Erie: Tillinghast, Beaches, and Wine Country on the Penn-Ohio Golf Trail

If your idea of a golf trip involves a major-league architect, a Lake Erie sunset, and a wine country bigger than anything east of the Rockies, Erie is the answer you did not know you were looking for. The northern end of the Penn-Ohio Golf Trail packs more variety into 50 miles of shoreline than most destinations manage across an entire state. Beach golf in the morning, A.W. Tillinghast in the afternoon, dinner at a bayfront oyster bar, and a flight of estate wines that have actually won awards. That is a Tuesday in Erie.

The Trail's Erie cluster runs from Cambridge Springs in the south up through Erie itself and east to North East, Pennsylvania, hugging the Lake Erie shoreline. One phone call to Pine Lakes Resorts handles the courses, lodging, and the schedule. Couples groups, take notice: this is the trip on the Trail that works equally well with the wife.

Where to Play

Lead with the architectural deep cut, because most traveling golfers do not know it exists.

Erie Golf Club is the Tillinghast. A.W. Tillinghast, the man who built Winged Foot, Bethpage Black, Baltusrol Lower, San Francisco Golf Club, and the whole rest of the cathedral. Construction at Erie began in 1921, the course opened in the 1920s, and it is open to the public today. The pin flags say Tillinghast. The clubhouse grillroom says Tillinghast. The hats say Tillinghast. There is a reason the people running the place put his name on everything: when you have a Tillinghast, you tell people you have a Tillinghast.

Here is the catch, and the reason this should be Stop One on the trip. The course was sold to a Tillinghast superfan named Charles Van Eekeren who has hired an architect specializing in Tillinghast restorations and brought in the Tillinghast Foundation as consultants for a multi-year renovation and expansion project. The course will close at the end of its current season for the work to begin. Translation: play it now, in its current form, before the renovation starts. Then play it again in five years, when it reopens as a restored Tillinghast in pristine condition. This is the kind of opportunity that does not come around twice. Bring a sleeve of balls and a sense of occasion.

Lake View Country Club in North East is the Erie area's premier test of golf and the private-club access the Trail unlocks for you. Designed and built by Donald Ross protégé James Gillmore Harrison, organized in 1958 with the first round played on Memorial Day 1959, Lake View has hosted the West Penn Amateur Championship and the Pennsylvania State Amateur Championship. The course measures 6,883 yards to a par of 72, with tree-lined fairways and greens that are quietly the toughest in the area. Stay below the hole. The clubhouse handles the post-round dinner if you want to stay on property. North East is in the heart of Lake Erie wine country, which means the drive over and back is its own attraction.

Whispering Woods in Erie is the public-side headliner. A John Exley design that opened in 2007, voted top-five in Pennsylvania by GolfAdvisor and a regular winner of Erie's Best Golf Course nod, with five sets of tees, chiseled fairways, 50 bunkers, and creatively shaped greens that take full advantage of the rolling terrain, streams, and waterfalls of northwestern Pennsylvania. The front nine winds through a residential development, but the houses do not come into play, and the back nine is completely secluded. Drivable par 4s, real risk-reward, and elevation changes that make every iron shot a calculation. Play it from one tee box up. Trust me on this one.

Round out the trip with Riverside Golf Course in Cambridge Springs, where you can grab lunch at The Rambler attached to the property, plus Meadville Country Club just to the south and a handful of other public tracks the Trail packages on the way up from Mercer County. If your group has the time and the legs, pushing one round out to one of the public Lake Erie courses up toward North East puts you within a wedge of the wineries.

Where to Stay

Erie is the Trail stop that genuinely rewards splitting the difference.

For the buddies trip, the Trail packages a brand-new hotel right in Erie that puts you minutes from Erie Golf Club, the bayfront restaurants, and downtown nightlife. It is the practical pick: clean, modern, easy access to everything, and a short drive to all the courses on the Erie cluster.

For couples or a group that wants the resort feel, the play is Presque Isle Bay. Look for hotels along the bayfront. You wake up looking at Lake Erie, walk to dinner, and watch the sunset from a bayfront restaurant patio. This is one of the few stops on the Trail where the lodging itself becomes part of the trip rather than just a place to sleep between rounds.

