Clifton Park Golf Course

Diamond in the rough part of town...

Only knowing the course was in a dense urban setting I had low expectations. Boy was I wrong. What a classic lay-out! Built in 1914 it has hung on despite so many environmental distractions and disadvantages. This is a bomber's course with ample fairways, few trees in play, and smooth rocket-fast, deceptive greens. There are a handful of short, "drivable" par 4s but the greens are the course's best defense because they are so fast and difficult to read. This is also a hilly course with either elevated or sunken greens, so course knowledge is really important to pull the right club. The lay-out is just great and many holes are gorgeous to look at, especially #1, 10, 17, and 18. #10 is the kind of par 3 where you wished you had a bucket of balls to shoot at just for fun, maybe the signature hole on the course. It's 175 yds from an elevated tee. One of the best 3s you can visualize. The 12th tee is very interesting. You are literally just a few feet from cars idling at a stop light. You hear music thumping loudly trying to settle over the tee-shot. There's also a sign there that reads something like "Golfers not allowed to leave the course to buy anything." Helpful advice. Overall one of the best conditioned courses. Lush and tight fairways, too. If you can tolerate the noise and [as previously mentioned] non-golfers hanging around or cutting through parts of the course you'll have a good day.

Good course bad area of town