Drive, Chip, Putt - Everything About Golf

Glen Oak Golf Course is one of the most well maintained golf courses in the Western New York region. For the quality of the course, the fees are very reasonable for the casual golfer. Have a look at our detailed Google map to walk through each hole.

If you have Google Earth installed, you can also click on the following link to view a more detailed course map. This map will let you view the course and each hole from any angle that you would like - View in Google Earth

Hole Descriptions
1. You start off with a straight par 5 that has some bunkers placed on both sides of the fairway and around the green. If you can hit the ball straight you should be in good shape after the first hole.

2. On this par 3, there is a pond in front of the green and a small creek runs on all sides of the green except the left. Have a look at the Satellite map to see this in better detail. Make sure you choose the right club to avoid the water. If you do miss hit your shot, it is better to go left since there is no water there.

3. A big drive can go right through the fairway and into the water so you should consider a fairway wood or long iron off the tee. Trying to cut the corner is not recommended with a fairway bunker and out of bounds on the left. This hole has a large green that is well protected with bunkers all around it.

4. The entire left side of this hole is out of bounds. If you land in someone’s backyard, be prepared to take a stroke penalty. This green is very deep so make sure you know the pin placement before hitting onto the green. If you can play your shots straight, you will be in good shape on this hole.

5. This long par 5 will require 3 shots to get on the green so don’t be greedy and try to reach it in 2 shots. Water on both sides comes into play on the second and third shots so be careful as you try to reach the green.

6. Stay to the left of the fairway bunker and you will have a decent approach shot to the green. Long drivers can try to fly the fairway bunker off the tee which would set up a wedge to the green. The green is two-tiered and large, so pay attention to pin placement.

7. The wise tee shot is an iron off the tee aimed straight at the fairway bunker. A tee shot placed in the middle of the fairway leaves a short iron shot to the green. Some players can take the risky tee shot of driving over the pond but you can get into a lot more trouble this way. The green is huge and a pin on the right side of the green is a much longer approach shot than to a pin on the left side of the green.

8. This par 3 has a huge pond between the tee and the green. Hitting to the back of the green is the safe play here to avoid bringing the water and front left bunker into play.

9. On this par 4, the water on the right may likely come into play off the tee. The green is very narrow in the front and surrounded by bunkers. If you can aim for the back of the green, you will be in good shape.

10. Off the tee, you should aim to the right of the fairway bunkers. This will set up a short to mid iron to the green. This hole has a three tiered green that can lead to many 3 putts.

11. If you can find the fairway with your tee shot, you give yourself the chance of reaching the green in 2 to setup for an eagle putt. The right rough slopes down to the creek, where many drives end up in the water.

12. This is a tough par 3. The green is angled to slope into the water in the front and bunkers are behind the green. If you can land on the front right corner of the green, you will be in the best shape.

13. There is trouble to both the left and right sides of the fairway off the tee on this hole. A ball hit either way will unlikely be found in the tall grass or woods. Make sure to take enough club for the approach shot which is uphill.

14. On this dogleg left, a straight drive can set up a birdie chance on this short par 4. However, hooked tee shots can easily find the out of bounds and sliced tee shots will land in the water to the right.

15. This par 3 usually plays longer than it looks, so be sure to choose the right club off the tee. Don’t go directly for the pin if it is behind the bunkers or you will most likely be attempting a second shot out of the sand. Be happy with a par on this hole!

16. Aim for the right side of the fairway off the tee and only try to cut the corner over the edge of the fairway bunker if you are a long and straight driver. Be careful because if your approach shot is long, you can land in the woods behind the green.

17. This is a short par 4 where water may come into play. To the left, you can reach water with your drive. If you can land in the fairway with your driver or fairway wood, you will have a short approach shot to the green. Avoid going over the green since it slopes down to a creek on the right.

18. This hole has the most character of any on the course. This is another par 5 that will take you 3 shots to reach the green. Hit a fairway wood or long iron off the tee, which will put you over the first creek to the middle of the fairway. A long iron second shot over the second creek can put you in the middle of the second part of the fairway short of the pond, leaving a short or mid iron over the pond to a receptive green. If you try to play this hole any other way, be prepared to lose you ball in the water than runs all throughout this hole.

Golf Course Ranking Scale (1 - 10):
Cost: 5
Maintenance: 7
Difficulty: 6
Scenery: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 7

For official information visit www.glenoak.com.

So, you’ve fixed your slice after checking out our article here and now you’ve developed a hook! Check out this video for tips to solve your new hook issues.

