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Make a point of playing the Atunyote golf course
at the Turning Stone casino resort.
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Despite the fanfare of the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour season still includes more than a few official tournaments, and this week's golf is being played at Verona, New York's Turning Stone casino resort, which possibly has the best collection of 54 holes in the Northeastern United States.
As good as the resort's Shenendoah and Kaluhyat layouts are (designed by Rick Smith and Robert Trent Jones, Jr., respectively), the best of Turning Stone's golf courses, and the venue for the Turning Stone Resort Championship, is Tom Fazio's Atunyote (pronounced uh-DUN-yote) course, based on the overall experience.
Located on a ridge of uncultivated farmland three miles from the resort, Atunyote (Oneida Indian for "eagle") is full of wide-open vistas framed by distant hills. Working with an almost limitless budget, Fazio moved plenty of earth, planted about 1,000 young trees, and added numerous artificial elements to give the course its bold look.
All of the water hazards — including a 13-acre lake that runs the length of the 12th, 13th, and 18th holes, and a stream that snakes its way through the back nine — are man made. And, to fill his bunkers, Fazio brought in the same crushed marble sand that is used at Augusta National. This bright white sand requires meticulous maintenance, and the grounds keeping at Atunyote is exquisite.
Although it can stretch to 7,314 yards, Atunyote plays somewhat shorter because its firm, wind-beaten fairways provide plenty of roll. And on every hole, Fazio assists players by setting up clearly defined landing areas and target zones with lots of bailout room away from trouble. The rough here is also manageable, unlike the tall grass borders on Shenendoah and Kaluhyat, though the wind is always a formidable foe.
Tee times at Turning Stone's Atunyote course are spaced a minimum of 15 minutes apart, though, in reality, you can often set off whenever you choose and still feel like you have the course to yourself. With a tee sheet that averages just 20 players per day, you just might.
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