Hershey CC (East, West, Links & Spring Courses)
Hershey, PA (15 miles east of Harrisburg)
www.hersheycountryclubgolf.com
Hershey CC West #5
Golf Digest, 7/10
West: 1927, Marice McCarthy
Directions from Harrisburg Airport: I-83 N, turns into Hwy 322 E, less than a mile take Rt 39 W (Hershey Park Dr), continue to end of road and turn R
From West Chester (about 90 mins): Rt 30W to Lancaster
283W to 743W, follow signs for Hershey attractions
'10 Fees: Weekdays $130-$140
***Golf on the East & West courses requires a stay at either Hotel Hershey or Hershey Lodge***
T&L Golf readers named Hershey Resort as their 2006 #1 Most Underrated Golf Resort and #1 Family Resort in the NE/Mid-Atlantic region, with a 95.27/100 rating.
Fat Guy Review, East & West Courses: One word came to mind often as I played both the East and West courses on consecutive days: Classic. Both courses exude classic country club lines with manicured conditions, perfect greens, and understated floral flourishes.
Hershey East #3, not a divot to be seen
After we'd finished rounds on both, my buddy Jeff and I debated which course we preferred, but were hard pressed to make a decision. Again, both have similar classic country club parkland lines, similar rolling hills and valleys here in the heart of Amish country, and both start from the same clubhouse. From tee to green, it's tough to tell that George Fazio's East course was designed nearly 50 years after the original West. Both have reasonably generous, rectangular fairways lined by mature trees, subtle doglegs, only a couple water hazards, and a few well-placed fairway bunkers. Conditions on both were very, very good.
But as our rounds unfolded, there were differences to be seen between the two, which became more apparent around the greens. The West's older school greens are at fairway grade allowing for running approaches on aprons often narrowed by bunkers. Fazio gave the East tougher elevated greens, most of which are small-to-borderline-tiny (the 1st had the smallest par-5 green I'd ever seen) and somewhat domed in a nod to Donald Ross, making for tough, mostly-uphill approaches over high-lipped bunkers. You don't see alot of pin bottoms on the East. It's more of a shot-maker's course. You can see why the it ranked as one of the Nationwide Tour's toughest scoring courses when it hosted an event for 10 years. The West is a hair longer from the White tees (6480 vs. the East's 6363), although the East has a slightly higher slope rating (132 vs. the West's 129). Fazio preferred to saddle the rolling hills and valleys, with many tee shots downhill into a valley and most approaches uphill to the green, while the West used it's slightly more dramatic elevation changes with a little more variety. It's not hard to imagine the PGA Tournament being played on the West back in 1940.
Hershey West's uphill dog right #13
Both courses had really fast greens; I'd guess both were stimping over 11 when we played. Fazio's greens feature subtle contours making even short putts tougher to read, while the West's greens were a bit larger, more canted, and a hair faster than the East, adding difficulty to your approaches when you quickly figure out you'd better leave it below the hole all day or end up facing a 10-15 foot comebacker after a scary downhill lag you can't believe went that far by the hole.
The starter summed up the member's feelings on the two courses in a coined phrase, "The East is a beast, the West is the best." I leaned a little towards preferring the East overall, although my opinion was probably swayed by the facts that we played it in 3-1/2 hours as the first group off that day, and surprisingly I played the East about 12 strokes better; by the time we played the West the next day, my temporarily-improved iron swing had left me.
There's no question the West was blessed with slightly more varied terrain and novelty. Three memorable holes on the West's front 9 are built into hollows surrounding Milton Hershey's hilltop mansion, across the street from the original chocolate factory which is still in operation.
Hershey West #4
The mansion holes have by far the most character of any stretch of either course, with a par-3 that tees off from a rock cliff over a steep valley to a green perched literally in Milton's front yard.
Hershey West #5 
Legend has it Hershey loved to sit on his front porch and watch golfers play up to the hole. The par-4 6th tees off from a hilltop also in the mansion's front yard into the hollow's bottom below, with a fairway criss-crossed by a stream and the brown brick Hershey factory smoke stacks keeping watch.
