Dogwood Knolls Golf Course, Hopewell Junction, NY

This course has sentimental value to me because I essentially learned on it 20 some odd years ago. As Serano notes below, it is a great course to learn on as for 9 holes and 3,100 - 3,300 yards, it is a full distance big boy (and girl) course. Men play white tees the first time around and blues the next -- the blues add about 200 yards. Women play reds first, then the second time around, they play the whites -- the same tees the men play from the first time around. Course measures about 6,000 yards for women for 18 holes -- that is pretty tough!. My wife and I played it recently as part of a golf outing.

Staff here is super friendly. During the outing, staff loaded up a keg of beer into a cart and drove around and filled up a cup of beer upon request. Now that is service!

Inside, the bar area is cozy. The course is what it is -- certainly not the best in the area, but its 9 holes are challenging and it is not very hard to get on, and it is very inexpensive compared to other courses in the area. As with many local courses, the heavy rains in August and September have completely saturated the fairways and greens -- the water has no place to go and just pools around. Many muddy patches throughout. Two greens were out of commission with temporary greens in their place.

Their best hole is the 8th hole -- a downhill par 3. Miss this green and you are in big trouble. Walk the course if you can, the carts are old and some of them are lacking proper brakes.

In summary, friendly staff that really care about their customers, decent, but not great course, nice bar atmosphere.

I started playing golf on the three inexpensive 9 hole courses in the area; Dogwood, Vassar, and College Hill. By far Dogwood is my favorite. The upkeep is probably the worst of the 3 but the distance factor combined with tougher greens make it the only course of the 3 where you will have to hit long irons and fairway woods. With 500-600 yards over the other 9 hole courses, it is the most appropriate to prepare a novice like me for a full distance 18 hole course. Plus with only a couple of exceptions the fairways are so open and wide that it’s the perfect place to get comfortable hitting your driver. You can slice the ball way off course and still usually find and play your ball, which I see many people do every time I play there.