The golf course at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club opens with a short, 343-yard, downhill par-4 that could be drive-able for some players in the field – but beware of the bunkers that surround the green. On August 17 and 18, Sodus Bay Heights hosts the 2018 RDGA Mid Amateur Championship for golfers ages 25 and over.
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FOLLOW RESULTS FROM THE 2018 RDGA MID AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP at SODUS BAY:
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Set against the beautiful backdrop of Sodus Bay in northeastern Wayne County, on a bluff overlooking the shores of Lake Ontario, Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club easily offers some of the most scenic vistas of any golf course in the Rochester area.
Although Sodus Bay Heights also boasts a long and proud history, it has not often found itself in the regular rota of Rochester District Golf Association Championships. In fact, the first RDGA Championship of any kind hosted by the club was in 2010, when the fourth RDGA Mid Amateur Championship was held there. Three years later, the RDGA returned for its Senior Championships.
This year, Sodus once again plays host to the RDGA, when the 2018 RDGA Mid Amateur Championship returns to the club for a second time on August 17 and 18, becoming just the second club to host that Championship twice.
As a competition created for amateur players past college-age and well into their professional careers – 25 years of age being the minimum requirement for entry – the 6,600-yard-plus golf course at Sodus will provide a stout challenge, along with stunning views of the Lake.
For the staff and membership at Cobblestone Creek – including PGA Head Professional Ben Wilson and Superintendent Todd Vankouwenberg – hosting the RDGA Mid Amateur will provide the facility yet another opportunity to shine as one of the top semi-private clubs in the Greater Rochester area.
From Humble Beginnings, Sodus Bay Heights Today Enjoys a Rich Pedigree
First opened in 1924, Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club soon became a favorite among the summer population that migrated there from other locations from Rochester to Syracuse and points between. Built during the first golden age of golf course architecture – when the greats of the game such as Ross, Tillinghast and Mackenzie were putting their touches on some of the greatest courses in the country – the architect of the original nine at Sodus, strangely, remains anonyous even to this day.
Despite it’s undetermined pedigree, however, Sodus Bay Heights’ early years were shaped by another figure who would one day leave his own mark upon the legacy of great American golf course architecture.
 The 415-yard par-4 7th hole at Sodus comes alive during the Fall season.
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While still a teenager and before becoming one of the world’s most well-regarded golf architects, East Rochester resident Robert Trent Jones began his legendary career by serving as the first golf professional at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club – although contrary to popular belief, Jones did not design the golf course.
While employed at Sodus Bay Heights, the membership encouraged Jones to pursue his dream of becoming a golf course architect. With the help of generous Sodus Bay Heights members, Jones attended Cornell University, embarking on a customized course of study that allowed him to pursue his interest in golf course design. While a student at Cornell, he designed nine holes of the university’s golf course, now known as the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University.
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From his humble beginnings at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club, Robert Trent Jones designed more than 500 golf courses in 45 states and 35 countries around the world. He took pride in saying, “The sun never sets on a Robert Trent Jones golf course.”
The golf course at Sodus Bay Heights began as a nine-hole design, including a clubhouse, a separate pro shop and a small caddy building. In 1953, an addition to the clubhouse was planned and constructed by Jim and Al Santelli. Today this addition is known as the Robert Trent Jones grill room. On July 1st, 1972, a new clubhouse was opened. It included a banquet room with panoramic windows offering sweeping views of Sodus Bay. The pro shop was incorporated into the new building, eliminating the need for the caddy house. A patio was added just outside the grillroom in 1980.
In 1966, Claude Wright Sr. formed a committee to begin planning the expansion of the golf course to eighteen holes. Geoffrey S. Cornish, a golf course architect from Amherst, Massachusetts, was retained to redesign the existing course and layout an additional nine holes on the west side of Route 14. On May 25, 1969, the new 18 hole golf course was dedicated. A memorial stone commemorating the day was placed next to the flagpole.
As the business model of the golf industry has changed, adapted and changed again through the years, so too has Sodus Bay Heights. Originally opened as a private club, Sodus remained in that category until the late 20th century, when it began opening to public play on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Taking up Jones’ legacy as the current head PGA Professional at Sodus Bay Heights is Ben Wilson, a veteran PGA Professional with experience throughout the northeast and also on the west coast who most recently served as the Head Professional at Ridgemont Country Club.
Today, Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club is a true “semi-private” facility, boasting a solid membership base, including a Board of Directors, who oversee the many facets of club activity, from its golf operations to the dining facility, club services and many other areas. At the same time, Sodus remains open to daily fee play on a reservation basis.
