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{{outdated}}[[Category:Resources]][[Category:Athletics]]__NOTOC__Taconic Golf Club is owned by Williams College and is currently rated the #1 collegiate course in the nation by Golfweek Magazine. It also claims the 30th 28th spot in the best public courses in the United States according to Golf Magazine. Taconic is located at the southern edge of campus off of at 19 Meacham Street , next to [[Weston Field]]. It is less than a 5 minute walk from [[Spring Street]] or the [[Odd Quad]], and it is not uncommon to see students carrying golf bags across campus down to the course. The club opened on September 5th, 1896 as a 7-hole course, including the present diabolical 17th green. The primitive course layout was upgraded in 1928 by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek to an 18-hole par 73 test. When the clubhouse was forced to move from South Street to its present location, the 2nd and 3rd holes were changed and the course became its current 6640 yard, par 71 design.
== History and Trivia ==
[[Image:Taconic_club.jpg|right|thumbnail|Taconic Golf Club]]
The club opened on September 5th, 1896 as a 7-hole course, including the present diabolical 17th green. The primitive course layout was upgraded in 1928 by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek to an 18-hole par 73 test. When the clubhouse was forced to move from South Street to its present location, the 2nd and 3rd holes were changed and the course became its current 6640 yard, par 71 design.
Taconic is renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the world to play golf in the fall, as tees and greens throughout the course provide stunning vistas of the Berkshire Mountains. The long views on the course combine with the wonderful small-town atmosphere of the club itself, highlighted by a faded sign on the pro shop reading "No Preferred Lies, We Play Golf Here." Golfers at Taconic pride themselves on quick pace of play, and the compact routing allows singles and twosomes to often play 18 holes in closer to 2 hours than 4. Though the course is hilly, almost all golfers walk and carry their bag, so seeing 90 year-old members walk is not an uncommon sight.
== The Course ==
=== 1 ===
[[Image:Taconic1.jpg|right|thumbnail|Jeff Lin drives off of the 1st tee.]]
'''Par 5, 475 yards.''' The first tee is only yards from the door of the pro shop and outdoor patio, providing an intimate setting to begin the round. A wide fairway greets the player, only narrowing to a 20-yard wide neck at a shallow gully 275 yards off the tee. In the Fall of his sophomore year, this generous fairway did not help Will Sirignano '06 as he blocked a ball to the right, over the trees, over the 18th fairway, over the out of bounds fence, and onto the football field. He then proceeded to salvage a miraculous par. The green tilts left to right and the bunker 30 yards short of the green left is a poor place to leave second shots.
=== 3 ===
[[Image:Taconic3.jpg|right|thumbnail|The 3rd hole.]]
'''Par 4, 407 yards.''' One of the best holes on the course, both strategically and aesthetically. The tee ball is over the corner of a field of wildflowers to a fairway that dramatically narrows and twists to the right at the 140 yard mark. The prudent play is often a 3-wood to the left side of the fairway which leaves a perfect angle to the difficult green. If deciding to hit a driver, you should fade the ball slightly, yet a ball too far to the right may kick into the creek that meanders 20 yards right of the fairway. This tee ball would be better if three large oak trees on the right were taken out, as they block the landscape of the mountains and only help contain balls that would otherwise find the hazard on the right. The hole concludes with a great hilltop green with Gale Road out of bounds hard on the right and Phoebe's Creek gathering balls hit too far left of the putting surface. The green itself is severely slanted to the front of the green on the first half, and then right to left on the upper tier.
=== 5 ===
'''Par 3, 172 yards.''' Another good green cascading from back left to front right, the mid-iron approach should be careful not to short side the pin. The front left bunker gets a lot of play for shots going to middle left pins, and is quite deep.
=== 7 ===
'''Par 4, 402 yards.''' The seventh tee shot is the hardest on the course: the tee box annoyingly slopes to the left while the hole angles sharply right and demands a fade. The approach plays uphill, so most players hit driver to minimize distance for the second shot. Once in play, the second shot calls for 1-2 clubs more than the yardage would indicate for an aerial approach into a wild 2 tiered green complete with a 3 foot mound in the back middle section. This combination did not prove tough enough the weekend of homecoming in 2002 when Zach McArthur holed out an 8 iron for an eagle two.
=== 8 ===
[[Image:Taconic8.jpg|right|thumbnail|The approach to #8.]]
'''Par 4, 394 yards.''' The second of back to back dogleg rights, this hole complements the seventh by tumbling downhill with the campus as a backdrop for the tee shot. Amazingly, in 2003, Williams senior Aaron Flink drove the green from the tee with a driver that somehow avoided every tree and bunker to end up amidst another team on the putting surface. For mere mortals, the drive has no reason to go too far right, as the second shot plays short down the hill and should be bounced on if the ground is firm. The green is wonderfully sloped from front to back foiling many first time players. An approach or chip that uses the ground contours to slowly feed to a recently recovered back left pin location is great fun to watch.
