The Concord Monster Golf Club, Kiamesha Lake, NY

The Concord Monster Club is a legendary golf venue that is currently under redevelopment and it’s set to reopen in 2020 or 2021. It has been closed since 2015.

The original course was imagined by renowned golf course designer Joe Finger. This course was once rated as one of America’s Top 100 golf courses and was once frequented by golf pros and Hollywood celebrities. It was also America’s longest golf course for years.

The length of the original course was 7,650 from the Monster tees. The new design will max out at 6,800 yards from the blue tee. The shortest purple tee (in the new design) will be 5,270 yards. This cuts off over 2,500 yards from the monster tees in the original design.

The course is being redesigned by Rees Jones Inc. with a budget of just over $20 million. The main goal of the redesign is to make the course more playable for a range of golfer abilities. There was also a resort built since the original course was built, so the new course will ideally be an attraction for guests at the resort. The new design will feature up to 60 bunkers, and some holes will be re-numbered with different par ratings (for example, the old 9th will become the new 18th.)

This is a very difficult course that will test not only your ability to hit long shots, but also your shot shaping and short game. Hole #4 is the signature hole and also the longest on the course at a whopping 632 yards. 14 out of the 18 holes are over 300 yards long.

Hole #12 (538 yards) is entirely bordered by a lake on the right side, and it’s a blind shot. The fairway doglegs right just before the green. You’ll also find a few other blind shots on the course. On hole #13 (364 yards from the men’s tee), the fairway doglegs sharply to the right (almost at a right angle.) Hole #10 (352 yards) is yet another blind shot that doglegs left. Even the shorter holes don’t offer much relief. On hole #11 (160 yards,) you’re hitting on a narrow fairway directly over a creek.

The putting green, driving range and clubhouse are also getting redone as part of the renovation. The future looks bright for the Concord Monster Golf Course. Let’s just hope this course keeps it’s unique character and is still challenging enough for experienced golfers to enjoy.

The course conditions were not ideal since there had been a lot of rain the week before. Looking over this, the fairways were in good condition and the greens rolled nicely. However, notwithstanding the history of the course, there was not much to it. Long does not make for a hard course. The layout was, for the most part, straight forward - with the exception of the 4th hole, which was fantastically designed.

What a great older golf course that is extremely long. It was in good shape and very well designed. The funny thing is I played the womans tess a few times during the round because the yardage from them was over 420 yards.I did not want to play over 440 yards to a par four.A long pretty couse with some fabulous holes.