Copake Country Club — Local services in Town of Copake

Played yesterday for the first time. I have been wanting to get here for a long time as this course was recommended to me by a friend many, many years ago. It's located in one of the most beautiful areas on earth. The course architecture, a wonderful design with great variety, seemingly laid upon a virtually untouched landscape. Greens having fabulous character and fair, average speed. Expect less break to the greens than apparent. Greens and fairways in excellent condition, with one or two exceptions. Expect side hill lies in the fairways on about 25% of the holes. Love, love, love the elevation changes. The bunkers are in perhaps the worst condition I've ever experienced-and I've played many a ratty muni. Best off removing ball and play as if ground under repair. I tried raking up the "sand" and hitting out but it's basically dirt and small stone. I do understand the money and work that goes in to properly maintaining bunkers. Cart paths could some attention on the steep areas, washed out a bit, but big deal, right?!?-definitely better the way they are now than paving with asphalt. Yuck. Drawbacks for us this day were mowing, signage, sprinklers, and drinking water. The starter explicitly told us that there was drinking water at many locations on the course (hot August day) and every one of the coolers was empty. Fairways being watered on nearly every hole-midday. (I thought courses were better off watering at sunrise or sunset so the water has time to soak in rather than evaporate). 10th fairway soaked with an inch of water and two sprinklers set up dead center of fairway via hoses running across the fairway. The gentleman mowing the rough around the greens followed us on nearly every hole on the front-rather than "going against the golfers he was going with the golfers". Super silly. And playing for the first time, there were times where we were confused where the next tees were. Gravel cart paths seemingly "leading all over the place". A couple of small signs needed, specifically, if I remember now, as you finish holes 1, 7, and 16. (It is entirely possible that my head was too far up my _, and that I could have looked around a bit more-but throw a sign or two out there for the old timer). All that said, I absolutely love the course! I look forward to playing here again-and paying attention to my game rather than all this...

Played here for the first time yesterday, and what a beautiful course! This course is very hilly, so only for the stronger walkers I suppose. But their golf carts are top notch, the fairways were like carpets (in the month of April, no doubt), and the staff is so friendly. I was looking for an embarrassing shot in the woods, and a maintenance staff member was driving by, stopped his cart, and helped me look for my ball. I've never seen that before, ever!

The views are absolutely spectacular. The Greens are rather challenging and uniquely difficult, which gives you some indication of what the pros face daily. The approaches also make you think twice about your club choice, strategy and accuracy, which makes it a very enjoyable course in my view.

The sand traps are a little compacted, but at the turn I asked somebody in the pro shop about that and they said they have plans this spring to work on them and add sand to them. When I hit the 18th tee, I saw a crew working on a trap already. They've laid sod on several tee boxes, and by the way they look in April, I would expect them to be operational in a week or two.

I think this course could also benefit from some additional directional signs to the next hole, as the location of the next tee wasn't very clear when finishing a hole. Again, minor improvements for a course that's well on its way to outstanding quality!

I will...

Edit. I played there yesterday (9/29/24) because I had a gift card. The greens were in superb shape and were very difficult. Since my last trip they had definitely made an attempt to improve the tee boxes. Many of them were in much better condition. As i approached the 1st green, I noticed the bunker had nice fresh sand. I was optimistic but throughout the rest of the course the bunkers remained in terrible shape. They have paved some of the cart paths, but many of them remain bumpy enough to cause a drink to be ejected from the cart. I hope they keep making upgrades to this place. The layout is actually quite spectacular. Afterwards we ate at the restaurant, and it was excellent post round grub.

I played there yesterday. The bunkers are terrible. Yes the weather might have washed them out, but they're full of rocks, stones and even the burlap is visible in many of them. The tee boxes are not level. You literally cannot find a flat spot to tee off from on almost all the boxes. Uphill and downhill lies on tee boxes!! The place is generally just unkempt. The design of the course is nice but for $85 the bunkers and tee boxes...