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Dan_Callahan

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Info on Wyantenuck?
« on: March 01, 2005, 09:20:18 AM »
This spring, I am heading up to Wyantenuck Country Club in Great Barrington, MA. Friends have told me it is one of the best courses most people have never heard of. The only info I've been able to find is that it is a Charles Banks course that was built in the 1920s. Can anyone fill in more details? I've been told the second hole is a 240-yard blind par 3, and the fourth is an exceptionally difficult long par 4.

Steve Curry

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Re:Info on Wyantenuck?
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2005, 10:18:13 AM »
Dan,

Banks did 11, 12, 17 and 18 the course has actually been around since 1890's if memory serves.  2 is a blind, down hill, (falling away green) 3 par, don't lay up,better to be long.  The fourth has just been lengthened with a new green so I can't comment.  Love the approach to the 17th, steep uphill to a green set in a bowl.  The 13th is a great five par with the same elevation change as 17 but from the tee.  More later...

Steve

Jim_Kennedy

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Re:Info on Wyantenuck?
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2005, 11:51:12 PM »
Dan,
Adding to Steve's post: The course was built by H.R. Pryde and Banks did remodeling work on the holes he cited.
As Steve said, better to be long and chip back on #2, 17 has my vote for best hole on the course although none will let you down. Watch out for #10. I didn't get to play the new 4th but walked out on it. At that time the crew was hand-picking miniscule noxious weeds from the new surface under the watchful eye of Peter Bacon, the super. This hole was a bear before they lenghtened it with it's steep uphill approach.

Stay overnoight and drive up to Berkshire Hills where Steve Curry reigns and you'll have seen two of Western Mass.' best.

 
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Dan_Callahan

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Re:Info on Wyantenuck?
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2005, 08:50:26 AM »
I played Wyantenuck for the first time last week, and then was lucky enough to play a second round a few days later. This course has got to be the best kept secret in New England. Perhaps I'm crazy, but I would put the course in the same league as Taconic. The greens were spectacular. The par 3s were some of the best I have seen.

I loved the 240-yard blind par 3 second hole, although I have heard others complain about it. The newly lengthened fourth hole is a beast, but there are so many short holes on the course that it gives the layout good balance. I loved the variety of settings, from the rolling, wooded terrain of holes 1–11 to the relatively flat, low-lying holes at 12–18 (with the obvious exceptions of the tee shot on 13 and the great uphill aproach shot to 17).

From what I heard from the members, this course flies in the face of the prevailing GCA.com wisdom, which is a preference for restoring courses to their original design. At Wyantenuck, the super isn't afraid to tinker with the layout to make improvements. I was told that the 14th was once a very short par 4. Additional land was purchased so that the hole could be lengthened (by moving the green back some 100 yards), and by all accounts it is a great improvement. I never would have guessed that it was a new green. Same is true on the fourth, a monstrous dogleg right, uphill, 440-yard par 4. The old green was severely sloped and was very difficult to maintain. The super cleared some trees behind it and put in a new green that fits the hole perfectly.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures. If you are ever in Great Barrington and have an opportunity to play the course, don't pass it up!

Jim_Kennedy

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Re:Info on Wyantenuck?
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2005, 09:43:23 AM »
Dan,
I also like #2 but I think the complaints stem from having to play a blind tee shot to a downhill green that slopes away from the line of play. If you find your ball on the green you've had some luck and if you find your ball short of the green you're dead. Long and chipping back is the play and I think it would be nice to see a chipping area back there.

The 15th hole was lenghtened as you said. Peter Bacon built the new greensite, grew it in, and when it was ready he removed the old green and sodded in new fairway. There was hardly any disruption of play.  
« Last Edit: May 17, 2005, 12:21:27 PM by jim_kennedy »
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Steve Curry

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Re:Info on Wyantenuck?
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2005, 10:34:26 AM »
Dan,

Peter Bacon does a fantastic job and has a great sense for modifying holes.  I think probably the difference lies in the fact that the course was not a start to finish job by Banks so the modifications Peter has done fall on holes that don't have a great point to roll back to... I really like 17, 12, 13, well I guess I have an affinity for the banks holes.  To me the stand out is 17 with its perched green set in a bowl.

Steve