The casual golfer could play either course and hardly notice the subtle differences outside the mansion stretch, and the greens fees are virtually the same (the West costs $10 more). Having played my fair share of upscale old school Northeastern private parkland private country clubs for a Joe Public golfer, only a couple stretches of the West struck me as extraordinary outside of the great conditions, particularly for the steep greens fees coupled with a mandatory stay at the pricey resort. Don't get me wrong; both are very good courses in great condition that are perfect for the traditionalist. Personally I'm just not overly thrilled by pricey traditional-style courses.
If you're liquid and taking the kids for a weekend at HersheyPark anyway, then the West is definitely a worthwhile getaway for a morning or afternoon, and the East is almost as good if it happens to be a member's-only day on the West course. If you're Joe Middle Class public golfer (even one who doesn't mind stretching the budget for big name courses occasionally), unless you've never had the private country club experience I'd be hard pressed to say this pair is worth $600-$1,000 in room charges and greens fees, even if you can take the family to HersheyPark as a bonus. Personally I'd rather play 6 or 8 $100 rounds at great public courses (or 12 $50 rounds at a half-decent muni) than spend that much money for 2 rounds (albeit with a really nice free room for the weekend), on top of likely taking grief from the wife for disappearing for 12 hours while the rest of the family is on vacation across the street.
Probably the best option for playing the West or East courses if you've got the family in tow is the resort's 9 by 9 golf package: They get you an early tee time for 9 holes, and make sure you're off the course by 9AM (the amusement park opens at 10), all for just $59. Ah, actual life balance for Dad. Nice.
You can still make for a fun boys' or family weekend with plenty of golf staying outside the resort though. Consider booking a round at the resort's new public-access Hershey Links course by Hurzdan & Fry (although Golf Digest called it "an overpriced resort links" at $120). Save an afternoon or a full day for HersheyPark, then tee it up at nearby Wrendale GC (www.wrendalegolfclub.com). Per my buddy Gregg, this new course just outside Hershey is a tough links course reminscient of another SE PA links, Wyncote in Oxford. Plans are to take Wrendale private eventually, so play it now while they're still operating out of an office trailer for a clubhouse and need the revenue. Sounded like a great value at the $55 Gregg quoted, although the website says non-member fees are $75. 10 minute tee intervals. For a fun afternoon, play a wager-laden 9 at Hershey's short Spring Creek Course (designed for kids in 1934, but still fun for adults) after a few chocolate martinis. Golf Digest says of the Spring Course, "Spring Creek underwent a $1 million renovation in 2006, and it’s in great shape. Tight fairways are lined by tall trees; there are fast greens and two sets of tees, 2,125 and 1,701 yards for a par of 33. The longest of six par 4s is 387 yards; the shortest of three par 3s is 76 yards."
Hershey's Spring Creek Course
Fat Guy Recommendations:
Best Bar Nearby: Hogan's Grill at the clubhouse has a nice 10-seater bar and 2 rooms full of 4-toppers, each with a view the East's 18th green and a plasma, but we found the part-time bartender to be easily confused by a simple request to combine 4 checks and a little too revealing of his personal life.
When our late AM tee time was postponed due to minor damage from a nasty rain-&-hail storm the night before, we asked the starter for the nearest cheap bar to kill an hour. He steered us a mile down the road to the Parkside. True to its name, it's across the street from the backside park fence with 2 giant coasters looming overhead. The vibe was biker-ish but not uninviting, save for the possibly-schizophrenic guy at the bar who was obviously well into the days' meds/booze based on the conversation he was having with himself. It was surprisingly crowded for 10:15 AM on a random Wednesday, with 2 biker-types, 2 college kids watching World Cup soccer, 2 soccer-dads playing darts, and a guy who probably worked there but was off-duty and brought his whole family in, including his newborn infant and 4 year old. The Parkside also has a nice covered porch with tables out front, a good digital juke, and they advertise open pit BBQ (made on the back porch) sandwiches for $6. Oh, and you might want to stick to ordering a beer and/or a shot, unless you want Fred the bartender to grumble at you. The Bloody Mary Jeff ordered took Fred 12 minutes to gather the ingredients and concoct, but once he finally got back from cutting fresh celery in the kitchen, he did serve up a surprisingly good Bloody.
At the resort hotels, we preferred the slightly less hoighty-toighty environs at the bar of Hershey Hotel's new Harvest Restaurant, located in back of the hotel near the new pool and resort cottages. The Harvest's lobby is a little too Pottery Barn/McMansion-model-home, but the restaurant has an upscale Americana menu featuring thick build-your-own burgers ($13) and a reputedly delicious marinated hangar steak ($24). The bar is roughhewn upscale bathed in wood and plenty of natural light, with 6 beers on tap poured from ice-coated Cobra taps specially-designed to serve your pint at a perfect 27 degrees. Order an ice cold summer ale, or my buddy Jeff's latest summer concoction: shot of SoCo, mix with lemonade, and a splash of club soda. There's also a billiards room with 2 small tables, and usually a friendly soul or two at the bar.
For something even less hoighty-toighty, Jeff liked the Bear's Den sports bar at the Hershey Lodge. Themed on the Hershey Bears, the local minor league hockey team who plays at the Giant Center right next to HersheyPark (check the home schedule at www.hersheybears.com). The Den features a game room, 9' x 12' video wall and multiple TVs, DJ booth, and dance floor.
Having said all that, you'd be hard pressed to find a classier, cozier place to belly up than the Hershey Hotel's Iberian Lounge. The hotel was built during Prohibition, and as such did not include a bar in the original design. The Iberian, just off the former lobby, was originally a reading room (finally converted to a bar in the late 1960's), and it maintains a masculine, library-ish feel complete with a roaring fireplace (even in June?!).
Hershey Hotel's Iberian Lounge
The vibe is very Wayne Manor, dark and hoighty toighty surrounded by wood and classical fabrics, and the room feels like it would be more at home in Milton Hershey's mansion than just off the old lobby of the hotel. However, per the Travel Channel, they also serve possibly the best chocolate martini on the planet, so it's worth a quick visit just to sample one. Fat Guy preferred the creamy white chocolate martini ($10) over the hotel's specialty version. The Iberian would be a great spot to cuddle up with your best gal on a cold winter's night for a hot toddy, and it's worth a drink to sample the martinis, but it's not exactly the perfect spot for a refreshing post-round summer cocktail while you're still sweating from playing 18 holes.
Where To Stay: Travel Channel loves the historic Hotel Hershey (100 Hotel Rd, 800-HERSHEY, www.hersheypa.com), although it's uber-pricey at $409/night.
It's a vintage luxury spot with an ornate Spanish-style lobby, and modern touches like a Chocolate Spa, water slides at the pool, and a roller hockey rink. An interesting photo history of the hotel, town, and park hangs throughout the hallways. Plus there are gorgeous gardens and reflecting pools filled with koi fish out back.
My mom recommends the somewhat more afforable resort lodging option at the Hershey Lodge ($215/night). Sporty upscale rooms have all the things a modern hotel room needs: a plasma TV, posted chocolate brown wooden headboards, and fun throw pillows of all shapes and sizes. The housekeeping staff even straightens up your little messes, and they don't touch your digital temp setting.
And EVERYTHING at "The Sweetest Place On Earth" is chocolate: on your pillow, in your room, all over the unbelievable dessert menus, even down to the cocoa baths and chocolate wraps at the spa. For a variation on the sweet theme, check out the giant Dr. Suess-esque gourmet cupcakes in the Sweets section of the Hershey Hotel's lobby Coffee Beanery.
234 guestrooms, 3 restaurants, 14 dining options, 3-1/2 great golf courses, a lounge, and a chocolate-themed park. Sounds like a weekend to me.
Check the weblink above for golf "packages" at Hershey resort (brace yourself for the pricing, then if you can still afford it, spend a few days thinking of ways to spin it as a romantic weekend getaway with the wife... that just happens to include 36 holes).
For us great unwashed masses, the area also features many national hotel chains. Among the most centrally located are Best Western, Comfort Inn, Hilton Garden, Holiday Inn Express, Days Inn, and Hampton Inn. But remember, saving chi-ching on the room means no golf on the famed West & East courses at the resort.
Where To Grub: At the resort hotels, Travel Channel also loves Hotel Hershey's Circular Dining Room (jacket and tie required). Forget the breathtaking views of the formal gardens, the award-winning wine list, and the superbly prepared American cuisine, it's worth a visit just for the irresistably decadent chocolate dessert menu. The hotel's new Trevi 5 is a more casual modern Italian grill.
