Page 38 - Westchester Golf Guide - May 2022

GOLF TO WATCH AND PLAY | Daily-Fee Courses
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Westchester is home to some of the best daily-fee courses anywhere.
By Jeremy Leigh
able to join as annual passholders at several levels. For now, daily-fee play will be limited to Harrison residents as well, although that may change once the level of demand is estab- lished. This initial year for Harrison Meadows will essentially be a shakedown cruise for new ownership, new management, new staff, and new public-course golfers.
With a 71.3 course rating from the tips, Harrison Meadows is more difficult than most of the public courses in the county, but mul- tiple tees make it playable for shorter hitters. Much of the difficulty comes from elevation climbs, like those on the 9th and 18th holes, both near-500-yard par 5s that play straight up cardiac-arrest-inducing hills. Water is a factor on half the holes on the course.
Pound Ridge GC
Pound Ridge
7,165 yards • par 72
The Pete Dye masterpiece in Pound Ridge offers a unique daily-fee golf experience in Westchester. It’s hard; it’s beautiful; it’s impeccable. Hard? Yes, with a course rating of 76.0 from the tips, Pound Ridge is definitely hard. When Dye was confronted with the dif- ficulty of the track, though, his answer was simple: Play the right tees for your game, and you’ll have a fun, memorable round of golf. The scorecard strongly suggests which tees you should play based on your handicap and proves Dye right.
Once you conquer your fear, you’ll find Pound Ridge GC a true world-class delight. Each hole has a character of its own, yet the
whole flows perfectly as an integrated 18-hole experience. The 451-yard 2nd hole, the hard- est on the course, opens with a semi-blind tee shot and ends with a long, frightening approach to a green well-protected by water. The 378-yard 10th punishes the player who insists on hitting a driver off the tee — unless it’s done with a perfect draw, in which case birdie becomes a very real possibility. The par-3 15th hole can be played with a short iron
Pound Ridge GC
Harrison Meadows CC
Harrison
6,610 yards • par 71
Harrison Meadows is the first new daily-fee golf club to open in Westchester in nearly 15 years, although for now, at least, it will be available only to Harrison residents and their guests. The course, which has existed in one form or another on the property since 1917, was most recently Willow Ridge CC. When the member-owned private club put itself on the market, the Town of Harrison stepped in and took it over last year and hired Troon Golf to manage it. It opened as a semiprivate club this year.
Residents of the town, which includes Har- rison, West Harrison, and Purchase, will be
36 GOLF 2022 WESTCHESTERMAGAZINE.COM Harrison Meadows Photo by Dave Donelson; Pound Ridge photo courtesy of Buffalo Agency