By Chris Wagner | Special to NYup.com
Look at most lists of the top private golf courses in New York state and you’ll see a preponderance of exclusive clubs from the Downstate area. Yes, all those Shinneco*cks and Winged Foots, those Quaker Ridges and Piping Rocks, those Sleepy Hollows and Deepdales.
But for those looking for private-club options Upstate, not to fret, you have two big things going for you: Oak Hill and Donald Ross.
The former is home to Oak Hill Country Club’s fabled East Course, the suburban Rochester tract that seemingly only has to raise its hand to attract another major championship. It also has a kissing-cousin second course, the West, which would be the Upstate crown jewel if not for the East.
As for Donald Ross, well, the Michelangelo of classic golf architecture in the Roaring Twenties spent a good portion of that decade crafting landscape masterpieces across Upstate New York. In the list of nine courses below, seven were designed by the Scotsman. That’s not a surprise. Ross is also credited with creating more than a quarter of the courses ranked on Golfweek’s “Top 100 Classics in America” list (pre-1960). That they still stand the test of time is not only a testament to his brilliance, but to the clubs’ century of caring for them as they matured.
As you peruse this wish list, know that unless you're a member – or know a member – the likelihood of you playing them is remote. Your best option is to develop into top-notch competitive golfer and enter a tournament when the courses host an open event. The New York State Golf Association (www.nysga.org) also hosts an Amateur Series each year that frequently has net and gross (handicap) tournaments on some of the top courses listed below. This year, Bellevue and Yahnundasis are both tournament sites and last year Oak Hill's West Course hosted the Series championship. The final option is to look for the rare charity events held on these elite layouts. It will cost you, but at least you'll be able to cross the course off your bucket list.
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Oak Hill Country Club, East Course
Any mention of Oak Hill’s East Course begins with the number of major championships it has hosted. Eleven in all, representing all of the majors for men that rotate courses in the United States. The list involves three U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, two U.S. Amateurs, a Senior U.S. Open, a Senior PGA Championship and the 1995 Ryder Cup. No other course in America can make that claim.
As for the course itself, it continues to hold its own in every competition. Maybe it’s because the course superintendents cultivate the thickest rough in the game. Or maybe it’s because of the East Branch of Allen Creek, which sneakily meanders throughout the property, stealthily catching stray shots and forcing risk-reward choices by players. Or maybe it’s the thousands of oak, maple and pine trees planted on the once-barren land that form a dual canopy of tranquility and trepidation.
Probably, it’s all of those factors.
Credit original course architect Donald Ross for envisioning the design back in 1926. And give a nod (or a head shake) to several others (i.e. Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Tom and George Fazio) for tweaking the course over the decades. Taken together, even the best of golfers have a difficult time shooting par here.
Oak Hill Country Club, East Course | 346 Kilbourn Road, Pittsford | Website
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Oak Hill Country Club, West Course
Although the West plays second fiddle to Oak Hill’s more-heralded East Course, if you’re looking for a glimpse into the mind of architect Donald Ross, the West is your choice. Pretty much unchanged since it opened in 1926 (well, except for a lot of tree planting and growth), the West shows that a course doesn’t need to be monstrously long to hold modern-day golfers in check. It still is used for top tournaments, including the 1998 U.S. Amateur, and is the course of choice for many members not up to the daily grind of the East Course.
Oak Hill Country Club, West Course | 346 Kilbourn Road, Pittsford | Website
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Country Club of Buffalo
Talk about historic, lore at the Country Club of Buffalo holds that the first golf hole in Western New York was played by its members in 1894 when they placed an empty tomato can in the ground and took aim. That “course” is long gone, but in its place is a classic layout by Donald Ross that opened in 1926. Built on and around a former limestone quarry, six of the holes incorporate that feature and its outcroppings. CC of Buffalo has hosted such tournaments as the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Carling Cup and U.S. Junior Girls Championship.
Country Club of Buffalo | 250 N. Youngs Road, Williamsville | Website
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Crag Burn Golf Club
Mike Naton, one of the top amateur golfers to ever hail from Central New York, once characterized this course as the one he wants to find in heaven and play for eternity. Good choice. Crag Burn, located 16 miles southeast of downtown Buffalo, is a course that you’ll never tire of, as half of the holes dart through double-tree-lined terrain and the other half present more of a parkland feel on open meadows and over ponds. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1972, Crag Burn deserves its place among the Queen City’s golf royalty.
