Course Tour

After playing Mohawk for the first time, Arnold Palmer remarked to one long-time member, "I love your course." Similar praise has come from Tom Watson, John Daly, Paul Azinger and other PGA stars who have played Mohawk over the years. Gene Sarazen once wrote, "It has been my pleasure to play many rounds at the Mohawk Golf Club, and I have always found its course to be challenging, fair, and beautifully maintained. Its members have been extremely friendly--they obviously enjoy their Club and their course." To tour Mohawk's beautiful championship 18 hole golf course, please use the navigation bar to the left.

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Some observers have called it the best opening hole in the Northeast; to Mohawk's members, the first hole is known as the toughest par 4 - and the toughest par - on the course. With the fairway on either side closely guarded, this hole requires long, accurate drives off the tee. For many golfers, the second shot can be a considerable stretch; however a drive down the left side leaves one with a good look at the gently sloping green. While not a large target, the green is accessible and affords players their first chance to acclimate themselves to Mohawks' notoriously fast greens. Ask most members, and they'll tell you that while a bogey on the first hole won't ruin your day, a par will put you one up on the field.

A plaque behind the tee notes that in 1968, during the observance of his 50th anniversary at Mohawk, Hole No. 1 was dedicated to longtime course pro James K. Thomson.

As the name indicates, the second hole at Mohawk was inspired by the famed Redan Hole at North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland, where longtime course pro Jim Thomson started his career. Like its namesake, the 2nd at Mohawk is a challenging 192-yard par 3, featuring a green that slopes sharply from right-to-left and is guarded by bunkers left, right, and center. The deep bunkers left of the green can be particularly punishing, though the savvy player can avoid trouble and take advantage of the hole's natural contours by playing the tee shot high and to the right, and letting their ball run down toward the pin.

The plaque near the tee honors P.A. (Pat) McTerney in recognition of his 35 years as chairman of the Green Committee and 28 years as Club Secretary.

From the forward tees, the 3rd hole is a challenging but fair par 5 dogleg left that can be reached in two by longer hitters willing to take the risk. From the back tees, however, Mohawk's longest hole bares its teeth. At 620 yards even the longest hitter is faced with a challenge, and the hole requires not only length but precision off the tee. Two solid shots leaves one with a mid- to short-iron approach to the receptive back-to-front sloping green.

The 4th hole, although short for a par-4, offers plenty of challenges in addition to the mental threat posed by the pond fronting the tee. The second uphill shot is often difficult to judge accurately, and the two-tiered green makes putting formidable, especially when the pin has been uncharitably positioned.

Please don't ask what mountains are more viewable here than elsewhere on the course. Tradition is tradition. Out a healthy distance from the tee is a vague mound of earth that serves as a reminder: this was once a short par-3. Now it is a healthy par-4, especially from the recently re-built (and beautifully landscaped) back tee. The fairway is wide, but the forests on both right and left still get their share of unarmed "hunters."

The first of a pair of up-and-back par-4s, Nos. 6 and 7 take advantage of natural terrain variations to relieve any chance of monotony. Longer hitters off the tee are left with only a short iron to the green, although frequent headwinds add distance. No. 6 has strategically placed traps and a green where being a little short is preferable to being a little long; front pin placements in the summer months can create scary downhill putts.

Following a difficult opening stretch, No. 7 provides the first real chance for the competitive golfer to catch their breath. A large tree on the left of has turned this hole into a semi-dogleg, requiring accurate drives to the right side of the fairway. The green itself is notorious for the way putts fail to follow anticipated paths. Old-timers say this has something to do with "optical illusions" interfering with judgments about the apparent slope of the putting surface.

On paper, No. 8 might appear to be an easy par 4, but experience attests otherwise. Longer hitters can try to shorten the hole off the tee, although the smart play often requires a long-iron to find the tapering fairway landing area. While usually only a short-iron to the hole, the green on No. 8 provides the hole's greatest defense: putts from above the hole often fall victim to Mohawk's lightning greens, rolling off the front and back into the fairway.

The memorial plaque near the tee honors the memory of Rudolph Romeling, an early Club champion.

