Hudson National rests on dramatic bluffs high over the Hudson River valley, a breathtaking location that, back in the 1920s, had been the site of the ill-fated Hessian Hills Country Club. (The fireplace and part of the foundation of its clubhouse still exists near the fourth green.) Fazio paid little attention to the old routing, however, dynamiting more than 130,000 cubic feet of granite to fit his design into the rocky terrain. Greens are blazing fast, the primary rough is wispy fescue and bunkers are deep and numerous. Hudson National closed in 2023 as the Fazio team returned for a complete remodeling, finishing plans they couldn't execute the first time around. The entire course was re-grassed with modern bents, bunkers were shifted and reshaped and greens were enlarged with several reoriented with new low-mow chipping areas as surrounds. The most notable improvements are the new, larger and three-dimensionally sculpted fifth green replacing one of the most placid on the course and the new green at the par-5 14th set tight against a lake that's been elongated and extended 25 yards to create more tantalizing back hole locations.
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