Inventive 9-holer Inness should be your next New York golf stop

The area of New York State north of Westchester and south of the Catskill Mountains — from New Paltz to Saugerties and points west — has something of an identity crisis. But in name only.

Is it the Catskills? Or the Hudson Valley? It’s kind of both.

What’s important to know is that this no-man’s land feels very much like the Catskills. It’s far enough from New York City, some 100 miles north, and it feels even farther, full of mountains, trees, creeks and charming, thinly-populated towns alternating with farms.

It’s also something of a secret golf haven. Dozens of courses, many dating back a hundred years, spoil the locals, at least in the warmer months.

But it’s the newest course in the region that is the focus of this story, and it should be the focus of your next trip to the area: King-Collins’ inventive nine-hole design at Inness.

For those not in the know, Tad King and Rob Collins of King-Collins Design (now King Collins Dormer Golf Couse Design) are a hot golf architecture partnership responsible for the beloved, imaginative Sweetens Cove, a nine-holer in Tennessee. Their work at Inness, finished in 2019, has been affectionately referred to as “Sweetens’ back nine.” And I can tell you that it lives up to that moniker.

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It even surpasses Sweetens in one key way: accessibility.

Just a two-hour drive from New York City, Inness is easily within reach of millions of golfers in and around New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and eastern Pennsylvania. And while memberships are available, the course is open to the public, too.

Inness: The course

From the parking lot just down the road from the resort, you get a great first glimpse of the course, with its rumpled, linksy fairways and wide-open layout. If you’re arriving on a late-fall afternoon, as I did, the long shadows exaggerate the effect, adding to the magical feel.

Though not nearly as understated as the shack that welcomes golfers at Sweetens Cove, the pro shop at Inness is a simple building with a check-in desk, some merch, head pro Jeff Massa’s office, bathrooms and a fridge with canned drink options. Among those beverages: Inness’ own lager, brewed at neighboring Arrowood Farms. (In addition to making great beers, Arrowood is a fantastic place to check out post-round, offering food and freshly-brewed beer in a beautiful farm setting where you can sit by a fire, attend live concerts or watch chickens strut in the large chicken coop nearby).

For my first foray at Inness, I took advantage of the laid-back rules, many of which can also be found at Sweetens. With no dress code, I left my collared shirt behind and bundled up in a hoodie.

I also had my wife and our dog join me for my round, which we breezed through in less than an hour and a half. (Full disclosure: My wife works in the events department at Inness, a job that precipitated our move from Brooklyn last year).

The 1st is a stunner that photos can’t do justice. With the tee set right next to the clubhouse, the fairway unfolds before you, rumpling its way through a large landing area — protected on the left side by one of the many large, deep and shaggy bunkers that dot the course — then runs uphill to a large, heaving green.

I’ve been working hard on my driving game — my lifelong weakness — over the past two months. So my experience was certainly buoyed when I striped my first four drives, on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th holes.

At 2, I smacked by best drive of the day, with my ball settling just short of the green on the short, downhill par-4. But you don’t need a perfect drive at the 2nd. Hook it left and you’ll have an open route from the 3rd fairway. Slice it right and you’ll find yourself back in the 1st fairway, with only a few trees blocking your path to the putting surface.

And about that green . . . it’s massive, one of the course’s two shared greens, this one buddying-up with the 9th and the practice putting green. In all, it covers a whopping 45,000 square feet.

Another shared green awaits at 3, but double green is a more accurate term. This huge, rolling putting surface, which the 6th also calls home, is really two big greens connected by a deep wallow cut down to putting length. With the green severely tilting back to front, if you’re not careful, you can putt it all the way down near the 6th pin, or off the green entirely.

It’s one of the many distinctive touches that connects Inness to King-Collins’ celebrated work at Sweetens Cove. The shaping of these heroically-sized greens is another.

Each features heaving swales and hollows, backstops and drop-offs. The result is endless possibility with every chip, from funneling one toward the hole on an indirect route, or, on the flipside, helplessly watching your ball roll 40 yards off the green.

To help visualize the effect, I sent my pitch on 2 well to the right and 10 feet past the hole, and watched as it reversed on a backstop and curved back within five feet of the cup (I burned the edge and settled for par).

The greens had me intimidated before I got there. But they’re not as impossible as they first appear. While each one features big elevation changes, the cups are typically cut on plateaus, so if you can get it relatively close, you’ll usually have a flatish putt.

Another feature Inness shares with Sweetens is its fairways. They’re cut low everywhere, allowing balls to roll out (and up, and down and around). There’s virtually no rough, giving everyone a chance even if they mishit their drive.

That’s not to say trouble doesn’t lurk across Inness’ nine holes.

Both lengthy par-5s feature narrow hitting areas, for the second shot on the 4th and the tee shot on the 9th, defended by native areas and creeks lined with long grass and fescue.

The same goes for the idyllic short par-3 5th, where the raised green, surrounded by deep bunkers, also features tall grass and a small pond to the front and right. It was one of my favorite holes on my first trip there, despite my 8-iron slicing into the drink.

From there you head to the short par-4 6th, with a wide-open fairway like at the 1st, rising up the hill once again to its shared green with the 3rd.

The par-4 7th hole might be the toughest on the course, but the drivable par-4 8th, which plays well under 300 yards from most tees, offers a chance to make a score and take a breather before the finisher. At 9, I was punished for the foolish decision to hit driver again, making the long par-5 closer play longer still.

One aspect of Inness kept my spirits high: the incredible views — yes, of Mohonk mountain’s peak in the distance, but also of the course itself.

Everywhere you walk, you’ll find vistas of the gorgeous, tumbling terrain.

And if those views leave you wanting more as you putt on the enormous green that 9 shares with 2, you can just go around again. Inness cuts a second set of holes into each green with different-colored flags for your second nine. But because of the innovative design, you could end up playing each hole completely differently the second time around, even if you play to the same pins.

During my second trip this month, I did just that, playing two loops in less than three hours without rushing a single shot, aided by the fact that I was the only golfer out there.

Ultimately, as I left the property after my first round, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d ever had more fun on a golf course in my 37 years.

Inness: Stay and play

Inness is close enough to major cities in the Northeast that you can make a day trip to play the course. While you’re there, I highly recommend stopping at the main resort property just down the road, where you can enjoy lunch or dinner and drinks at Inness’ excellent hilltop restaurant, with stunning year-round views of the Shawangunk Mountains.

You don’t have to stay at Inness to enjoy the restaurant or the golf course. But if you want to make a proper getaway out of your trip, the resort features 28 well-appointed cabins and 12 hotel rooms.

With three pools, tennis courts, a new spa and endless activities in the area, you can bring the whole family, and even the dog, too.