Page 22 - Westchester Magazine - 2020 Golf Guide

BRAINGAME | Best 18 Holes
reach the green with your third shot. There is water on the way to the green, so you may have to lay up and use your fourth shot to get on the green. If your drive isn’t in the right spot, the tree becomes an even bigger deal.
ager Theron Harvey. “Your strategy depends on the tee box you’re playing. When you use the elevated boxes on the left, you’re really hitting downhill to the fairway, so you’ll want to use a hybrid or a long iron. When you go back to the newer tee boxes, it’s more of a level dogleg left to right, so you’ll probably hit a driver or fairway wood toward the bunker. There’s fescue on the left, and the right side kicks hard away from the fairway, which looks tiny anyway when you’re playing at eye level. You’ve really got to trust your tee shot and put something in the fairway.”
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Hole 15 • 376 yards • par 4
Shot shapers love the 15th hole at Mount Kisco, although the “risk” in risk-and-reward comes into play for those whose judgment is off that day. A solid draw off the tee can clear the fairway bunker on the dogleg, but too much curve on the shot will carry your ball into oblivion. Straight shooters will want to hit less than driver to avoid going through the fairway, but even a short tee shot will leave an easy iron into the green.
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GlenArbor Golf Club
Hole 2 • 428 yards • par 4
Decisions, decisions! This dogleg left offers the tantalizing prospect of cutting the cor- ner with a high draw off the tee — although there’s little or no room for error and an overcooked hook will bring disaster among the trees. The safer play is a fairway wood or hybrid straight off the tee and short of the fairway bunkers. You’ll still have a short iron or wedge into the green.
Mount Kisco Country Club
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Hudson National Golf Club
Hole 5 • 412 yards • par 4
“Number five is a transitional hole that plays from the highest point on the golf course down to the lower points,” says general man-
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Hole 8 • 430 yards • par 4
What looks like a benign, straightforward par 4 is actually the devilishly difficult number- one handicap hole at Old Oaks. Head pro Nick Maselli explains the dichotomy: “Number eight plays uphill and really begins with the second shot. Most amateur players are hit- ting a fairway wood into the green. Playing it like a par 5 is not a bad idea. When you lay up, you have to make a decision as to whether you’re going to pitch it up with a lob wedge or hit a little runner into the upslope on the green. It all depends on the hole location. A front hole location is a little easier. A back pin,
Old Oaks Country Club
Old Oaks County Club, Hole 8
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