The Links at Union Vale

There's a hard to miss sign in front of the entrance written in Irish Gaelic I presume - I forget the exact spelling unfortunately, but according to those I asked, it means many thousand welcomes and usually courses in this area, to me, feel corporate and/or a bit stiff, that is to say, not welcome, unless I spend a whole lot of money, but here, I do feel welcome and the atmosphere is casual and cordial and the golf is pretty darn good to boot.

TL@UV feels like it's on top of a small knoll and affords some scenic country views. Golfers I played with from across the pond say it reminds them of home and I agree - it doesn't feel completely American and that's a good thing.

One thing I particularly noticed is the use of split fairways, not the the left right kind, but the front back type, the kind that makes you lay up or go for the carry over unplayable areas and makes for some great driving challenges. That would describe most of the par 5s and some par 4s. There's a good mix of flat hotes and holes with elevation changes and one hole with a carry over water. The par 3 tenth if I would opine, is the weakest hole if there was one. Greens are usually fast and in good shape. The practice area is a bit on the small side. I wish they would not use mats so often but there's not much land to work with. Despite the elevation changes, very walkable and more than your usual share of walkers and best of all, pace of play is much better than the NYC norm.

If this course weren't so far from NYC, I'd be here all the time.