At Hershey Lodge, The Forebay has a casual gourmet vibe for a romantic dinner with your golf widow, the Hershey Grill is a more informal setting, and Lebbie Lebkicher's (named for Milton Hershey's best friend) is a fun family breakfast spot.
When venturing outside the resort, hit these local spots: Two minutes outside Hershey, Hummelstown hosts a trio of fun dining options: For trendy and hip, hit The Gas Station Kitchen & Bar (www.thegasstation.us). Industrial decor in a former gas station building expanded with modernist architectual touches, metal staircases to loft dining areas, and a high-ceilinged bar. Toolboxes serve as hostess and wait stations. A huge chalkboard takes up an entire wall advertising specials and desserts, plus there's an ultralounge and outdoor tables. The simple-but-trendy two page comfort food menu features everything from fun bar appetizers to full racks of smoked BBQ ribs. Order the battered fish tacos, the mac-&-cheese, or a rack of ribs. But save room for the fried Rollos (yes, the chocolate-and-carmel Hershey candy) battered in graham cracker crumbs, or the subtle housemade lemon ice cream. For '50's hip, try the Soda Jerk Diner & Dairy Bar (403 E Main, 717-566-7707) with a full diner menu and attentive service. Boro Bar & Grill (www.borobar.com) across the street won Hershey's Best Wings for 2 years running in '02 & '03.
Hamburger specialty chain Red Robin, just outside the park, is a fun spot to take the kids, or hit the bar for a whimsical drink menu and fun happy hour.
For upscale, head for the Hershey outpost of Philly's best crabcakes at Devon Seafood Grill (www.devonseafood.com/home.aspx?location_id=215). Area guides recommend Union Canal House (107 S. Hanover St, Union Deposit, 717-566-0054, www.unioncanalhouse.com), an on-going eatery since 1751. Try the specialty of the house, Roast Long Island Duckling in a fantastic orange sauce, or sample the 8 varieties of wild fish, the savory lamb, veal, or beef dishes, as well as the extensive wine list, all in a pre-Revolutionary setting. A bonus: the place is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young Irish girl named Rebecca. US Airways magazine digs Brian Kents (934 E Chocolate Ave, 717-533-3529, www.briankents.com) for eclectic fine dining in an upscale environment with a seasonal menu.
Further Diversions: Hershey Amusement Park (www.hersheypa.com) is open all Summer and officially closes for the season around the end of September. Regional supermarket chain Giant always has discount admission coupons. HersheyPark is a full theme park with 6 legit roller coasters. It's all you can do in a day, and could easily entertain for a full weekend. Hershey Chocolate World is a fun tour ride with a cute mock-up of the chocolate making process, having recently undergone a $5 million renovation. Naturally, Hershey's marketing team pumps in the sweet aroma of chocolate at the end of the ride, then dumps you out into a massive candy-and-logo-laden gift mall. Once in the park, do yourself a favor and skip the ridiculous lines at the kiddie-cars and the log flume. If you're that overheated, try the waterpark, or sit in the front row of the seal show instead. Per my friend Tom M, Hershey's late Oct Halloween and late Nov/Dec holiday celebrations are well worth a weekend visit, with selected rides, attractions, and shops open through the end of the year, although tee times would be a dice roll weatherwise, even for Halloween weekend.
For grub inside the park, hit Famous Famiglia for the official pizza of Yankee Stadium, Freeman's Texas BBQ for the ribs, and make sure you sample a glass of the park's tasty lemonade. A family of 4 can expect to burn through $75-$100 in park food for a full day.
Hershey Museum (www.hersheymuseum.org) details the interesting history of Milton S. Hershey and his chocolate company.
Nauseous from the sickly-sweet chocolate theme yet? There's also outlet shopping in town.
All that, and I didn't use the word "chocoholic" once!
Best Advice: Lose 5 or 8 pounds before you go. Oh, and I almost got pulled over here, so I'd watch your speed when trying to navigate your way through town and into the attractions.
