Update: Since this post was originally published, the Hiland Park Country Club has updated its website with photos of the actual property.

I was visiting (virtually) a handful of nearby golf courses the other day when I discovered that the folks over at the Hiland Park Country Club in Queensbury had updated their website.  The new design is a huge upgrade from the previous design (although it does border on stupid that a simple scorecard is only available in pdf format).

Stone bridges, rolling fairways...my what a beautiful golf course. Please let me know where it is so I can play there.

As you can see from the photo above (snipped from the golf landing page), the Hiland Park Country Club is an exceptionally beautiful and well-maintained golf course.  I’ve played Hiland about a dozen times, and for the most part, really enjoy the layout.  For my money, there are 2 – maybe 3 holes at Hiland that would easily make my list (If I ever got around to writing it) of the top 18 public golf holes in New York’s Capital District.

My wife and I were married at Hiland, so it holds a special place in my heart – even if I do often refer to it as “the scene of the crime”.  I know a handful of members (the Hiland is semi-private), and at one time or another have considered coughing up the cash to join myself.  As with some of the other courses in the area that I enjoy enough to play every day, the only thing holding me back is a proximity problem (Hiland is 20 minutes north of my home, my office is almost an hour south).  My point is that Hiland Park CC is one of the nicer public courses in the area (even if I think their rack rate is a tad steep).

I haven’t been over to Hiland yet this season.  In fact, it’s been over a year since I last played.  I do like to play there once or twice a season though, so with a little luck I’ll spend some time there shortly and follow up with a complete review.

So why, given that I’m generally a fan of Hiland, would I be calling Shenanigans?  Like I said, I haven’t played it in over a year, so I thought perhaps maybe they made some upgrades over the winter.  I spoke with a educator gym coach friend of mine who is a Hiland member, and another friend who plays there quite often.  I showed them both the photo, and unfortunately, both confirmed my suspicions.  The Hiland Park Country Club is well-maintained (drainage problems aside), and it does offer a great layout.  The thing is, what you’re seeing in that picture up there is most definitely not the Hiland Park Country Club.

There are no stone bridges at the Hiland.  None…nowhere on the course.  Either the photo is of some completely different golf course (it’s definitely not the affiliated Mohawk River course either), or it’s some sort of artistic rendition of what the course might look like if they got the inclination to actually put in a couple of bridges.

I actually held off posting this because I thought maybe…just maybe some work was done of the back of the 12th green (parts of the 13th, 14th, and 15th are all in close proximity, and water does come into play).  Maybe…just maybe with the help of a backhoe and some stone masons this could be Hiland.  But nope, it didn’t happen.

The simple fact is, however; that photo – the one featured on the “about our course” section of the Hiland website – is definitely not of the Hiland Park Country Club’s golf course.  It’s a safe bet that most locals won’t notice, or won’t care.  But given that the Hiland is located 20 minutes north of Saratoga, and 15 minutes south of Lake George;  it’s ideally situated to draw a large number of golfers during both the Lake George tourist season, and of course, the popular Saratoga track season.  Imagine taking a vacation and choosing a golf course (plenty of us make our decisions based on course websites), only to find out that the course you thought you would be playing is little more than a photo fantasy.  How pissed off would you be?

It’s not just shenenigans.  It’s at best disingenuous and at worst intentionally misleading.  Using a photo of another golf course to advertise your own?  Seriously, Hiland, wtf?  Shame (making finger gestures), shame on you on you.