The character and challenges of this hole change dramatically when using the blue tee, atop the nearby rise, instead of the more customary white tee near the start of the Wee Course. In both cases, the 1996 reconstruction of traps, both in the fairway and around the green, have added distinction - if not real difficulty - to a favorite hole. As with many Mohawk greens, the back-to-front slop on No. 9 can cause true terror in the minds of golfers faced with a long downhill putt, especially when the stakes as well as the Stimpmeter readings are high.

Mohawk's Wee Loch is a beautiful pond in front of the tee, kept pristine and nicely landscaped in memory of a former MGC president, Charlie Johnson. The pond was once a curling rink, a skating area for local enthusiasts, and - at times - a golf ball-eating swamp. The hole itself has otherwise changed little over the years: slightly uphill, out-of- bounds on the right, occasional extra balls on the fairway from slices off the first tee. The tenth provides another welcome breather before facing the challenge presented by the upcoming holes.

Ridge is an obvious name for No. 11, where driving the far slope turns a difficult par-4 into something more manageable for big hitters. One of the more difficult holes on the course, the eleventh presents its share of challenges, including the out-of-bounds on the right which keeps neighbors on Country Club Drive well stocked with golf balls. Long approach shots into this challenging green make birdies few and far between.

No. 12 features an array of traps in front of the green, a rather narrow "ladies' aid" on the left, and another two-tiered green sloping sharply from back to front. From any tee, this hole can be a challenge.

After No. 3, No. 13 is the only other par-5 on the course, and one that is somewhat easier and more likely to permit an occasional birdie. The fairway is wide and the entryway to the green is generally unobstructed. No part of the Mohawk course can be truly considered dull, but No. 13 might just qualify as the least exciting. Short-hitters dread standing on the tee and looking toward the distant green simply because "it takes so long to get there."

Shortly after the death of longtime Green Chairman Dick Emmett in 1929, friends raised a fund to reconstruct the hole as a memorial to him, thus the name. New tees were built up the hill and a new bridge installed to facilitate access to it. For years, the hill in front of the tee was a favorite toboganning site for area youngsters, but fences and the addition of a new ladies' tee part way down have combined to discourage the sledding. While the addition of new bunkers and the reconstruction of existing fairway bunkers has added some difficulty off the tee, the 14th is one of Mohawk's easier holes.

This indisputably is the signature hole at Mohawk. The tiara of traps was part of a redesign by A.F. "Bill" Knight, the Club's famous inventor-golfer. Subsequently, the growth of the surrounding trees, the creation of the pond, and the refurbishing of traps have collectively made the Punchbowl one of the most beautiful, unique, and distinctive holes in the country. It's a short par-3, and accurate club selection is essential. Double bogies are at least as common as pars, but No. 15 is also the most readily "aced" of Mohawk's three par-3s. On average, the hole gives way to about three holes-in-one per year.

Plaques near the tee honor both Bill Knight and a former president, John F. Cronin, in whose memory the area has been beautifully landscaped.

Over the years, there have been suggestions that Mohawk might achieve 36=36=72 par-symmetry by moving the teeing ground of Hole No. 16 back into Redmond's Grove, lengthening it to a par-5. But for now, No. 16 remains a picturesque par-4 of medium length, requiring accuracy from the tee and a delicate touch on a tough-to-read green. A 1994 rebuilding project near the green was so successful that it prompted the Board of Governors to undertake a major bunker renovation program at many other course locations.

The tee area for the penultimate hole is one of many places on the course to benefit from careful landscaping and beautification programs. The Creek for which No. 17 is named no longer exists, although its former path remains a problem for miss-hit drives. A back-to-front sloping, two-tiered green also contributes to what is another very challenging and interesting par-4.

As does No. 9, Hole No. 18 has a dual personality, depending on use of the shorter white tee vs. the higher-on-the-hill and considerably longer blue tee. The latter substantially increases the need for driving power and accuracy. But perhaps the major challenge for many golfers is found on the green, where - as is not generally the case on the course - there frequently is a gallery, a gathering of socializers enjoying drinks on the lawn, or dinners on the patio who are not so busy with lunch or early dinner but what they can cast a critical eye on short approaches, attempts from the sand, and knee-knocking 3-foot putts.