Shelter Harbor GC (RI) July 28
About a 100 mile drive from our house in Milton, MA, in the southwestern corner of RI lies Shelter Harbor (SR). Course is just under 2 miles from LI Sound as the crow flies, but the water is not visible from the course. Course was completed in 2005. Designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dada Fry (Erin Hills WI...20157 US Open venue, Devil's Pulpit...outside of Toronto, and Hamilton Farm NJ, it first appeared on GW in 2012, and has steadily climbed to #105 on GW's merged list (#46 on GW's 2014 Modern list). Par 71, plays to 7,006 yards from tips and I played from 6,205. Club also has a nine hole par 3 course, but I did not have time to play it.
Put simply, this one is underrated in my opinion. While it is certainly not a USA Top 50, I would consider it to be a solid top 70-80. The fairways are some of the widest I have ever played or seen...but they are interspersed with well positioned fairway bunkers (often near the center of the fairway...giving the player the choice of laying up, flying it over, or playing a left or right fairway...decisions that would vary depending on wind direction and pin position). Favorite holes were:
#4 par 3 205 yards Biarritz hole...and a wild one. Makes #7 at Yale look simple. Green is 63 yards deep with some wild humps generally not found on Biarritz greens. see pic
#7 par 4 363 yards. Downhill turning right. Deep bunker bisects fairway and is 243 to reach and 260 carry from back (201/218 from my tees). Hitting slightly downhill into tiny green (32 deep and probably 16 wide at widest) perched on hill (was moved last year from right lower position...major improvement).
#9 par 5 533 yards. Turns R-->L then L-->R and uphill to small 2 tiered green. Eleven fairway bunkers all over the place that guide you through hole and define your options. No green side bunkers and none needed w false front and green slopes back to front.
#13 par 4 367 yds. Flat dogleg left. Carry of 267 to clear bunker in corner of dogleg, and 315 to reach bunker on right side of fairway on same line. Bunkers front right of green makes you want to leave tee shot as close to left side of fairway as possible...but do not come up short. Green slopes sharply back rt to front left.
#14 par 4 462 yards. Flat and turning slightly left from back tee, then slightly uphill to raised green, with huge dune bisecting back of green from behind it. Difficult and superb par 4 from back tee and blur tee (437 yds), but because of wetlands, white tees play from 331 yards and hole not nearly as interesting.
#17 par 3 194 yards. Flat excellent par three with water left and in front, bunker right of green protecting bail out zone (and green slopes away from bail out zone). see pic.
Conditions were a tough soft but fair amount of rain in past few days. Close to a hidden gem.
Taconic Golf Club July 30
All the way in the northwestern conner of MA in the Berkshires is the town or Williamstown, MA, home of Williams College. About 160 miles from our house here in MA. Have been wanting to play this track for the last few years but it is a bit of a haul. Pat was scheduled to play in a woman's invitational Aug. 4-6, so like a good hubby, I did the long trip and came out to scout the course for her.
Taconic is an old Donald Ross track, par 71 6808 yds from tips. Built in 1927 and designed by Wayne Stiles, it is a very good course and fun to play, with some very very interesting and tough greens. Was #85 on merged GW list in 1999 but has slipped to #192 today. Course is on land owned by Williams College, serves as the home course for Williams' golf team, and operates as a semi-private club. Best holes are #12 and #13, bot of which have greens that can leave you talking to yourself. Course is fairly hilly. and in good shape, but too soft. All I can tell you is "stay below the hole", which is what I told wifey, but it didn't do much good.
Longmeadow Country Club August 5
Located outside Springfield, MA (100 miles from our home) near the old headquarters of Spaulding...one of the leading manufacturers of golf equipment 60-90 years ago (not to mention Spaulding Hi-Bounce balls that dominated the stickball market in the 1950's and early 1960's). In times past, the greats of the game would regularly visit Longmeadow to test the new sticks produced by Spaulding, and Bobby Jones was a member of the club. It remains is a very very good club and is a great old Donald Ross track. Clearly, Taconic and Longmeadow are the two premier tracks in western MA. Plays to par 70, 6756 yards from the tips. Has not been on a true Top 100 list but was on GW's Top 100 Classic list in '97 and '98. Played with two members, one of whom is a Golf Week rater whom I met playing Rich Harvest Farms (IL) in 2012.
Strongest part of course, not surprisingly is its Ross greens. Best holes are #3 (excellent par 5 down off tee then up to crested green), #4 and #16 (both superb short par 3's), #8 (very tough long dogleg left par 4 whose tee shot reminded me of tee shot at #4 at Hirono GC in Japan), #15 (mid length par 4 with two tiered green sloping from left to right and a frightening small landing area on the green), and #17 (par 4 with green in a depressed area lying about 30 feet below fairway level.
Course was very soft, but that may have been a function of heavy rains in MA over prior 2 weeks. No question that both Longmeadow and Taconic are wonderful layouts which one could play every day!!
Oyster Harbors Golf Club August 6
Had heard a lot about this track over the past eight years, and finally got down to the Cape to see what it is all about. First first class in all regards. Plays to par 72, and only 6807 yards, this Donald Ross track went through an extensive renovation by Tom Doak about 4 years ago, and continues to make progress along Doak's Master Plan for the layout. Simply put, it is a wonderful layout, with some of the best and most interesting greens I have encountered.
Played with Kevin Patterson (former tournament director for Mass Golf Assoc, now ex dir of International Seniors Amateur Golf Society), Alex Duhamel (ass't ex dir of ISAGS), and Doug Mayo (GM go OHGC). Started at #10, a bear of a starting hole, 207 yd par 3 with green that has too many superb pin placements to count...and wicked run offs. Best other holes are #13 (uphill par 4 to infinity green w false front, 442 yds), #17 (175 par 3 to well bunkered and small green with wonderful segments), #2 (short par 5 491 yards straight and flat to a green sloping from left to right, but with ledge along the left...easy par 5 but wonderful test of shotmaking). Played so so well...40-35-75. Felt totally comfortable on the course...could feel the options on most shots and throughly enjoyed the way there land moved. Great great play every day track. Firm and fast conditions make golf so much better.
Only negative is that course is in the middle of an island surrounded by water...but almost no views of the water...home sites on perimeter and layout in the center of the island. Too bad...can't even imagine what it could have been. Not as good as Eastward Ho! but superb in any case.
Wrap-up
Well, four good to superb tracks..all fun to play (none of which are championship tracks...but who cares), that I had never played before, and all within 160 miles of home. But, on the other hand, the four day trips racked up about 830 miles...still a lot of driving. Have six other MA courses I want to see before we disappear in the fall: Worcester, Hyannisport, New Seabury (Ocean), Sankaty Head, Whitinsville, and Vesper.
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