The amazing element of multi-course complexes is that it's not unusual that the marquee course gets plenty of internal hyping but that a secondary course merits more attention. That's the case at Turning Stone.

Atunyote is the headline layout when coming to the facility. The layout has hosted a range of big-time events -- including when the PGA Tour played there a number of years ago. Atunyote is challenging but there's little on the architectural side to really strike the emotions. Difficulty alone does not equate to architecture of note.

The Shenandoah layout is anything but a back-up golf alternative. The course has hosted its share of key events -- most notably the PGA National Club Pro Championship.

Rick Smith did a quality effort -- the holes are both playable and can be quite testing when pins are tucked in the corners. The layout is a split presentation -- wooded holes on one side versus more open meadows land.

Smith balanced the presentation and the routing is quite good -- eschewing predictable patterns that better players can simply hone in on for easier scoring. The closing stretch include a potentially driveable par-4 at the 16th followed by a demanding long par-4 at the 17th and concludes with a fine risk/reward closing par-5.

New York is loaded with a vast array of top tier golf options -- most notably on the private side which has no equal in all of the USA. The public side is nowhere near as deep but when an overall assessment of The Empire States's best accessible layouts is done -- Shenandoah clearly secures a spot on any top ten listing.

M. James Ward