New Albany Links (Albany, Oh)

When New Albany Links was selected by Golf Digest as one of the top ten new affordable courses in 2001, it was a crowning achievement for Barry Serafin, and it gave Ohio golfers a new destination. Fast forward fifteen years later, and I finally made my way down to see it. 

(The short par four fifteenth.) 

New Albany is in a residential community that's doing very well. There are houses everywhere! And I mean everywhere! If you play golf to connect with nature, you will not find it here. Obviously the architecture has to take all the homes into consideration, so Serafin used a lot of mounding. The mounds bleed into the fairway, which translates into many uneven lies near the rough line. 

(The beautiful sixteenth highlights a solid group of par threes.) 

I've played a few Serafin courses (Black Diamond being my favorite so far) and it always seems like there are some very good holes, some very average ones, and even some clunkers. It just never feels consistent. (And that's true at Black Diamond too) 

The water holes stand out here, and the photos look terrific. Holes 5, 9, 12, 15, & 16 all feature big water, and are the most memorable at New Albany Links. 

(The ninth is a long par four with water guarding entire right side. A large mound short left of the green discourages players from bailing out too much to that particular side.) 

(Twelve has a long green whose front section is guarded by water. The key is challenging the left side from the tee to get a straight angle to the green. Bail out too much towards that tree in background, and the green becomes shallow from that angle. I'm not a fan of the bunker cut into the mounds around the water.) 

(The 426/387 yard second. There's a burn several yards short of the green, and the further left the pin goes, the tougher the shot is over the sand trap.) 

Besides the aforementioned water holes, many of the others never grab your attention. The fairway bunkering is awkward too. 

This is the par five fourth hole. Notice the burn crosses short of the fairway, and the further right you go, the longer the carry is. You can see how both mounding and bunkering squeezes the fairway, making it look very tight. 

Bottom line is New Albany Links doesn't excite me, and Columbus is a very competitive market, so there's plenty of good solid golf to be found elsewhere. 

I also have to question what Golf Digest looks when they re rating golf courses. 

I do want to finish off on some positives. Flexibility is very high here, and the tee boxes are excellently spaced out. That's a huge plus for players looking to have fun yet still play a competitive (lengthy) course. Finally, New Albany Links finishes with a very good hole. It's a dogleg right to an elevated green with two tiers. Birdie is well earned. I give it a 4 (above average).  The locals have a nice place to enjoy. Golfstyles has it as one of the top 100 in Ohio, but I would put it in the second half.