Playing at Mount Airy Golf Club, The Poconos

Mount Airy Golf Club is located in Mount Pocono, conveniently on the grounds of the upscale Mount Airy Casino Resort.

The lakefront holes are visible from most front-facing rooms at the resort, and beckon players of all skill levels.  It’s one of those courses we consider to be a destination, not only due to the resort and all its many facilities but also because it is representative of 18 of the best golf holes across America.

The course was inspired by Sports Illustrated’s “Best 18 Holes in America,”  a 1966 book by Dan Jenkins.  The facility then took 11 years to build and opened in the late 1970s.

Each hole is fashioned to resemble a famous hole on a famous golf course, including such renowned clubs as Pebble Beach, Augusta National, and Oakland Hills, to name just a few.  And it’s all laid out on meticulously landscaped rolling hills with inspirational views in every direction.  With its replication holes and landscaping, Mount Airy is akin to Ontario’s Wooden Sticks.

There are plenty of naturally occurring water hazards on this course, in the form of rivers, ponds, and a lake.  Plus, there are beautiful stone bridges, an occasional garden, an abundance of trees, scattered sand traps, and undulating terrain to make your game more of a challenge.

This 6,500-yard course is open to the public and plays approximately 3000 rounds of golf per year, with well-appointed facilities that include a small but well-stocked Pro Shop of apparel and accessories, an indoor and outdoor snack shop and bar, lockers and showers, and a quaint indoor seating area complete with TV.

A beautiful putting green is available for practice just beyond the clubhouse, and golf instruction is available upon request.  For convenience, a shuttle service takes guests back and forth to the course as needed.

In addition to playing on a spectacular course, expect to see much in the way of wildlife, including whitetail deer, foxes, coyotes, squirrels, raccoons, and possibly black bears.  There is also a variety of birds, including the Great Blue Heron, chickadees, and some birds of prey, including the occasional eagle.

During our time on the course, we spotted and managed to photograph several young deer hunkered down in the tall grass, and a Great Blue Heron attempting to catch breakfast from the river that runs through the property.