Lederach GC
Harleysville, PA (about 35 minutes NE of King Of Prussia off the NE Tpke Extension)
Public tee times 7 days in advance
2011 Fees: ~$52 prime time ride
Directions: From Philadelphia, take Northeast Extension (476) North to exit 31 Route 63 toward Lansdale
•Take right onto Route 63 towards Harleysville for 4 miles
•Turn left onto Route 113 Harleysville Pike
•Go approximately 2 miles and make a right onto Clubhouse Drive. Follow to entrance on left
Fat Guy Review, 2011: I'm starting to despise the overused terms "links-style" and "links elements". Basically what they convey is a generic American phrase for "treeless golf course" or "flat-ish American course with some mounding and open approaches because the bland landscape didn't lend itself to traditional American parkland". Saying a course is "links-style" or has "links elements" hints at a wide range of possible features, but with no real inkling of how authentic, pervasive, consistent, successful, or charming those elements are in bringing out the "grin-at-the-good-and-bad-bounces" essence of links golf. We Yanks need to coin a new term, and I'm claiming it now. Let's call any course in America that largely succeeds at capturing the essence of true links golf... an American links.
Of course the vast majority of U.S. "links-style" courses wouldn't meet the definition of a true seaside links (in the Scottish sense of the word) by any stretch of the imagination. Outside of Bandon Dunes, there's probably less than a handfull of courses in America that would even come close to fulfilling all the criteria of a true links (and most of those are private). But there are an increasing number of American courses that capture the essence of links golf (exposed to prevailing winds, hard and running, atypical mid-fairway bunker placements, blind shots, large buried-elephant greens with open green fronts, and plenty of unpredictable fairway mounds and shaved-down greenside swales). These American links capture that magical extra element of quirky randomness (necessitating shot-making that's more art than science) that makes links golf so damn fun. I've played more than a few good-to-great ones in the States. Glen Riddle's Man O' War just outside Ocean City MD jumps to mind, as does Wyncote in Oxford PA outside Philly.
Rather than snobishly ticking off how many criteria they don't meet on the true links checklist, let's celebrate their Ugly-American-ness. Sure, most American links are inland (often way inland), some have starters with headsets, some are ringed by ausentatious cookie-cutter professionally-landscaped American monster houses, some have a few parkland holes or a water-carry par-3 mixed in here and there, some rarely experience winds blowing hard enough to be a factor in club selection, and many have tony restaurants in the clubhouse rather than a friendly beer-stenched pub atmosphere. But still, if you're standing over your bag mulling over a short open approach with your right hand your wedge, your left hand on your 6-iron, your mind on your putter, and your eyes scanning the trees for the wind speed and direction, then enjoy it for what it is, I say.
Lederach is the essence of an honest-to-God American links. True, it's probably 3 hours of weekend traffic from the nearest ocean and any natural sand dunes. True, it winds through a McMansion development, with white backyard stakes and sturdy wooden play sets occasionally uncomfortably close to the fairway. True, the cart paths are a maze of perfectly-paved confusion that occasionally cross a Stepford-esque street with stone block curbing (although the McMansion dwellers were creepily absent during our round--it was on the warm side but shy of brutally hot--yet we probably only saw 3 live souls outside the dozens of houses, not even any kids out playing--by the back 9 it started to feel like the beginning of a bad zombie movie). Lederach also has more than it's share of semi-blind shots, sometimes with minimal visual cues from the tee that often have you referring to the tiny course map on the scorecard for clues... well to all that I say, 'Get over it all already!' Welcome to modern American links golf. On the whole, designer Kelly Blake Morgan completely captures the fun of real links golf out here, halfway between Philly and the Poconos.
Lederach's hardpack fairways are generous and usually nakedly exposed to the hilltop winds, with massive 4-puttable greens that undulate like the heaving waves of an angry ocean, surrounded by tightly mown swales that love to gather windblown approaches and tentative pitch shots. From the tee, the flag sticks are sometimes tucked around a bend or over a hill, the ground hard and running, the bunkers rough and tumble (although no reveted faces or frog-haired surrounds here). Morgan even left some large grassy mounds front and center in a few fairway landing areas, a quirk that forces forethought and non-traditional course management options. In a few spots the routing reminded me a little of Gullane's hillside links on the Firth of Fourth in Scotland. Morgan also did a great job of using tee shot angles, terrain, and mounding to keep most of the O.B. on the house-lined holes from feeling too close.
