Course Critic

Ravenwood Golf Club, Victor, N.Y.

When I stepped onto the first tee at Ravenwood Golf Club, new daily-fee in the Rochester suburb of Victor, N.Y., my first thought was: "This must be what Oak Hill looked like 80 years ago." The reaction was unavoidable. I had spent the previous day at Oak Hill, site of this year's PGA Championship, where they'd instituted a massive tree removal program in the past few years. Hundreds of trees have been cut down and chopped up, but Oak Hill's fairways are still lined by trees. It's a far cry from its farm field origins of the 1920s. Most of its trees date from a 1960s "dedication program" where each member could cover the cost of a planting a new tree to honor dear old mom.

In contrast, Ravenwood seemed almost barren. It's not, of course. Holes like the seventh and 15th were carved out of dense woods. But from the area of the first tee, Ravenwood looks gloriously wide open, with side-by-side fairways undulating across the gentle hillsides, big white bunkers of simple shapes framing targets and clusters of newly-planted trees serving as accents. Another plus: it's a core golf course, with no homes save a few at the far south end of the property. I liked Ravenwood immediately.

I liked it even more once I noticed the right greenside bunker on the opening hole was actually some 30 yards short of the green. It's those sort of subtleties that reward golfers who pay attention and believe their eyes and instincts over a yardage marker or GPS diagram.

I encountered another subtlety on the 316-yard second, but only after the fact. The second plays uphill off the tee, to a sidehill landing area that clearly slopes left to right, down toward the green, which is tucked behind a ring of bunkers. I blocked my 5-wood tee shot to the right, but when my 9-iron approach from the rough hit the green, I thought it would roll to the flag, maybe even go in the hole. But the ball suddenly disappeared from view. Turns out a swale on the left side of the green had gobbled it up and spit it out onto the fringe. From there, it was a mighty rap with the putter just to get the ball up the steep slope and close to the pin. The Valley of Sin at St. Andrews has nothing on this nasty little green contour. Next time I play this hole, I'll aim for the fat part of the green, regardless of where the flag is.

I found more subtlety at the 331-yard par-4 seventh, but this time recognized it in advance. The tee shot is over a deep ravine and slightly uphill to a wide, domed fairway. On the left, two fairway bunkers have been carved into the upslope, while the generous right side of the fairway is unprotected. But even from the tee, I could see a bunker at the right front of the green, so I aimed directly at the fairway bunkers on the left, figuring that even if I hit into one, the angle into the green would be much better than from the right. To my surprise, I carried the bunkers with plenty to spare. Turns out they were rather short off the tee, target bunkers rather than hazards. I had only a sand wedge into the wide axis of the green, whose domed shape mirrors the fairway. I had guessed right, for it's a much tougher pitch from the right side of the fairway, over the bunker into the shallow axis of the green. I'm sure some long hitters can reach this putting surface from the tee. For the rest of us, the seventh is a classic drive-and-pitch 4 that rewards a gamble.

Ravenwood has some low key touches on its long holes, too. The 447-yard 13th, downhill but into the teeth of the wind, has another sidehill fairway, with two fairway bunkers on the high right side. Hug the bunkers off the tee, and the ball should roll to the center of the fairway. Play away from them, and you might bounce into the left hand rough, or at the very least, face an awkward second shot to the green, which sits like a thumb pointed to the left, edged in front and on the left by deep rough. After a pathetic drive, I laid up on my second, and discovered the fairway dips abruptly short of the green, kicking anything short down into a hollow below the right edge of the putting surface. It is a masterful bit of shaping and contouring, running contrary to the assertion that every green on a long par 4 ought to allow a ball to be bounced aboard. The only way to reach the 13th green is to fly it on.

I would rave about every hole at Ravenwood, but there's not enough room. I should note this very thoughtful design (with its four par 5s playing in four different directions) was designed by Robin Nelson, one of those veteran American architects who is better known overseas than at home. Robin's firm has done some stunning courses in France, China, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. He did one of the world's great seaside venues at Mangilao on Guam and one of the world's loveliest at Bali in Indonesia. Based for nearly 20 years in Honolulu, he had a hand in designing or reshaping many of the really good courses in that state, including The Dunes at Maui Lani on rare Hawaiian sand dunes and Royal Kunia, completed a decade ago but only recently opened. But in recent years he found himself more a CEO than an architect, so in 2000 he drastically downsized his firm, moved to the Bay area of California, and redirected his full efforts to golf design.

Now 52, recovered from a bout with prostate cancer, Robin wants to finish his career in the states. Ravenwood is his first northeast design, and it represents his own ideas about golf, not those of a partner or associate. They're traditional, timeless ideas that make for a very enjoyable round of golf, one that won't allow our minds to wander.

—Ron Whitten, 2003. Reproduced from GolfDigest.com