Locust Valley Golf Club

Detailed description of Locust Valley Golf Club

Locust Valley Golf Club, is a Public, 18 hole golf course located in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.

Locust Valley Golf Club first opened for play in 1954. The par-72 layout was designed by William F. Gordon. He laid out the first nine at what was then Locust Valley Country Club in 1954. He returned the next year to complete the 18, then did considerable redesign work in 1963.

Locust Valley Golf Club was originally a private club. It was rescued from bankruptcy in the 80s. No, it is not a Saucon Valley, nor is it on a par with Center Valley, but that still leaves plenty of room for quality.

A no-frills operation, Locust Valley is a mature tree-lined course, where narrow fairways and small, bunkered greens will test the accuracy of your driver and irons. Designed by William Gordon, who laid out Saucon Valley's celebrated Grace course, Locust Valley doesn't aspire to greatness. But it offers picturesque and demanding holes, and fully deserves its three-star rating from Golf Digest's Places to Play. Some of the comments in Places to Play are right on the money: ``old-time feel . . . tree-lined slicer's nightmare . . . good variety of holes . . . shotmaker's course . . . used to be private club and has seen better days.''

At 6,503 yards from the back tees, with a slope of 132, the course is long enough to tempt you to reach for the big stickhowever, with virtually every fairway lined by trees on one or both sides, you can frequently find yourself punching out from under a limb or peering around at the green from behind a towering oak.

The third 406 yards and fourth holes 434 are famous among regulars because they are so tight and long. Favorites among the regulars are No. 9, a downhill wedge plop (120 yards) over a pond, and for No. 18, a 385-yard downhill dogleg that dares you to cut the corner over two ponds for a better shot into the small, slightly elevated green. (No. 18 is also easily the most picture-perfect hole on the course.)

Even though mountains are visible in the distance, Locust Valley is, save for a handful of holes, flat. The only water on the course is on Nos. 9 and 18.

Locust Valley Golf Club plays to a maximum distance of 6,503 yards for a course rating of 72.2 and a slope rating of 133. This medium-length layout features 4 sets of teeboxes for the enjoyment of golfers of all skill levels.