By Dan Murphy
For Westchester golfers about to embark on another season on the links – if Mother Nature allows it – one spot they should visit and play is Pound Ridge Golf Club. Opened in 2008, Pound Ridge Golf Club is the only course in New York designed by the legendary Pete Dye, and has been consistently ranked as one of the premier high-end public courses in the metropolitan-New York area.
In a county filled with traditional golf course layouts, Pound Ridge provides golfers with a refreshing and modern course design option. Fans of Pete Dye’s designed courses across the country – TPC Sawgrass in Florida, Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, and Kiawah Island in South Carolina – will find all the legendary designer’s renowned touches on display, including dramatic mounding, rhythmic routing, and subtle deception melded together to create an imminently challenging and fair golf experience.
Pound Ridge Golf Club reflects the best in contemporary course design and is unique in a region filled with classic courses.
“When we first met with Pete Dye before the course was built, our goal was for him to create something truly special for the public player in Westchester County, as well as the New York City-metro area,” said Ken Wang, owner of Pound Ridge. “That vision has certainly come to fruition and we look forward to the next 10 years of providing unique and thrilling rounds of golf few courses can match.”
The par-72 Pound Ridge Golf Club measures 7,165 yards and houses five sets of tees. It boasts a practice range, short game area and putting green. The property features some of the highest points in Westchester County, with many tee boxes offering expansive vistas of the surrounding countryside. Notable holes include the par-5, 13th – home to “Pete’s Rock,” a giant boulder that rests in the middle of the fairway; and the par-3 15th – dubbed “Headstone,” which is flanked on the right by a large rock outcropping that protrudes into the elongated, 9,000-square-foot green.
Ranked number four in GOLF Magazine’s “Best Courses You Can Play in New York” and ranked No. 6 in New York in Golfweek’s “Best Courses You Can Play,” Pound Ridge Golf Club continues to be a “must-play” public course on any Westchester golfer’s list.
“Golfweek’s rating system uniquely factors the quality of a course’s par 3s, 4s and 5s, providing a holistic view of layout quality,” said Wang. “Our guests savor the opportunity to play a classic Dye design while also enjoying a premier experience from the moment they arrive.”
Pound Ridge Golf Club is open for the 2019 golf season with tailored daily fee rates and annual golf plans built around the needs of today’s golfer. Through Oct. 27, the 18-hole Monday to Thursday “peak season” reservation rate is $150 before 1 p.m. and, new this year, $125 after 1 p.m. The weekend (Friday through Sunday) and holiday rate is $235 before 1 p.m. and $150 after 1 p.m.
Pound Ridge also features a “peak season” nine-hole weekday rate of $80, and $120 for weekends. Another option is an “individual Golf Plan,” good through Dec. 31, 2020, which gives golfers using prepaid debit accounts with participants receiving 10 percent off applicable greens fees when using their account balance (golf only).
All guests receive a complimentary yardage book, bottled water, tees, towel usage, range balls, and use of practice facilities. Carts are equipped with state-of-the-art GPS for obtaining exact yardages from any position.
“We’re excited to enter our second decade of offering our guests one of the premier Pete Dye golf experiences in not only the New York City and Westchester County area, but the U.S., as well,” said Wang. “Few daily-fee locations anywhere can match the glory of Pete’s genius on display here at Pound Ridge with its incredible design, wonderful challenge and tranquil bucolic setting.”
Pound Ridge Golf Club is a full bent grass facility, hewn from 172 acres of cliffs, streams and wooded hills. Dramatic rock formations and boulders were left onsite, creating one of the most stunning settings for golf in the United States. More than 14,000 linear feet of rock wall surrounds trees, wetlands and water hazards. These frame contoured fairways wind through hardwood forests and fescue mounds leading to open meadows with picturesque green complexes.
I recently paid my yearly visit to Pound Ridge Golf Club and was not disappointed. The fact that GOLF Magazine called it the number one U.S. Open-worthy public course is accurate. While you may want to have your “A” game when playing Pound Ridge, I have always enjoyed my 18 holes here regardless of my final score.
I played from the Granite Tees, which gave me the chance to hit the rolling Pete Dye fairways and have a couple of shots at birdie and score a few pars throughout the round. My favorite holes have been the 7th hole – a par 5 set on three levels, and with three good shots you’re on the green for birdie. And the closing three holes – 16, a par 5, and 17 and 18 longer par 4s with water on the left taking you home on the 18th hole – left me wanting to come back for another round.
With water in play on at least seven holes, Pound Ridge Golf Club makes you feel like you are playing a Pete Dye designed course in Florida or South Carolina. The staff are friendly and welcoming and above all, Pound Ridge is a fun and fair test of your golf game. You will not play another course like it in the New York-metro area, and I would make it a “must play” on your 2019 list of courses to play.
Visit Poundridgegolf.com or call 914-764-5771 for more information.
Editor’s note: This begins my journey to Westchester golf courses and country clubs, private and public. If you have a course you would like to highlight in our nine weekly newspapers, email us at dmurphy@risingmediagroup.com.
