Osiris CC Presents Two Faces, Both Pleasant

Osiris Country Club in Walden, NY, has a quite pleasant split personality in a couple of different ways.
The first bifurcation occurs on the golf course itself, which is a delightful trek through two different kinds of layout. It's 6,373 yards at par 72 and was designed by Francis Duane on two distinct topographies. The front nine plays much like a golfer-friendly resort course, with flat terrain, small but moderately contoured greens, and not too much trouble you can't stay out of as long as you don't insist on hitting a driver off every tee. The biggest problem you'll face is if you hit a hook--seven of the holes on the front have OB left.

Make your birdies while you can on the front: the back nine has some teeth. As soon as you make the turn, you're in a different world. The tenth hole is a short (368-yard) dog leg right where the blind tee shot plays downhill while the second is up a steep climb. Whatever you do, keep your approach below the hole--a theme that plays throughout the back side. Both the tenth and eleventh holes have wicked greens where putting off the edge of the green carpet is entirely possible.

There aren't any gimme holes until you get to sixteen, a 546-yard par five. Even that has a funky angle for the tee shot and plenty of well-placed bunkers along the way. If long par fours are your thing, the 442-yard thirteenth hole should satisfy you. Be sure to keep your tee shot in the center of the fairway--there are bunkers on either side of the fairway exactly in the landing zone.

Osiris CC 15th hole - photo courtesy of the club

 The signature hole on Osiris is the fifteenth, a strong dog leg left that features the only water on the course, which happens to be a picturesque pond in front of the green. Stay in the right half of the fairway off the tee or you'll be forced to lay up.

The finishing hole presents the most intimidating tee shot of the round, even though the hole, at 345 yards, isn't tough if you can keep it in the fairway. Big hitters can boom it to the top of the hill so they've got a flip wedge into the green.

The other split in the Osiris personality is part of a the growing trend of private clubs turning semi-private, which Osiris did last year. The club, which was founded in 1927, switched to semi-private due to economic pressures once before in the 1940s, but reverted to private club status in the 1950s. Given the changing demographics of the game and challenging economic conditions for private clubs today, opening the club to public play again today makes eminent sense. Given the reasonable greens fees (as low as $48), Osiris also makes a great value for the player looking for a quality golf experience.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf