A Good Walk (Un)Spoiled

"Golf is a good walk spoiled," is a famous quote attributed to Mark Twain, which is why it's ironic that last week I enjoyed a magnificant 9-hole walk at Soaring Eagles, a course located at Mark Twain State Park.

I was finishing up a long day of driving (about 400 miles) and meetings (three) all across New York having left the house before 6 am. It was about 12 hours later and I was a little more than an hour from Ithaca, my overnight destination. I figured I still had almost an hour and a half of daylight, plenty of time for a quick nine if I could find a course and the energy. So I pulled over in Corning, NY and googled my way to Soaring Eagles which is near Horseheads (not made up), NY, with the help of a very helpful pro shop attendant.

Though the signs directing to me to the course all said Mark Twain State Park, I didn't see much evidence of the park itself, but that was OK, I was there for the golf. It was a perfect set up as the course looked great, and was beginning to clear out on what was turning into a beautiful evening.

I couldn't see anyone on the first two holes so I teed off with two balls, and though a threesome in carts (I walked for both the exercise and the irony) started following me on the second hole, I was able keep ahead of them playing two balls all the way around.

It's not a flashy course, but I loved the layout. There are no major elevation changes but it is very rolling terrain with several holes on the front nine cut through the trees. And though a couple of them are tight, the accuracy required is balanced by the fact they're short.

The first two holes are fairly open with the main feature on the par-4 first being a green carved into a hill that slopes left to right, almost foreshadowing the rest of the nine. The second is par 4(tips)/5(members) that is open on the tee shot but where the terrain starts to roll as the landing area of the tee shot is a steep upslope. I was pleased to make four 5's with my two balls on the first two holes.

The third hole features a fairway that traverses two cross hatched hillsides, the first coming in from the left and followed by another cutting in from the right. By pushing my tee shot(s) right I had a blind shot to the green, but from the center or left side of the fairway it provides an unobstructed look into the green.

The fourth is an uninspired uphill par 3, but is a nice pallate cleanser for the next three holes, one of the nicest stretches of tree-lined holes I've played.

Five is a short par 4, not super tight with a very rolling fairway to a shallow elevated green. While rolling fairways are interesting visually, I'm not normally a fan, as they're tough to play, but they fit perfectly on this course. Five is a good example of where the rolling fairways work nicely, because assuming you can find the fairway on this 350 yard hole (which I didn't), you'll have a short approach to a green. Though the green is raised on a shelf and shallow in depth, it has no bunkers, so it's an important part of the hole's defense to have a downhill lie on the second shot.

The par 3 sixth is a postcard hole over an inlet of water from the left guarded by a huge tree (an oak, I think) on the right. The helpful woman in the pro shop referred to it as being down by the canal. I didn't see a canal, but to the left of the sixth beyond the trees marking the boundaries of the course was an open expanse of marsh and water with a highway (I assume I-86/Rt. 17 which I'd come in on) in the distance. A beautiful spot and in an evening of golf zen, it was a shakura (pretend zen word) moment.

Seven is another great short par-4 (328) that twists right to left through the trees with a pond guarding the far right side of the fairway. Even with two decent tee shots, I still don't know the right play, as my 4 hybrid tee shot which looked good off the face drifted too far right and my second shot was blocked from the right. I took driver on my second tee shot and cut as close as I could to the trees on the left guarding the corner of the dog leg. Without any draw to it, that shot went through the fairway on the right, though it was far enough to have an open look at the green.

I butchered the rest of seven and on the seventh green I had another tinge of disappointment as it provided a view of the back nine, which looked wide open, less mature and not nearly as interesting as the front. I'd like to go back sometime with the hope of proving myself wrong.

The eighth is the mirror image to seven playing as a dogleg right through a deep valley guarded by some tall trees at the dogleg and a pond (same one as on seven) on the right. I didn't hit enough club and had blind second shot(s) from down in the hollow. It's a short hole where you really need to hit driver and probably need to move it left to right. Almost as good as the previous three holes, the tee shot was partially blind which I didn't like.

At nine the course emerges from the trees as it's a sharp dogleg right giving the players options to play to the fairway to the left which is fairly open or try to carry the trees on the right for a shorter approach. Playing two balls, I played it both ways, and my first drive was a low bullet to the left, which actually went through the fairway and found a downhill sloping lie in the rough. My second shot was a big cut which cleared the trees not quite reaching the fairway, but provided a nice angle and a short shot into the green.

I muscled the first ball on the green and two-putted and with the bolder second ball I hit a wedge to four feet and made birdie. Not making worse than double (and I had a few) I had a 42 and 45 on the par 35, not bad given my recent form.

Once I made it to Ithaca, I topped off the evening at one of my favorite college haunts, the Nines for some deep dish pizza with my nephew Patrick, who's going to be a junior at Cornell.

But on the ride to Ithaca as I replayed my one hour twenty minute nine (actually 18) in my head I thought how my nine hole walk sure beat hitting the gerbil wheel at the hotel. Unexpectedly discovering a great new course like Soaring Eagles, and finishing with a birdie, made a for a good walk indeed.