=== 10 ===
'''Par 5, 506 yards.''' This hole may best identify the thinking golfer as he places his three shots to the green. The drive is partially blind down a hill that often leaves the good golfer with 220-250 yards to the green. Now, the golfer is put to the test. Should he go for the green, even off a slight downhill lie? Should he attempt to clear the bunker 40 yards short of the green? Should he hit to his favorite wedge distance? These questions are relevant because the green is sloped 5 feet back to front and any second shot going for the green misplaced right, left, or long will have much work just to make par. Case in point, during the 2005 District Shootout, Matt Slovitt was sitting at 4 under par through 9 holes and chose to lay up from 220 yards out, making birdie with 2 wedge shots and a putt instead of a reckless long iron or 3-wood. Fifty years ago, however, a young man made a different decision, going for the green, and it paid off: 16 year old Jack Nicklaus eagled the hole in a practice round.
=== 12 ===
'''Par 4, 363 yards.''' More than 100 yards shorter than the eleventh, but often plays harder stroke-wise. The tee ball offers a cape dilemma, with the option to hit 3 wood or driver long left near out of bounds to reward a straightforward wedge into the green, or bail right or short for a more difficult approach over the edge of the menacing right hand greenside bunker. From the right of the fairway, a fade is preferred into the green to best hold the putting surface. Balls just carrying the right hand side bunker will funnel to the center of the smallest putting surface on the course. The front pin here is extremely difficult to stay underneath of without having the ball take the false front 10 yards back down the hill. A great challenge for 360 yards.
=== 14 ===
'''Par 3, 173 yards.''' The narrowest target on the course, the 14th green is accessed with a short to mid iron hit from the most elevated spot on the course - a spot very prone to strong crosswinds. The hole plays along a ridgeline and is defended by 6 bunkers, some simply candy for the eyes. Of interest, the green and its surroundings were the basis of an illustration on the cover of Money Magazine a number of years ago. Between the gold and blue tees is embedded a plaque honoring Jack Nicklaus's hole in one here in the 1956 Junior Amateur. Bunkers right and left take soft sand shots to get out and find the pin, as their shoulders help kick blasts across the green.
=== 16 ===
[[Image:Taconic16.jpg|right|thumbnail|Looking back down the 16th, John Kildahl has left his approach in perfect position just short of the green.]]
'''Par 4, 430 yards.''' Equally long to #15, but playing much longer back up the hill that #15 came down, the sixteenth hole is a demanding second shot hole. A good tee ball leaves anywhere from a mid to long iron up a 50 foot incline to a hilltop green. The green, as with many at Taconic, flows with the land back down the hill making the green very quick back to front. Many second shots end up short, which leaves simple pitches up to the hole - second shots long leave the golfer a delicate lob back to the green with the hope of just holding the green, let alone entertaining thoughts of par.
=== 18 ===
'''Par 5, 510 yards.''' A great home hole to finish the round as large swings between competitors are possible on this reachable par 5. Though slightly longer than #10, the green is not nearly as diabolical and thus more players do go for the green in two shots. The drive is over a pond to a plateau fairway, where the right center acts as a speed slot propelling the ball closer to the hole. The risk in hitting a long shot to the green is the out of bounds parking lot 5 yards left of the green. Years ago, a Williams College golfer hit 3 balls out of bounds, eventually taking a 12, resulting in a lost Little Threes championship to Amherst by one shot. In 2004, Coach Rick Pohle pulled off a little magic, winning beers off of captains Matt Slovitt and Zach McArthur by sticking a 5 iron one foot from the hole for birdie after a topped 3-wood. Anything can happen on #18 at Taconic.
From an interview on golfclubatlas.com, a few of Hanse's thoughts on restoring classic courses such as Taconic:
So often these courses have been emasculated through the removal of 'controversial' features, and then tree lined so that the destruction of any form of recovery or angle of attack is removed from the course. In essence, golf on many of these courses has been reduced to hit it in play or in the trees. If you hit it in play, it would be unfair to have anything in front of you i.e., cross bunkers, berms, or a natural feature that obscured your view. If you hit it in the trees, you really don't deserve a chance at recovery, so chip it out sideways. I truly believe that the introduction of way too many trees and the eradication of classic features have seriously eroded the quality of these old courses. The beauty of many of these courses is that the architect set the course up to make recovery shots more difficult, through the angling of a green, the locations of bunkers, etc. Difficult, yet not impossible as it is from the tree lined courses of today."
Hanse's ideology and experience appear to be an excellent fit for Taconic as it moves forward with course changes. Thinning out trees and adding long-forgotten cross bunkers such as on the par four 7th are a necessary step in making Taconic an even purer golden-age golf course than it is currently. With well-thought out restoration strategies completed, Taconic will shine even brighter as one of the few true jewels of New England golf.
[[Image:Taconic_foursome.jpg|right|thumbnail|A "typical student group," after their first shot, fall 2003. Photo taken by Rick Pohle, Head Professional, who sped down to the foursome after their first shot and said, "I have to have a picture of you." Two years later, the polaroid still hangs in the clubhouse.]]
Taconic Golf Club is a great resource for Williams College, and the students, faculty, and staff seem to treasure their opportunity. The course is very popular with students, who pay just $165 a semester for unlimited golf and club storage - compare this to Yale University which has a similarly excellent golf course and charges students $725 a semester. The unique opportunity of students playing with their professors is reinforced by the current college president, [[Morty Schapiro]], who hosts a scramble tournament each spring and fall pairing staff, faculty, and students together. In recent history, teams including Kevin Kellert '07 have been particularly successful.