The finish is a perfect example: #16 is a short par-3 with a portion of the green hidden by a small rise, where my buddy Steve pushed his tee ball 15 yards right. It barely stayed in bounds short of a backyard; that's followed by a pair of large grassy mounds in the fairway landing area on 17, leading into a partially blind green with bunkers and a deep swale guarding the front, and a 7-year-old girl doing shockingly polished twist-flips on a trampoline watching our approaches from a nearby backyard; and #18 is a classic risk-reward driveable short par-4, with a centered fairway bunker and mounding guarding a downslope kickplate to a green that begs big hitters to go for it, but anything that's not struck purely will catch the bunker, and anything left of center on the fairway will catch a slope that summarily sucks your ball into the pond running down the left side.
I really, really liked this most American of links. Sure, there were a few blind shots that left me saying, "Wish I'd know that before I hit," but nothing that seemed completely unfair, and overall I just kept feeling like it was a course you could continue discovering over subsequent rounds. I even found myself wishing I lived closer so I could play it often enough to start to learn the hidden hazards, the fairway bounces, the shot lines over blind hills, the bounces off the greenfront swales, the rolls into the collection areas, the tricks to finding the front pin placements, and the myriad of putt breaks over the elephant's backs. It felt like links golf... the odd bounce here and there, your good fortune on this hole offsetting the cruelty of the wind on the last. I think a second go-round would be even more enjoyable than the first, and so on. Even the beer cart girl was older, attractive, and sassy without being over the top. Honestly, I can't wait to go back.
There was one big caveat to our otherwise very enjoyable round: Pace of play was borderline brutal at a little over 5 hours for our July Friday midday round. Combine the blind shots with the running fairways, winds, tough greens, an inexplicable series of 4 twosomes in a row behind an ungodly slow foursome, and a ranger who claimed that it was no one group's fault, just a series of "slightly slow play", and the day got frustrating by the time the wind died down late when the heat of the day took over in the early afternoon.
Fat Guy Rating: 8.0 (easily an 8.5 course if you can find a good slot to play it in 4-1/2 hours or less).
T&L Golf Review: ARCHITECT: Kelly Blake Moran. YARDAGE: 7,045. PAR: 71.
"Golfers will have to think their way around this course in rolling farm country north of Philadelphia. Refreshingly, Kelly Blake Moran brings the ground game into play by utilizing the property's natural ridges and valleys. His various center-line hazards, fluid green complexes and alternate lines of play also command strategic attention."
From The Website:
The highly-anticipated layout north of Philadelphia just off exit 31 on the Northeast Extension is amid gorgeous rolling farmland and has a decidedly links feel. Lederach's difficulty won't be found in forced carries or other modern design gimmicks. Rather, the course will utilize the property's ample undulations, scenic ridges and sweeping valleys.
False fronts, collection areas, grass bunkers and swales are just some of the natural hazards Moran has incorporated into his "land-based" design for Lederach.
Where To Booze & Grub Nearby: Leddy’s Pub in the clubhouse is a nice high-ceilinged horseshoe bar with plenty of tables and natural light. They serve a hefty breakfast sandwich on a a Keiser roll, and a decent chicken cheesesteak. Leddy's also does half-price Happy Hour drinks Mon-Fri, and 45 cent wings on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Or try the Yuengling beer-battered shrimp.
If you’re looking to swill a few brews or frozen libations after your round, consider skipping Lederach’s pub and heading for nearby Tiki Bar at Spring Mountain (757 Spring Mtn Rd, Spring Mount/Schwenksville,www.tikibarpa.com, 4 mi / 10 mins away: 113N, L on Salfordville, L on Camp Wawa to Lederach Rd, L on Schwenksville Rd, R on Spring Mtn). The original Tiki Bar in Boyertown is one of my favorite spots in SE PA, but this second outpost isn't as cool, and it's set on the back deck of a musty old-school A-frame lodge at a rinky-dink ski bump. Still, it's grill your own steaks, Jimmy Buffet and an eclectic mix of soul and modern jazz as a soundtrack, and beads on sale at 4/$1, creating a good party atmosphere, and I doubt there's a better party in Lederach PA.
Tip: If Tiki Bar is a mandatory part of your Lederach golf itinerary, make your tee time for 11AM or later... Tiki Bar doesn't open til 4PM (7 days/week, May-Sept).
For an upscale meal, head for nearby Bay Pony Inn (www.bayponyinnpa.com). A cozy cherry wood bar compliments an upscale menu and dining room.