the green.  Bunkers were added to holes 11, 4, 7, 10, 17 & 18 (double duty), 13 and 15.  Many of those were ball containment bunkers due to the proximity of adjacent holes.  The 13th hole had just two bunkers (the first two of five) on the inside of the dogleg, we added three considering the ease in which members could fly the old bunkers.  A new bunker was added outside right to protect against the bail out.

The 17th hole plays as a short 5.  We added the mounding complex from +/- 220 - 270 yards off the tee.  Bunkers were also added at the second landing area.

Valley is a great little course.  A great study in how a short course can still be challenging and enjoyable.  Tillie (and what is left of the older course) did an incredible job with the greens.  I am not 100% sure where the old course was routed.  I joined Ron after the plan was completed and took over much of the construction (bunkers) not long after joining Ron.  Considering that one of the original greens was situated short and right of current #7 green, that does not fit with the routing of the rest of the course.  It is speculated that many, if not all of the greens were touched by Tillie.


Sean,
#2 green has not been raised on the right side.  One of my favorite greens anywhere.

RJ Daley -

There is not nearly the room at Valley that there is at Lawsonia.  Yes, there could certainly be more tree removal (or management) at Valley, but it is a tight little course.  Safety first!  

Valley would love to do more.  I would say that working with what they have, the Club and Supt.  have done a great job.  The Hazleton area is not a booming region, yet this Club keeps chugging along and as you can tell from the photos, the Supt. is doing a great job.

Interestingly, should you find yourself at a Baby Pens hockey game in Scranton or at a Nascar race in the Pocono's, you might hear the Valley C.C. Pro (Clarke Lewis) singing the National Anthem.

Jim,

Thanks for the updates. If you ever get a chance, the club has what I'm guessing was the old routing in the locker room hall. It appears that the original nine was contained within the boundaries of the road found to the left of the 9th hole. Based on this routing, it looks as if the only retained green was the 6th, which played as a LONG par 5 from around the location of the 3rd tee.

I certainly see what you mean about a lot of the trees but there are some really offensive ones that I would love to see removed. Let's just say I know all too well about the "adjoining property" to the right of the 6th hole.  

Since the Super is lurking here I'd like to extend my compliments for the conditioning and maintenance/preservation of the greens. They are kept at what I'll call ideal speed given the severity of many of them. 10-11 on the stimp and ideal firmness. I'm also very impressed with the firmness of the fairways and green surrounds and they lend to a rather creative short game. Holes like 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 have near infinite options thanks to the current maintenance meld.

I have some more questions for him, so if he's lurking and reads this: Could you email me?

kwh132@gmail.com

I believe it is the 3rd hole at Essex County that has that type of bunkering as well - I spend quite a bit of time around that green when I played there - it is unique and I was wondering exactly what the thinking was behind it - the mounds contain the somewhat errant shot and the elevation can help in executing the bunker shot - but if the grass is long it can hold a shot and make for a more difficult shot.  

Bump for Adam Messix

I'm playing Valley CC tomorrow for the first time and I'm totally excited based on what I'm seeing.

The original 9 holes were designed in 1906 by 5 members whose names would escape popular notice but which I've shared with the club.  

Tillinghast was hired around 1919 and set about to make significant changes, including adding a second nine.

Originally, the clubhouse was at the "Top of the 80's", high, HIGH above the course, and mules would take the players down.

However, the original first hole had a tee only about halfway down the hillside, and players would hit a significant drop shot to start their round.  

I've been on sort of a Tillinghast tour over the past couple of months, and I'm hoping to get to Wyoming Valley as well before the winter sets in.

Mike, I'm guessing you'll love VCC.  My wife grew up a 1/2 mile down the road and for years I had desired to play there, and it wasn't until this summer that I got to experience it w/ former pro from the course Mickey Dulina.  He had talked to me for years about it and I sure wasn't disappointed.

If anybody wants to see 100+ photos of the course from a late afternoon round in the middle of summer, go here:

http://darwin.chem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/Valley_Country_Club/index.html