Lancaster Country Club
Played Lancaster Country Club in 2019 with a group of us as part of a Golf Association of Philadelphia event. What a pleasant surprise this course was. I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise, LCC is a long time best-in-state course in PA. It’s a William Flynn design with top notch conditioning, a wide variety of holes and, for the most part, no homes to bring it down. We played a shotgun but started on ten (or the first on the Meadowcreek nine). This isn’t actually bad as there are three nines so all are likely to be starting nines and the back nine (or Dogwood nine) actually had the more dramatic holes. The above is from the tenth tee. As this was a tourney, we had to submit the card so I don’t know how I played but I don’t remember playing too well.
As I have said in one of the other Flynn course reviews (Homestead: Cascades) he has some serious hits and misses. This is a hit for him and has been sustained through the years and indeed improved with a recent Ron Forse and Jim Nagle renovation. If you like a Golden Age parkland courses then this is a great spot for you.
Lancaster is about an hour and a half or so away from Philly so it’s not a bad drive but if you have the connections to get on a Lancaster then use those same connections to get onto some of the closer in to Philly clubs unless you’re hell-bent on going to Amish Country.
To the course. I am guessing we played the back tees: which are over 6,300 yards and a 132 slope, so it’s no slouch. On Meadowcreek, you start out with a super long par four (446 yards from the blues), the seventh is a short par four that you can drive the green (or at least big hitters can) but you need to drive over a whole slew of evil sand traps. Its a lay-up shot to the right that’ll give you a nice clean look in. It’s a really great variety of holes here.
As noted the Dogwood nine is the stronger of the nines as a few holes play next to, over or around the Conestoga creek that runs through the property. Seven plays diagonally across the creek (pictured and labeled below). There were some wicked thunderstorms and even a tornado blew through the night before we played so you see the water is quite high. Three plays from an elevated tee, over the creek but is only 365 yards and from the elevated tees you can get to a wedge in. Five is a dogleg left that the dogleg is blocked by some trees and you need to deal with a little burn right in front of the green on the approach. All in all this is a super strong collection of and variety of par fours.
To Lancaster. Lancaster is the Amish capitol of the US. So if you’re looking for a cool golfing party spot, this ain’t it. If you’re looking for an out of the way quiet golf trip where you can buy quilts and gawk at people with funny beards riding horse and buggies, then consider Lancaster. While LCC is private, with a modicum of help from your pro you should be able to get on here. We also got onto Conestoga CC through Boxgroove. Iron Valley is pretty close by in Lebanon (it’s public and nice) and the Hershey resort has two clubs and Hershey Park amusement park is really nice too. You can dump the family at the park there one day and at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster the next and golf with your buddies.
To prep for your trip to Amish country I strongly suggest watching Kingpin – which is a top ten comedy movie of all time. Anytime someone drills a putt in a match or wins a hole, I pull the below look from the final bowling scene with Bill Murray on them. Trust me, it always gets a chuckle.
While I rarely do a double shot of pop culture photos or videos, no trip to Amish country is complete without Weird Al’s Amish Paradise. I heard Coolio sued him for this. He should have made Weird Al his beneficiary instead, this is hilarious.
Finally, I’m not all that familiar with dining options out here. I know there is a Primanti’s in Lancaster now. The main dining room at the Hershey Inn is solid. My girls will drive one hour and wait another to eat breakfast at Shady Maple which is only 15-20 minutes away from Lancaster. Beyond that, you’re on your own.
Golf Scrapbook 