Courses: Oak Tree Country Club, West Middlesex, PA

Oak Tree Country Club is a shotmaker's course: you'll be forced to work the ball both directions to navigate this deceptively narrow track.

Oak Tree Country Club is a semi-private course near Sharon, PA. Built in 1967 and designed by Ed Ault, Oak Tree existed until 2005 as a private club. The pressure of maintaining a large, active membership in the modern day forced the club's hand, but the transition has been smooth, and memberships are still available.



Director of golf Bob Collins invited The Sand Trap to play a round after making sure we were okay with a "tighter, tree-lined course." After assuring Bob that we valued golf courses of all shapes and sizes and that we weren't going to blame our poor shots towards those trees on faulty course design, he set up a tee time.

We played in late September, 2005. After an unusually warm summer, the trees still had all of their leaves. However, the weather that day was anything but warm: we faced a steady drizzle and temperatures in the low 60s to high 50s. Still, we battled on, and in the end, were glad we did.




The first hole at Oak Tree - a gentle but demanding par 4 - does a fine job displaying the excellent conditioning.



Conditions
We visited Oak Tree one day after an otherwise gorgeous late-summer day, but the rain had been coming down since early the evening before. Despite the 3" of rain or more, the course only began to get noticeably soggy towards the end of the day after almost 24 hours of rain.



The 2005 summer was incredibly dry, yet Oak Tree showed very few signs of fatigue or stress. The course was in excellent shape: ponds were full, the grass was green, and I cannot recall a single burned-out or brown spot on the greens.



Oak Tree Country Club, in west-central PA, features foliage typical to the area: lush rye/poa/bluegrass fairways, dense oaks and pines, thick bushes. Despite the rain and the lack of maintenance that day, the greens rolled surprisingly smoothly. The rough and fairways were in great shape, providing good lies in the fairway and difficult lies in the rough all day despite the moisture. The trees were healthy, and the flowers behind the third hole - a cute par 3 - were even in bloom.




The tee shot on the par-5 sixth hole may look daunting, but it sets up perfectly for a running cut if you can play it.



I don't demand the very best course conditions because I appreciate the cost associated with achieving Augusta National-like conditions, but Oak Tree met or exceeded my expectations by a long shot.



Design
At 6500 yards from the tips and playing to a par of 71, Oak Tree is not going to challenge the likes of Bubba Watson or J.B. Holmes. It will, however, test every aspect of the average golfer's game from tee to green.



Bob Collins called the course "tree-lined and tight." I arrived to find fairways 25-40 yards wide. Trees were set back a good distance from the fairway. My home course has fairways that average 22 yards in width, so Oak Tree felt spacious at first! But my opinions changed as I played through the first few holes. The second hole measures only 491 yards from the back tees, and I had 5-iron yardage to the green. Unfortunately, I was on the left side of the fairway and trees were blocking a direct line to the green. I had to play either a 30-yard hook or I had to be content with laying up short of the green.




The beautiful par-3 third is one of four par-3s on this course that play to within three yards of 165.



This theme repeated itself throughout the round. Oak Tree isn't pure target golf - you can work your way around trouble if you can shape the ball both ways - but shots that found the proper spots required a lot less work to get close to the pin.



One of my favorite holes is the 421-yard par-4 fifth hole. With the pin back-right, the tee shot required a draw and the approach a soft cut to slide along the length of the green. If you had only one of these shots in your bag, you'll find yourself with a very tight shot either from the tee or the fairway.



Other holes are worth noting, including the 396-yard par-4 eighth. The tee shot plays downhill and to the left. The ideal shot is a small draw down the right-center of the fairway with a 3-wood. This should leave a short-iron approach to a skinny green tilted 45° from the line of play, making distance control critical.




The 18th green is protected front and right by water and a deceptively deep bunker.



The finishing hole (pictured just above) plays 407 yards to a par four. I suspect many a wager have been determined in the water protecting the front-right side of the green. True to form, this hole requires an accurate drive to a deceptively narrow fairway, this one pinched by two bunkers on each side.



Unfortunately, the demand for shotmaking does not extend to the par threes. While beautiful (see the third hole above) and offering differently contoured putting surfaces, they fail to offer much of a challenge as the first four clock in at 162, 167, 163, and 162 yards respectively. Only the 205-yard 17th forces you to pull a different club from your bag. If you demand "scenic" (see also 14 and 9) from par threes, Oak Tree will meet your needs, but if you're looking to test more than one iron on four of the eighteen holes, you'll be disappointed.



One final nit I feel I have to pick is that of blind tee shots. Several of the fairways fall away from the player, hiding the landing areas and any trouble. On the 12th hole, seen below, I hit what I thought was a good drive only to find myself in some large mounds just left of the fairway. The mounds weren't visible from the tee. Oak Tree doesn't have many (if any) hidden fairway bunkers, thankfully, but while I can overlook a blind shot here or there, Oak Tree had three to four. Again, this is a minor nit, but one that needed picking anyway.




One of Oak Tree's many "semi-blind" tee shots, this one at the twelfth.



Perhaps the most elegant compliment I can pay Oak Tree is that it doesn't appear to be "designed," merely routed. Holes fit the landscape better than most courses you'll encounter and nearly all courses built post-1980. The par-5 sixth features a large tree in the middle of the landing area of the layup shot that doesn't seem contrived in the least. The various water hazards (of which there are plenty!) don't feel "constructed," simply refined and given a bit of character.



All told, Oak Tree is a true test of golf. The holes fit the landscape, the par fours offer variety, and not only will every club in your bag be tested (except on the par threes), but every shot shape - low, high, left, right - will be tested as well. Penalties are appropriately severe, ranging from having to play a certain shot from the wrong side of the fairway to punching out from trees or deciding between carrying the water short of the green or laying up from a fairway bunker.



Value
Oak Tree offers several rates. Seniors can play in the mornings, Monday through Thursday, for $33. At that price, it's a steal! Rates reach $51 on weekdays and $61 on weekends before noon, including $13 in cart fees (and tax).




The approach to the par-4 eighth must carry water (which isn't really in play) and a bunker with precise distance control to stop on the deceptively skinny green.



If you live in the area and are likely to play Oak Tree regularly, their membership rates are worth investigating. If you can golf with a member, the guest rates drop to $40 and $50, respectively. The club also runs specials and has coupons on their website from time to time.



Conclusion
Oak Tree is a traditional course that will test your shotmaking ability. Though it doesn't appear tight at first, the course will appear to tighten dramatically if you can't shape your shots left and right.



At anywhere between $40 to $60, I'd normally be somewhat reserved in recommending this course. However, given the rather impressive conditions we encountered, I have no such hesitation: a solid test of golf, good conditions, and some scenic holes for $60 is as good a bargain as you're likely to find in golf.



Scorecard



Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out
Par 4 5 3 4 4 5 3 4 3 35
Green 398 491 162 380 421 508 167 396 163 3086
WHite 383 468 138 374 411 495 141 373 149 2932
Hdcp 10 12 18 6 2 8 16 4 14

Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In
Par 4 4 5 4 3 5 4 3 4 36
Green 423 362 530 422 162 552 414 205 407 3477
White 410 347 516 392 150 535 407 171 376 3304
Hdcp 3 13 11 7 17 1 5 15 9

Totals
Green 71.9 139 6,563 yards
White 70.8 136 6,236 yards
Gold 66.5 121 5,430 yards
Red 71.7 128 5,232 yards

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