top of page
Search

#37 Sleepy Hollow (top100 rank #35) Part 2 of 2: Worth The Pain

Writer's picture: Mason ReedMason Reed

Not going to bury the lead here: Sleepy Hollow is an awesome golf course. To be fair, every course in the top 100 is awesome. But some just hit a little different. I’m not a golf architecture expert - I leave that to Andy Johnson, Tom Doak and many other highly qualified golf course evaluators - I simply ask myself three questions when I’m done playing a course:


  1. Did I have fun?

  2. Do I remember the holes?

  3. Would I go back and play it again if given the chance?


Sleepy Hollow is a great example of three emphatic yeses (yesses? yes's? yesssses? What the hell is the plural of yes?).


The other fun thing about Sleepy is that I didn’t know what I was getting into. If I can avoid it, I don’t like to know much about a golf course before I play it the first time. I like to discover it myself and make my own unbiased observations. I only knew this was a CB Macdonald course and that a lot of people liked it. CB Macdonald is considered the father of golf architecture in the United States and, with his construction partner/engineer Seth Raynor, made a bunch of my favorite golf courses including National Golf Links, Shinnecock, Piping Rock, The Creek and Chicago Golf Club. Macdonald-Raynor are famous for recreating interesting holes from the U.K. with names like “Redan,” “Biarritz,” “Road,” “Eden,” and others. These “template” holes are the marquis holes at courses like Chicago and Sleepy Hollow.


No big deal. Just designed some of the best courses in the world and won the US Amateur in 1895.

Sleepy Hollow has one of the most photographed holes in the world - the par 3 16th (template name “Short”). It’s a very simple square green with a “Thumbprint” in the middle, with a world class backdrop of the Hudson River. I’ve seen this photo hundreds of times, but that’s the only thing I knew about the course.

There are epic pictures of this hole. And then there are bad selfies.

The first hole is probably the least memorable - it’s a straight away par four. However, it has a square green (a Seth Raynor trademark style) that is so simple and beautiful. Simple, beautiful square; kind of reminds me of a Mark Rothko painting. Though recently my daughter saw a Rothko in person and said, “I don’t get it,” and I think that is a perfectly acceptable reaction too.


I mean, I think it's brilliant. But I understand if you think it's just colored squares.

But after the first hole, everything changes. You take a right turn up the hill and the golf course presents itself as a rolling, hilly, beautiful piece of property. I had no idea the property would be so interesting. Exposed rock formations, hilly terrain and a creek running through several holes.


The course quickly presents itself after the first hole. The land, as well as the iconic, wooden walking bridges.

The best stretch is the final 5 holes. 14 has one of the wilder greens you’ll see with several small, matching, vertical ridges that guarantees a three putt if you are in the wrong spot. 15 is a blind punch bowl, 16 is the famous Short par 3. 17 and 18 bring you back to the clubhouse with challenging fours.

My group this day included usual suspects Matt Cannan, Ryan Van Pelt and a local friend of Ryan’s. This added to the enjoyment of Sleepy Hollow. These guys shot 69 and 74, respectively while I crapped the bed at the beginning of back nine to turn a good round into an 81. Matt and Ryan are both “yes” men; the kind of people that will say yes to golf adventures at the drop of a hat. You need yes people in your life. Chicago-based Matt wanted to play golf again so badly before we get to Oak Hill in September he jumped on the opportunity to play Oakland Hills with Ryan and me just six short weeks after Sleepy. Needless to say, enjoying a course like this with friends like these guys is what made Sleepy Hollow well worth the travel pain.


Onward.


Mason


Two quick glasses of rose wine before racing to the airport. Collar up because sun was beating down, not because I wanted to look like a douche canoe (mission not-accomplished).

A Gilded Age/Vanderbilt mansion turned clubhouse, Sleepy's cozy little building comes in at 70,000 square feet and was built for $2 million 130 years ago, or about $70 million of today's dollars.

19 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Commentaires


    bottom of page