Leatherstocking Golf Course in Cooperstown

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Located just a Mickey Mantle home run or two from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Leatherstocking Golf Course predates the Hall of Fame, celebrating its centennial in 2009.

Leatherstocking Golf Course was designed by Devereux Emmet and plays along the shores of Lake Otsego. It plays an old-world 6,400 yards from the championship tees, but it defends itself from modern technology with hilly fairways, steep bunkers and lightning-fast greens that are elevated many times. There are a lot of spectacular holes, including several during the closing stretch. But the course finishes with a real treat: a par 5 that begins on a tee box out on the lake and demands a long carry back to land. The hole hugs the water the entire way and finishes at the back yard of the Otesaga Resort Hotel, which owns the historic golf course.