For a deeper-pocket option or a special occasion, Presque Isle Downs and Casino has a dining and entertainment complex worth knowing about even if you sleep elsewhere. We will get to it in a minute.

What to Do Along the Way

Erie is where the Penn-Ohio Trail finally gives you water, and the off-course scene is built around it.

Presque Isle State Park is the centerpiece. A 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that arches into Lake Erie with one of the best beach setups in the eastern half of the country. Multiple sandy beaches, a 19th-century lighthouse, boat tours on the open lake, and the Gull Point Trail through the marshy shores for spotting threatened species and migrating birds. If you have a non-golfing spouse along, this is where they spend the morning while you are playing Erie GC. If your buddies group has a designated walker, this is where you take an evening lap. The park is open early morning to sunset year-round.

Presque Isle Downs and Casino is the gambling and post-round play. Part of the Churchill Downs Incorporated family, with over 1,500 slots, more than 30 table games including Roulette, Blackjack, and Craps, plus a TwinSpires Sportsbook with self-serve betting kiosks and big-screen TVs. Unlike the racinos elsewhere on the Trail, this one has the table games. If half your group wants to play craps and the other half wants to bet a college football slate, you can do both in the same building. The track is a working thoroughbred operation with seasonal live racing.

Lake Erie Wine Country is the secret weapon. The largest grape-growing region in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, with 30,000 acres of vineyards and more than 20 distinct estate and commercial wineries spread across 50 miles of shoreline from Harborcreek, Pennsylvania to Silver Creek, New York. The wines run from fruity native Labruscas to French-American hybrids to European-style varietals to award-winners that hold up alongside anything from the Finger Lakes. Mazza Vineyards, Presque Isle Wine Cellars, and Arrowhead Wine Cellars are the marquee stops. Pair a half-day of wine tasting with the round at Lake View since they are all in the North East area, and you have built a couples-friendly day that ends with a sunset and a glass of estate red.

For dinner, Erie eats well, particularly along the water. Bay House Oyster Bar and Restaurant on Sassafras Pier is the seafood pick and the view is hard to argue with. Smuggler's Wharf, The Cove Bayside, and Shoreline Bar and Grille all sit on State Street with bayfront tables. Oliver's Rooftop Restaurant on East Front handles the date-night spot with the elevated view. Calamari's Squid Row on State Street is the buddies-trip dinner spot, the kind of place where the name does most of the marketing.

Inland, Churchill's Bourbon and Brew Bar on Perry Highway is exactly what it says on the door, and it is your move for the post-round whiskey crowd. Pineapple Eddie Southern Bistro on West 10th is the sleeper pick: Southern food in Pennsylvania, executed well, and worth the drive even if you are staying bayfront. Skunk and Goat Tavern in North East is the after-round wine country dinner, walking distance from a half-dozen tasting rooms. The Rambler at Riverside Golf Course in Cambridge Springs handles the lunch-and-a-beer mid-trip if you are routing your day through the southern end of the cluster.

For a rainy day or the second night when the legs are tired, Five Iron Golf has a bay-area location with simulator technology, a locally-inspired menu, and craft cocktails. Custom group packages, real food, tour-grade screens. Hard to argue with on the wrong end of an Erie thunderstorm.

The Pitch

Erie is the Penn-Ohio Trail stop that does not sound like a golf destination until you see what is actually here. An A.W. Tillinghast design open to the public, on the eve of a once-in-a-generation restoration. A Donald Ross protégé private course that has hosted the West Penn Amateur. A top-five-in-PA public course built into the rolling terrain of northwestern Pennsylvania. A 3,200-acre Lake Erie state park. A casino with full table games. A wine country bigger than anything east of the Rockies. And a downtown bayfront food scene that punches well above its weight. Pine Lakes Resorts handles the booking. One call sets it all up. 877-534-6789.

Book it. Play Erie Golf Club before the renovation starts. Sit on a bayfront patio, order an oyster, and watch the sun go down over Lake Erie. That is what Erie does best.