With Recent Updates, Sodus’s Golf Course Provides Challenging Competition
Hosting its second RDGA Mid Amateur Championship in eight years this season, Sodus Bay Heights will be a familiar – if not easy – challenge for many of the players in the field.
Although the front nine is the longest of the two at Sodus – boasting two 520-plus yard par-5s; the long (458-yard) par-4 fifth hole (the No.1 hadicap hole on the course); and the 220-yard par-3 eighth – the course opens with the relatively short, 343-yard downhill par-4 first hole. For some of the golfers in the Mid Amateur field, it will be tempting to go for the green off the tee – but beware, the green is guarded on front and sides by bunkers, so don’t expect to roll the ball up onto the green.
The front nine concludes with a hole that presents as interesting a challenge to the golfer as does the first hole. The 528-yard par-5 ninth hole features a double dogleg design requiring a precise placement to set up the desired apporach to the green. The green, however, has an interesting story of its own.
For many years a source of derision among club members, the ninth green was deemed “unfair” by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. – son of the club’s first Head Professional and an award-winning architect in his own right – during a visit to the club in 2014 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Sodus Bay Heights.
Upon declaring the green “unfair,” club members casually asked Jones Jr. if he would redesign the ninth green for them – which he did, subsequently, offering to redesign the putting surface free of charge. Of course, the cost of actually rebuilding the green was substantial, but a collection among members eventually raised enough to complete the project and by the spring of 2015, the new green was open for play.
The slightly shorter back nine (by about 150 yards) at Sodus still features the 500-plus-yard par-5 11th hole, as well as three long par-4s of more than 425 yards (the 13th, 15th and 17th holes).
In total, the championship Black Tees at Sodus Bay Heights play to a par of 36-36=72 and 6,682 yards, with a course rating of 72.9 and a slope of 135.
 At one time a source of derision among club members, the green on the 528-yard, par-5 ninth hole was deemed “unfair” by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr – who subsequently offered to redesign the putting surface free of charge.
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Keeping the golf course at Sodus Bay Heights in peak form is the duty of Todd VanKouwenberg, who became the Head Course Superintendent earlier this year following the retirement of long-time Sodus Superintendent Stephen Boone, who had served in that role for 33 years.
VanKouwenberg earned his Turfgrass Management degree from SUNY Cobleskill in 2000. With earlier experience working at Oak Hill Country Club and The Country Club of Rochester, he most recently served as Course Superintendent at Wayne Hills Country Club. Todd has done tournament preparation for four professional golf tours, and has extensive course restoration project experience.
A Major Championship for the 25-And-Over Golfer
One of the more recent additions to the annual lineup of Rochester District Golf Association championships, the RDGA Mid Amateur Championship is open to all amateur male golfers age 25 and over (as of the beginning of each year’s tournament) who are members in good standing at RDGA clubs. All contestants must have a RDGA/USGA Handicap Index supplied by the RDGA.
Patterned after the USGA’s Mid Amateur, the first RDGA Mid Amateur Championship was held in 2007 as a way to provide a formal competition for local post collegeiate-age amateurs, for whom the game is an avocation, rather than a stepping stone to a professional career. The format of the event is a two-day, 36-hole, stroke play competition, conducted as two 18-hole rounds held on consecutive days.
To say that Stafford Country Club member Jim Scorse has dominated this championship is an understatement. In 2015, the five-time RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Memorial winner captured the RDGA Mid Am title for the sixth time in the history of the competition.
At Cobblestone Creek Country Club in 2017, Oak Hill’s Tim Saur capitalized on a first round score of 4-under-par 68 to hold on for a four-shot victory as daylight gave way to dusk, winning the 2017 RDGA Mid Amateur Championship title over co-runners-up Ken Starkweather of Ridgemont and Jon Pecor of Locust Hill. The victory was Saur’s first District Championship title of any kind – and he returns as defending champion of the Mid Amateur Championship at Sodus Bay Heights.
The 12th annual edition of the RDGA Mid Amateur Championship visits Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club for the second time in the Championship’s history. Scheduled for August 17 and 18, competitors will tour the beautifully-maintained, par-72 layout in two, scratch, 18-hole stroke play rounds. Included among the features for contestants this year will be a special “Chiropractic Recovery Tent” – in which Dr. Stephen Boronczyk from Rochester Chirotherapy will offer his services – free of charge – to contestants prior to the opening round. (CLICK HERE for more info about Rochester Chirotherapy.)
In addition to the RDGA Mid Amateur Championship trophy, the top three finishers – including ties – will receive exemptions into the 2019 RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial which will be hosted by Penfield Country Club.
This article was written by RDGA Communications Director Dave Eaton, with information from www.sodusbayheights.com.
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