Lancaster Country Club (Meadowcreek & Dogwood) – Pennsylvania – Best In State Golf Course

I have had the opportunity to play the original William Flynn designed course, now known as Meadowcreek/Dogwood several times as well as the Highlands course. The Highlands course is a standalone nine hole course which is a nice addition to the country club as it has several holes keeping very much in character with the main course and is a par 35 3075-3329 course depending on the tees.

As for the main course, it is a gem rolling up and down the hills for most of the golf course as it feeds away from the high ground which is where the clubhouse is, down towards the stream that runs through several of the holes. The course offers quite a difficult test as a par 70 from the back tees at 6840 yards and Blue tees at 6339 yards. The hills make the course play longer than the yardage.

There are quite a lot of doglegs where the dogleg runs opposite to the slope of the land. Nearly all of the greens are very tilted and due to excellent greens keeping, are very quick. You never want to be above the pin location and sometimes not even on the same side as the pin.

There are still quite a few trees on the property and has a hilly course, it can be a difficult walk if you are carrying your own bag.

The best hole by far is the long downhill 10th hole, a dogleg right with a terrific green. It is 481 yards from the back tee and 446 from the member tee. This hole could be the best hole on many top rated courses.

The worst hole is the 13th, a short par five of 517 yards or 489 yards to a green that is hidden around the corner of a very large number of trees.

There are many good par 4’s on the golf course but there are also a few weak holes which are mainly in the beginning those being holes 3 thru 5.

The first par five, the 7th, on the golf course is one of only two flat holes on the course and offers a pond in front of the green otherwise this would be a bland golf hole. With the pond it becomes pretty good only because the pond is set against the front of the green with no relief for being short. A long hitter will find this hole to be way too easy. The only other flat hole besides the par five 7th is the par 3 17th hole.

Which leads me to the two critiques I would offer regarding the course. The first is that there are many holes playing downhill, then uphill to the green complex. These holes are 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 18. 8 and 12 are par 3’s – one all uphill and one all downhill.

The greens on nearly all of the holes are tilted quite severely back to front and sometimes sideways as well.

So in summary one gets the feeling that many of the holes are the same despite the variation in the shape of the dogleg because you tee off downhill and hit uphill to the green with a similar titled green on each hole. The greens do vary in depth.

The green side bunkers are well placed and of the right depth but the course suffers a bit from a lack of fairway bunkers on some holes. There are fairway bunkers but there are not enough of them.

Lancaster Meadowcreek/Dogwood is very much a golf course worth playing and deserves its lofty reputation and ranking. It is a course that should be played multiple times to understand those greens and it is one that should be played with a knowledgeable caddie or a member to help you read them. The members here have something special.

October 09, 2019