Crag Burn Golf Club | 1231 N. Davis Road, East Aurora | Website
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Monroe Golf Club
Monroe Golf Club is part of a quadrant of incredible private courses that are all within a few long pokes of Oak Hill Country Club. The foursome, all designed by Donald Ross, is filled out by the Country Club of Rochester (see below) and Irondequoit Country Club. Join all four and you’d never tire of the variety offered at them. Of course, you’d also probably go broke paying all the dues. As for Monroe, it has hosted the Monroe Invitational Championship, one of the world’s most prestigious amateur events for men, since 1937. It also was the site of the 2014 Wegmans LPGA Championship (a major on the LPGA schedule that season) and past New York State Amateur events. At a shade under 6,900 yards, the old-growth, tree-lined course remains a formidable modern test while retaining the essence of its 1923 Donald Ross design.
Monroe Golf Club | 155 Golf Ave., Pittsford | Website
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Country Club of Rochester
This private golf club is one of the oldest in the United States, dating to 1895 when the charter members of the Genesee Valley Club played on a primitive course on former farmland several east miles of Rochester. The Donald Ross upgrade that dates to 1912 has been good enough to host three major championships – the 1962 U.S. Women’s Amateur and two U.S. Women’s Opens, including the inaugural championship in 1953. It also has been the home playground for two of the game’s icons. That would be 11-time major championship winner Walter Hagen and 1950 U.S. Amateur champion Sam Urzetta, who went on to serve as the club’s head pro from 1956-93.
Country Club of Rochester | 2935 East Ave., Rochester | Website
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Glens Falls Country Club
Glen Falls Country Club may be the sleeper pick in this bunch of great New York private courses. That’s mainly because it sits in a corner of the state (south of Lake George and north of Saratoga Springs) where it has been able to age well, seemingly undisturbed by time. Indeed, a review of the Donald Ross-designed course by renowned architect Tom Doak almost has an explorer’s note to it. “How has such a fine course escaped attention this long?” Doak writes glowingly in Volume 3 of “The Confidential Guide,” his series of coffee-table books that closely examine – often critically – the designs of the world’s best golf courses. Short by modern standards, the 6,500-yard course will still test anyone’s game, rewarding shot-making skills over brute strength.
Glens Falls Country Club | 211 Round Pond Road, Queensbury | Website
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Bellevue Country Club
Regardless of which nine you play at Bellevue, each will require two trips up and two trips down the steep hill that divides the lower holes from the upper portion. But no matter if you are on the high or low side, the challenge laid out a century ago on the once near-treeless plot of land by Donald Ross remains formidable. Greens are undulating and lightning fast. Slopes on downhill fairways can kick slightly errant shots into adjacent fairways. Devilish bunkers, like those on high side of the par-3 15th hole, which can leave golfers screaming uncle. The good news is the foresight taken by members a few years back when they adopted a master plan to thin out an overabundance of trees planted over the decades and restore the course more to its true Donald Ross roots. It is making Bellevue fit for another century of championship quality golf.
Bellevue Country Club | 1901 Glenwood Ave., Syracuse | Website
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Yahnundasis Golf Club
While the club began in 1897, the current course dates to 1924, when it was redesigned and expanded to 18 holes by Walter Travis, the 1904 British Amateur champion and three-time winner of the U.S. Amateur (1900, 1901, 1903). Like other designers of his era, Travis didn’t move much dirt to create a course. Instead, he envisioned a course on the existing terrain, incorporating signature bunkering and subtle breaks into greens. Yahnundasis has remained current from such genius, frequently hosting state and regional events.
Yahnundasis Golf Club | 8639 Seneca Turnpike, New Hartford | Website
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More: 18 Upstate NY public courses you must play before you die
From historic to modern and from links to mountainous, golf in Upstate New York offers a variety of courses that come with a special perk: You don’t have to know a Fortune 500 executive to play them.
Golfer's bucket list for Upstate NY: 18 public courses you must play before you die
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