Leatherstocking Golf Course

Cooperstown is a town better known by Americans for hosting the Hall of Fame of their national game: baseball. That said, those looking for Scotland’s national sport (in a more American style, of course) while visiting the museums here will find it at Leatherstocking, the course affiliated with the Otesaga Resort.

Hopefully there will be many birdies on your scorecard during the round, but if not you’ll probably find your highlight at Blackbird(-ie) Bay, the outlet of Otsego Lake that the final two holes will come into close contact with. No. 17 is a daunting par three, requiring a carry of 200 yards straight across a marsh to a green (that, thankfully, is long). The final hole is the one you’ll write home about. You’ll follow a long bridge into the lake, where you’ll tee off from an island. The rest is a remarkable resemblance to No. 18 at Pebble Beach, with 500 yards of fairway wrapping around the lake. The only thing keeping it from being the Clambake closer is the Pacific Ocean’s more aggressive tides.

For action away from the lake, consider No. 12, another par three. Although Devereaux Emmet was certainly known for some quirky bunkers, his approach to this green was thorough, circling it with no less than 10 hazards.