Away Game
Chocolate And Chips
By Matt Ginella, Golf Digest
Photos by Bjorn Iooss
July 2010
You might assume Hershey, Pa., smells like chocolate and sounds like screams from the town's theme park. That while spa-goers indulge in the serenity of cocoa treatments, golfers bump knuckles after dropping birdies in peanut-butter cups. It's all true. Except the part about peanut-butter cups. But as we know, birdies are sweet wherever you are.
Milton Hershey was a diminutive man with a big, philanthropic heart who died in 1945 at age 88, but locals talk about him as if he just left the room. In addition to the Hershey Chocolate Company that he founded 105 years ago, Hershey's legacy includes a school for underprivileged kids, a golf resort that's steeped in history, and the root system to a modern town of 9,000 that gets six million visitors annually.
Hershey, Pa., is 2½ hours by car from New York City. Or take a plane or train to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital, which is 15 miles west of Hershey. As I checked into one of the 10 new cottages ($539 a night) behind the AAA Four-Diamond Hotel Hershey ($409 a night), bellman B.J. Sisson explained, "We're within a 6½-hour drive of nine NFL franchises."
There's no professional football in Hershey, but there are the Bears, a successful NHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals. The Bears play in the arena where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in an NBA game in 1962. There's also a 110-acre theme park with more than 65 rides and 11 roller coasters. Tickets cost $21 to $53, depending on your age. Fahrenheit is a ride that will put you through a 97-degree free fall, and Storm Runner will zip you from zero to 72 miles per hour in two seconds.
Any ride more extreme than the Ladybug can cause me to lose my Reese's Pieces, so I focused on Hotel Hershey's 63 holes of golf.
The West course, favored by members and me, was built in 1930 and designed by Maurice McCarthy, a club pro from New York who moonlighted as a golf-course architect. The West's 6,860-yard, par-73 layout reminds me of Old White at the Greenbrier in West Virginia or Pasatiempo in California. The first two holes are long and brutal, but then it becomes a fun combination of testy par 3s, short par 4s and reachable par 5s. The greens are sloped and can be slick -- so stay below the hole.
The West ($145) hosted the 1940 PGA Championship, and a few members who caddied in the late '30s and early '40s as kids are glad to tell stories of golf's Golden Age. Mark Henry, 88, is one of those members. He was Gene Sarazen's caddie in the 1940 PGA. "[Ben] Hogan by far was the best ball-striker," says Henry, who tries to play 100 rounds a year and confirms Hogan struggled on the greens. "[Byron] Nelson used to say he could smoke a cigar in the time it took Hogan to line up a putt."
Nelson beat Sam Snead in the match-play final, 1 up, to win the third of his five major championships. In 1941, Hershey, an avid golf fan who lived on the upper floor of High Point mansion, left of the fifth green, hired Hogan as his pro to replace Henry Picard. Hogan remained the pro at Hershey for a decade, but Mark Henry says Hogan was in town for only about eight weeks a year.
The underrated East course ($130) is definitely worth playing. Built in 1969, the George Fazio design hosted a Nationwide Tour event from 1997 to 2004. Play from 6,551 yards and enjoy the views, elevated greens and the ability to get around in less than four hours, because it's rarely crowded.
Hershey CC East #18
Only members and guests of the resort may play the East and the West, but the Hershey Links ($120) is open to anyone, and open off the tee. Described by one member as "resort links," the 2005 Mike Hurdzan and Dana Fry design is a nice complement to the more challenging East and West layouts but seems overpriced in comparison.
The resort's other nine is known as Spring Creek, which opened in 1932. Hershey had McCarthy build this short course for kids. The only way adults could play was as a guest of a child. Today anybody can play, and you can buzz around on foot in fewer than 90 minutes and for less than $20. Spring Creek underwent a renovation in 2006, and it's in great shape. Adults play for $14 per nine holes; kids play for $12, ($5 if they're a member of a First Tee program).
I can't say the food in Hershey is as good as the chocolate or the golf. I had decent meals at Devon Seafood Grill and Trevi 5, the new restaurant at Hotel Hershey. By far the best combination of food and service was at the Circular Dining Room, also at the hotel (jacket required).
I suggest an after-dinner drink on the deck by the fire pit, which overlooks the Hershey Gardens and out to the twin "Hershey stacks" at the chocolate plant -- the most visible landmark of this centrally located, candy-coated chunk of Americana. 