Located on Smith Road in East Amherst, NY, Glen Oak Golf Course sits in the middle of a cluster of single family homes, townhouses, condos and patio homes.\u00a0 A Robert Trent Jones design, Glen Oak was opened in 1969.\u00a0 A common misconception is that the course was designed to be part of a \u2018golfing community.\u2019\u00a0 The course, which was private until 1985, was always designed to be a standalone entity.\u00a0 The only concession to local residents was access to a bike path that meanders through the course.\u00a0 To this day, the path is still open to area residents.<\/p>\n
The course has undergone very little changes over the years.\u00a0 According to head pro Mike Zuppa, a few bunkers have been reworked and tee box reconstruction has taken place recently.\u00a0 Otherwise, the course looks the same as the way it was designed.<\/p>\n
Part of the course is dissected by Smith Road.\u00a0 Holes 1-10 and 14-18 sit on the right half of the road with the remaining holes on the other side of the road.\u00a0 With four tee boxes, Glen Oak offers a fair yet challenging experience for golfers of all levels.\u00a0 When played from the \u2018tips\u2019, it offers an extreme challenge for even the most experienced golfers.\u00a0 Played from the one of the up boxes, the course becomes much more playable yet still is demanding in its own right.<\/p>\n
While not heavily bunkered, there are enough sand traps on the course to require most approach shots to be hit with proper distance and accuracy.\u00a0 Water comes into play on 10 of the holes, but, it is a major concern on holes 2, 5, 7, 8, 12 and 18.The fairways are spacious enough that slightly offline hits will not result in severe penalty situations.\u00a0 The greens are for the most part large with some undulations, but, the breaks in the greens are fairly straight forward.<\/p>\n
While the course has a number of memorable holes, one of the best is #5, a long par 5 with potential trouble from start to finish.\u00a0 Too far left on the tee shot can result in an out of bounds (possibly landing on the deck of someone\u2019s patio!).\u00a0 A tee shot too far right brings a large strand of trees into play and can result in a dicey 2nd<\/sup> shot.\u00a0 The layup shot requires both distance and direction since water can come into play on shots hit either too far right or left.\u00a0 The third, or approach, shot must be accurate as there is water on the immediate right side of the green and a sizeable sand trap on the left.\u00a0 Some may find this hole a bit daunting, but, if played correctly, this hole can provide a real sense of golfing accomplishment.<\/p>\n Probably the most vexing hole on the course is the par 3 15th<\/sup>.\u00a0 This hole plays around 175-190 from the middle tees to an elevated green and requires a well struck mid-iron or even some sort of hybrid club depending on the wind direction.\u00a0 Two huge bunkers front the right side of a green that slopes from right to left.\u00a0 Another bunker sits behind the green.\u00a0 Tee shots hit short and right usually find there way into one of the front bunkers.\u00a0 Shots that are either hit too long or hit without the proper loft will land in the back bunker.\u00a0 Shots that are short and left will run off of the green due to the severe front sloping.\u00a0 If your tee shot does not land on the green, your 2nd<\/sup> shot is difficult at best and making par becomes an iffy proposition.<\/p>\n While none of the holes was truly awful, I was the least impressed by the 14th<\/sup> hole.\u00a0 This short par 4 is both visually and strategically unappealing.\u00a0 While it is a hole that can help one\u2019s scoring, I found that it lacked the dynamism that many of the other holes possess.\u00a0 The layout of the hole is fairly straight forward and requires no more than a mediocre tee shot to end up with a short iron to the green (which is directly in front of Smith Rd.).\u00a0 For some reason this hole almost seems like an afterthought in the grand scheme of things.\u00a0 But, the abundance of truly fine holes does mitigate this hole.\u00a0 Mo\u2019 Golf, my erstwhile and opinionated colleague, notes that Robert Trent Jones, Senior, was never a fan of centerline hazards, preferring parallel bunkering to a diagonal series of sand pits.\u00a0 In Mo\u2019s opinion, #14 would benefit from just such a diagonal hazard\u2026carry the short right bunker for a longer approach in; risk the longer, lefter carry and have a shorter club in.\u00a0 Mo\u2019 also suggested that RTJ, Sr. was perhaps planning a breather hole before the final, nearly-impregnable quadrilateral of holes 15-18.<\/p>\n Glen Oak has a men\u2019s club and offers both men\u2019s and women\u2019s leagues Monday-Thursday.\u00a0 There is also a large clubhouse with a bar for casual drinks or snacks and a full service restaurant for dinners or banquets.<\/p>\n All in all, Glen Oak is a challenging yet fair golfing experience.\u00a0 For a public course it has the feel of private course.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Located on Smith Road in East Amherst, NY, Glen Oak Golf Course sits in the middle of a cluster of single family homes, townhouses, condos and patio homes.\u00a0 A Robert Trent Jones design, Glen Oak was opened in 1969.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ricos-rants"],"yoast_head":"\n