Bristol Harbour Resort offers classic Robert Trent Jones golf amid New York's Finger Lakes

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. -- It's a split personality that makes the classic Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed golf course at Bristol Harbour Resort so unique.

Bristol Harbour's front nine opens gently with soft, rolling land and wide-open spaces. Once golfers drive across the road, the land springs to life on the back nine, heaving up hills and falling into valleys with fairways framed by thousands of trees. The one knock on the course is inconsistent conditioning, but this special setting overlooking Canadaigua Lake does make it easier to look past the rough spots. The 6,700-yard Bristol Harbour lights up every fall when the leaves start changing.

The real fun begins with back-to-back par 5s at holes 6 and 7. The sixth drops off an elevated tee, setting up a daunting 200-yard-plus carry over a pond for those who want to go for it in two. The seventh climbs back uphill, playing as a true three-shot challenge. Everybody remembers the 14th hole, a par 4 requiring a layup to the edge of a steep drop-off at the dogleg in the fairway. The green below slopes right to left, so favor the high side or the approach shot will roll off into thick rough.

The next tee shot at the 15th hole, an intimidating par 3, must fly over a river gorge. The fairways of Bristol Harbour's par-4 ninth and 18th holes run parallel to one another, sharing a pond at the green. Even if you don't have time for lunch on the patio back at the lodge, take a minute to admire the view of the lake. It's the reason so many people love the Finger Lakes.