I’ve been following the course closely since I became obsessed with golf last summer, but I just couldn’t decide to go.

The club celebrated its 100th season a week ago with a Roaring ’20s themed party to celebrate its April 1924 opening, so it seemed like a perfect idea to follow up for a story this week.

Unfortunately, I am a poor planner and decided to make the 50-minute drive from Jamestown on Friday when the monsoon was in the area. However, despite the gloomy weather, the trail did not disappoint.

I know my photos don’t do the course justice, but once you get to the parking lot along NY-39 the window shopping begins and from the road you can see the high quality golf to be played on holes 8 and 9, which extend from the front 9 holes towards the clubhouse.

Pictured is the view from the back of the green at Point 2 of the Tri-County Country Club in Forestville. PJ photo by Christian Storms

I left the golf clubs in the car but took my camera and umbrella to explore the course and eventually cursed Mother Nature for not making a fool of myself by making three putts each on the difficult greens.

At No. 1, you have a 424-yard par 4 that starts from the white tees and goes up and down among the hills, but the real fun starts at No. 2. The only par 5 of the front 9 holes, the 484-yard par 5 looks on paper like the most likely hole to score.

Then you have to actually play it.

Your tee shot is behind and to the right of the opening hole and you hit it where you came, over the hill, into the valley and finally into sight of the green. It takes a precise shot with height to get in and small mistakes can get you in trouble.

The few people I can talk to about golf know that I like a high green that is protected by bunkers or water and requires some accuracy to get on. No. 2 was just the first of a series of greens that are difficult to reach and then require some skill.

View from tee box 9. PJ photo by Christian Storms

The par 5 is followed by the only par 3 on the front 9, which is also downhill at anywhere between 168 to 161, 155 and 132 yards. Then it’s back to the par 4s, but there are a few holes that look drivable on the shorter front 9, which is 3,063 yards from the tips.

First up is hole 4 which is 247 yards from the whites, but you can’t just hit it off, you really need to pick your spots or you might as well kiss that ball goodbye. There are three different water hazards on hole 4, your best bet is to drive to the green if you think you have the distance, or to the second fairway before you hit your shot to the green.

Number 5 is rated as the most difficult hole on the course, with the red tee off 360 yards back from the white tees and you have to glide over the first hill before getting on and off the green, which is protected by two bunkers on the front.

Every hole on the front 9 deserves a mention, but my favourites were in sight at the finish, as I headed towards the car park. Hole 8 is another short par 4, 294 yards from the whites, where you have to go straight, avoiding the trees on the right, and blast down to the green, which has a bunker in front of it.

Then, as you turn towards home, you come to hole number 9, which is 313 yards long. Here you head down dogleg right again, but after crossing the bridge you continue uphill until you reach home on a sloping green.

View of the green from tee 4, where three water hazards are located, at Tri-County Country Club in Forestville. PJ photo by Christian Storms

The back 9 is slightly longer at 3,357 yards from the whites and 3,482 yards from the ends.

The back 9 again has just one par 3 and one par 5, with the shorter one coming first at No. 11. No. 3 is all downhill from the white, 161 yards, while No. 11 is 175 yards up from the white, with bunkers on the edges of a long green.

Hole 15 is the longest hole on the course at 546 yards from the white and 580 yards from the tips, but you have more room to reach the green.

After a long walk on hole 15, my favorite holes on the back 9 follow in quick succession.

Number 16 is rated as the easiest hole on the course, which is probably why it caught my eye, but if you’re slicing left-handed, all I can say is good luck. The 294-yard dogleg right is a right-handed slicer’s dream, I can only imagine a straight shot from the tee and it sticking where I want it to. The brave can try to get over the trees and onto the green, but a safe bet is to get to the fairway and then go up and down and try for a birdie.

Straight line view from the starting point to the hole on hole 16. PJ photo by Christian Storms

Jake Eckley, First Assistant PGA Golf Professional at Tri-County Country Club, told me I would love No. 17, and he was absolutely right. The second-most difficult hole and the most difficult on the back 9, No. 17 is 415 yards before reaching the green on a significant slope with trees in the background and the beach ahead to the left.

It was no surprise at the quality of the layout when Daniel Rettig, Head Golf Professional at Tri-County Country Club, showed me a letter from A. W. Tillinghast, dated August 27, 1935. In the letter, Tillinghast wrote to the President of the Professional Golfers Association about his consulting with Tri-County Country Club at the request of PGA member Howard Swanson.

Tillinghast notes little facts about the TCCC in 1935, such as that the membership consisted of 75 members, that annual dues were $22, and that the club earned about $3,000 a year, which supported the professional salary and two groundskeepers. But the important part is how Tillinghast decided that the club needed new greens instead of repairing the old greens, which were a mess of star grass and clover. Not only that, but he re-laid the course, keeping most of the fairways and choosing new locations for the greens.

For those who don’t know, Tillinghast worked on more than 265 golf courses in his lifetime, including consulting at Bethpage Black, both Winged Foot Golf Club courses on Long Island, and the San Francisco Golf Club.

I’ve spent more on courses half as nice as Tri-County Country Club, and I’ve come further to do it, paying $55 a drive for all 18 courses. Whether you’re making the 67-minute drive from Warren, 50 minutes from Jamestown, or 20 minutes from Dunkirk, I’d say you’re up for the challenge.

I know I will be back and I look forward to seeing the leaves in the fall to play golf.