How To Avoid Hooking The Ball

It’s happened to the best of us - and often at the worst of times! You seem to develop a slice out of nowhere and you don’t know what you’re doing differently that’s causing this. Have a look at the video below for tips on fixing your slice and getting your golf game back on track.

Golf: Avoid Slicing

If you’re looking to buy new clubs this year, we have some great advice on where to find great deals. Pretty much anywhere! If you’re not a professional golfer and you play the game just to have a great time and enjoy the game, don’t fall for the hype and purchase the latest and greatest models.

I was in the market for a new driver this year and I really enjoyed the Cleveland Hibore XL (which we reviewed here) but I also decided to try the Cleveland Launcher 460 Driver as well. I found that I hit the Launcher Driver almost as well as I hit the Hibore XL. With the Hibore XL I did get a few more yards out of my drives but I feel that I can make up those yards by hitting a well placed iron shot after my drive. Not only was the quality of the launcher similar to the Hibore XL but the Launcher was half price since it was last year’s model.

Many people will find the newest models of clubs (and the extra 10 yards or whatever other technical breakthrough is promised by the manufacturer) very useful and this advice is not for them. But, if you just enjoy the game of golf and need some new equipment, try out last year’s models and find yourself a great deal.

After trying very hard to get out and play yesterday, today was finally the day. After getting rained out yesterday, my friend and I decided that we would try today. Since it is still very early in the season up here in Buffalo we were able to get out on a great course for next to nothing, and we pretty much had the course to ourselves which was very nice. Being that this was the first time out since last year I didn’t quite know what to expect out of my game. It’s going to take a few more rounds to shake all the rust off but I was very please with how I played. If anyone in the Buffalo area wants to try to get out and play I suggest going to Glen Oak. I was very impressed with the shape of the course. Can’t wait to get out again soon. Also, come back soon for our detailed full course review of Glen Oak.

Disaster is another golf variation that I have really enjoyed playing with my golf friends. It is a scoring game where the winner is the player with the fewest points at the end of the round. Points are awarded for bad shots - hit your ball in the bunker and you get a point.

You can change the points system to whatever you want to use but this is the points system I’ve used:
• Water ball - 1 point
• Out of bounds - 2 points
• Hitting into a bunker - 1 point
• Hitting from one bunker into another - 3 points
• Failing to get ball out of bunker - 2 points
• Chipping over the green - 1 point
• 3-putt - 2 point
• Every other putt after 3 - 1 point

Another betting option that you can add to this game is to have all of the losing players pay a dollar per point to the winner at the end of the game - this certainly ups the stakes a little bit!

I’m currently in the market for a new driver and I’ve already tried the Nike Sumo2 and the Callaway FT-i so I decided to give a more traditional driver a shot. I tested the Cleveland Hibore XL Driver with the Fujikura shaft and I absolutely loved it.

It doesn’t exactly look like a traditional driver from the top view but it is much closer to a traditional driver than the new square head clubs. But, who really cares about looks if it helps you improve your game? I was hitting the ball further and straighter much more consistently than I usually do. The club was also very forgiving on mishits, just as Cleveland advertises. I also loved the sound of the driver - it wasn’t ridiculously loud like the Sumo2 but you could really tell when you hit the ball well by the audible feedback of the club. If you’re in the market for a new driver, you can buy the Cleveland Hibore XL from eBay. If you want some general advice for buying clubs on eBay, read this post first.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this. I was pretty skeptical about how accurate it would be. I thought that any shots that were tee shots or fairway shots were very accurate, but hitting from the rough, the sand, and putting however were not. The rough and sand shots were tough because there wasn’t really any resistance, and the putting was just very hard and unrealistic. The way the putting was set up was it told you were place the ball depending on the distance from the hole and then putt the ball at the display wall where the hole was. I thought that it was very hard to read a break and get the speed correct with this. I think that using this to practice approach shots and drives would be a great thing. I was really impressed with those aspects of the experience. But all in all we had a great time and I’m sure I will be back there soon.

Tomorrow me and a couple of my buddies are going to try this new thing we have here in Buffalo, simulated golf. Recently we had this place open up that has golf simulators in it. You can pick from a number of courses and play a full 18 holes on that course. They rent out the simulators by the hour so I guess you could end up playing more than 18 holes depending on how long it takes to play. Since we recently got a taste of spring up here I am itching to get out on the course, so I guess this will have to suffice till then. If any readers live in the Buffalo area the name on the place is Froghair.

Check out this video walk through of Tiger Woods for the Nintendo Wii. If you were able to get your hands on a Wii, you should definitely think about buying this game. This game will really leverage the unique controls of the Wii and fix your need for a great golf game that expands on the golf game that was included in Wii Sports. You can purchase this game here at Amazon.com.