By Steve Gordon
It was like a Field of Dreams driving on a road trip once off the turnpike through country roads bordered by tall green cornfields to get to the Royal Oaks golf club in Lebanon, PA. It certainly could be described as in the middle of nowhere sitting across the street from the Lebanon Country Club.
As my long time golf partner and I are always on the look for new courses we came up with Royal Oaks and courtesy of a GolfNow hot deal we were off.
This public golf course, a Ron Forse design, opened in 1990 didn't disappoint. It is a nice comfortable layout that doesn't come at you hard. The front nine was mostly open and extremely playable. There were a bunkers not easily visible on a couple holes so you need to pay attention to what you are seeing and it never hurts to walk or drive up the hole a little to take a look as long as you don't let it interfere with your pace of play.
We played behind a foursome and it was a four hour round. Very enjoyable on a picture perfect Chamber of Commerce weather day.
There are five tee areas at Royal Oaks but it doesn't follow traditional colors for tee placements. The Silver tees we played might be the traditional Blue tees at many courses. The back Gold tees stretch to 6521 yards while the Bronze tees are 5876 yards which would be a traditional White tee set. The Forward White and Black tees are listed at 5326 and 4751 yards.
A brief note of commentary is that I like seeing forward tees set at less than 5000 yards as it makes the course playable for everyone. You might say the 98 yard (from the most forward tee) par 3 11th hole is a short par 3, but it really isn't for some senior and women players.
The course opens with an S shaped par 5 of 534 yards from the 6153 yard Silver tees (565 from the longest tees and 402 from the shortest). It's the longest hole on the course. It is followed by the shortest par 4 on the layout (301 yards Silver tees). Driver needs to stay in the bag on the second hole as the fairway ends around 200 yards out. This is one of those holes where there is a bunker you really can't see from the teeing area.
As the front nine holes winds it's way around a large wetlands area I found the par 4 sixth hole, a 380 dogleg left, to be the most interesting hole on the opening nine.
Now that you are warmed up the real course shows itself on the back nine. Every hole has a character and challenge of its own with a creek that winds it's way into play on nearly every hole. Both par 3's are very good holes. One (11) is short at 129 yards from the Silver tees while the other (15) is 175 yards and throws water in your face to deal with. These would be good holes on any golf course.
Fourteen has a double fairway that didn't inspire me and I didn't even realize it until we had hit our tee shots and were down the fairway. I don't have issue with double fairways generally but in my amateur course designer opinion, there needs to be definition and one of them should present a risk reward challenge. That wasn't the case here. The feature on this hole that stood out was three boulders in a green side bunker.
There was only one par 5 on the back but it is the par 4 holes that make this nine. If I had to pick one or two that stood out perhaps I would nominate the 371 yard 10th hole that plays over the creek with the green set right behind it. But I also liked the short 16th and longer 17th, both with the creek very prominently in play.
A couple notes of interest: 1. A number of bunkers are being grassed over for maintenance purposes but there are still plenty of remaining bunkers to challenge all players; and 2. The name with "Royal" in it isn't because the Queen was there to anoint it a Royal course. The name comes from the road outside the golf course, Royal Oaks.
If you are looking to take a road trip for a nice day of golf, and a nice drive, I recommend Royal Oaks. It isn't going to host any national championships but it is a pleasure to play and a challenge to all level of players. As with any golf course you play, please be sure to play from the proper set of tees that suits your skill level.
To make a tee time you can phone them at 717-274-2212 or you can go online to www.golfatroyaloaks.com. Also as mentioned, Royal Oaks is part of the GolfNow network of courses.
Photo gallery from my phone that I took while playing.
It was like a Field of Dreams driving on a road trip once off the turnpike through country roads bordered by tall green cornfields to get to the Royal Oaks golf club in Lebanon, PA. It certainly could be described as in the middle of nowhere sitting across the street from the Lebanon Country Club.
As my long time golf partner and I are always on the look for new courses we came up with Royal Oaks and courtesy of a GolfNow hot deal we were off.
This public golf course, a Ron Forse design, opened in 1990 didn't disappoint. It is a nice comfortable layout that doesn't come at you hard. The front nine was mostly open and extremely playable. There were a bunkers not easily visible on a couple holes so you need to pay attention to what you are seeing and it never hurts to walk or drive up the hole a little to take a look as long as you don't let it interfere with your pace of play.
We played behind a foursome and it was a four hour round. Very enjoyable on a picture perfect Chamber of Commerce weather day.
There are five tee areas at Royal Oaks but it doesn't follow traditional colors for tee placements. The Silver tees we played might be the traditional Blue tees at many courses. The back Gold tees stretch to 6521 yards while the Bronze tees are 5876 yards which would be a traditional White tee set. The Forward White and Black tees are listed at 5326 and 4751 yards.
A brief note of commentary is that I like seeing forward tees set at less than 5000 yards as it makes the course playable for everyone. You might say the 98 yard (from the most forward tee) par 3 11th hole is a short par 3, but it really isn't for some senior and women players.
The course opens with an S shaped par 5 of 534 yards from the 6153 yard Silver tees (565 from the longest tees and 402 from the shortest). It's the longest hole on the course. It is followed by the shortest par 4 on the layout (301 yards Silver tees). Driver needs to stay in the bag on the second hole as the fairway ends around 200 yards out. This is one of those holes where there is a bunker you really can't see from the teeing area.
As the front nine holes winds it's way around a large wetlands area I found the par 4 sixth hole, a 380 dogleg left, to be the most interesting hole on the opening nine.
Now that you are warmed up the real course shows itself on the back nine. Every hole has a character and challenge of its own with a creek that winds it's way into play on nearly every hole. Both par 3's are very good holes. One (11) is short at 129 yards from the Silver tees while the other (15) is 175 yards and throws water in your face to deal with. These would be good holes on any golf course.
Fourteen has a double fairway that didn't inspire me and I didn't even realize it until we had hit our tee shots and were down the fairway. I don't have issue with double fairways generally but in my amateur course designer opinion, there needs to be definition and one of them should present a risk reward challenge. That wasn't the case here. The feature on this hole that stood out was three boulders in a green side bunker.
There was only one par 5 on the back but it is the par 4 holes that make this nine. If I had to pick one or two that stood out perhaps I would nominate the 371 yard 10th hole that plays over the creek with the green set right behind it. But I also liked the short 16th and longer 17th, both with the creek very prominently in play.
A couple notes of interest: 1. A number of bunkers are being grassed over for maintenance purposes but there are still plenty of remaining bunkers to challenge all players; and 2. The name with "Royal" in it isn't because the Queen was there to anoint it a Royal course. The name comes from the road outside the golf course, Royal Oaks.
If you are looking to take a road trip for a nice day of golf, and a nice drive, I recommend Royal Oaks. It isn't going to host any national championships but it is a pleasure to play and a challenge to all level of players. As with any golf course you play, please be sure to play from the proper set of tees that suits your skill level.
To make a tee time you can phone them at 717-274-2212 or you can go online to www.golfatroyaloaks.com. Also as mentioned, Royal Oaks is part of the GolfNow network of courses.
Photo gallery from my phone that I took while playing.
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