Help in Boston...

[Phil_the_Author]

Hi guys, I'm looking to help a good friend to enjoy a round next week in or near Boston. Any help will be appreciated. You can IM me or email me at philwritesbooks@aol.com

Thanks

[ChipRoyce]

You're a good friend!
One suggestion (esp. since Ran frowns on trolling for invites to private clubs here on GCA.com) is to drink lots of beer during a round. That usually leads to increased levels of enjoyment.

[Jim Sweeney]

Head for Plymouth, about 40 miles south of Beantown. Waverly Oaks and Pine Hills (Nicklaus, preferrably) are very good, reasonably priced, and very near Rt. 3.

[Cliff Hamm]

Another option is Red Tail, a Brian Silva design, which is about 30 minutes or so west of Boston.

[Jay Flemma]

Red tail and Waverly are both EXCELLENT choices...of the two, Red Tail is my favorite.

[Walter Bart]

 Re Pinehills, I prefer the Jones Course over the Nicklaus Course.  Just seems to me to have more interesting holes and a  fair number of elevation changes. A close call.

     While the previously mentioned courses are at the top of the public access course menu, there are many courses closer to Boston that can produce a very pleasant  golf experience too.

[Jason Topp]

For public access West of Boston, I have enjoyed Cyprian Keys and Shaker Hills (Silva).  For a course with a fair amount of original Donald Ross remaining, try Wachusett Country Club.

Stay away from Stow Acres North unless you like tunnels of trees and six hour rounds.

[Dan_Callahan]

Although I have not played it, Granite Links in Quincy looks very interesting—if only for the amazing views of Boston. You can find pictures at http://www.granitelinksgolfclub.com/photos.html

This would be on your way to Plymouth, so it might be worth a stop. It is very expensive, even for the Boston area.

I agree with the other suggestions. You can't go wrong with Red Tail or Waverly Oaks. Cyprian is a notch below, but still enjoyable (and much more difficult than Red Tail).

[Brad Tufts]

As one of our resident Bostonians, here we go:

Granite Links is a fun time, a pretty course, but not much to write home about architecturally.  It plays on top of part landfill, and part filled-in quarries, but the few remaining pits don't really come into play.  Also, the $95 price tag is tough to swallow for such a course.

Pinehills is also nice, I like the Nicklaus slightly more than the Jones, but it's cartball, up and down the glacially-formed sand ridges in the areas.  Also $90.

Redtail is fantastic, I have to get back there.  It's a bit out of the way, in Devens off Rte. 2, but it's cheaper and much better than the previous two.

Wachusett is awesome as well, a Ross course that feels like the Boston private Ross courses.  It's in West Boylston, out near Worcester, probably 45 mins-hour west of the city.

Waverly is fun, part of Silva's early Raynor-influenced design.  You will come away shaking your head at a couple of the holes, but even the strange ones are fun.

Cyprian Keyes is ok, although many holes are claustrophobic, and some of the elevation changes do not fit the design.

Stow Acres isn't a bad layout, but it's 60's architecture where the trees need to be pruned back a bit.

I thought Shaker Hills was a nice course, fair, like what Cyprian Keyes could have been with better use of the rocky hillsides.

My ranking of those mentioned:

Redtail
Wachusett
Waverly Oaks
Pinehills (Nicklaus over Jones for me)
Shaker Hills
Granite Links
Stow Acres (North)
Cyprian Keyes

Other courses worth a look:

Franklin Park:  Yes, a muni, but a Ross-redesigned one at that with lots of history and a nice new clubhouse.  Bobby Jones practiced here in the field adjacent to the 12th hole while at Harvard Law.  A bunch of fun holes in conditions that are not exactly sparkling, its worth it just due to the fact that it lay fallow for close to two decades before it's revival by the locals in the 80s.  This course is also close to the city (about 5 miles), and it is worth noting that its in an area where bicycle cops patrol the course parking lot.  If you can look past all of this, its a fun experience.

Atlantic:  Another good course in Plymouth that is cheaper than Waverly and Pinehills with pretty much the same land and style.

Blackstone National: A bit further from Boston, the course is South of Worcester, and reminds one of the Plymouth courses with combined open and treed holes.

Also, as a quick note, this is aeration season in Mass., so be sure to ask that before booking.  Hope this helps....

[Phil_the_Author]

Guys,

Thanks for the helpful suggestions...

[Dan Moore]

How is Donald Ross' George Wright Golf Course faring these days?  

http://www.georgewrightgolfcourse.com/index.html

[Brad Tufts]

Dan-

I haven't played GW since last May, but it's slowly turning around.  The previous management company that ran the course didn't put much of the profits back into course maintenance, creating conditions that were at times unplayable.  The greens were always ok, but during any kind of rainstorm, several of the fairways would flood (1, 6, 13, much of 15).  During the drier summer months, there were large areas of rough that were no more than rocky dirt with clumps of grass every few feet.

The "Friends of George Wright" page suggests that the new management is well on their way to sprucing up the course on a hole-by-hole basis, certainly a step in the right direction.  The main thing they need is better drainage for the lower-lying holes.  The transition no doubt will be slow, but it looks like they are finally committed to bringing the course back.  I seem to also remember a link to George Wright news on the Donald Ross Society page, as maybe they are being consulted on the revival.

With some tree removal and better maintenance, George Wright will be a fantastic public golf option for Boston, as the bones of a fantastic course have always existed there.  There are several holes that are among the best Ross holes in Boston.  #5 and #7 are great par fours that require some local knowledge to find the fairway.  They force the player to hit a longer iron into sunken greens with narrow landing areas off the tee.  #9 is a championship par 4 of about 450 with a blind downhill drive to a wide fairway.  #12 is a downhill short par four of about 350 with a cascading fairway with two or three distinct levels as it falls down the hill.  #15 is a fun par 5 with shades of #11 (members routing) at TCC.  A rock ledge facing the green must be either carried or avoided on the tee shot.  The course also boasts many fine old specimen trees like the area's private classics.

If the maintenance ever reaches the level of the other Boston Ross courses, it would compare favorably in my mind.

[Dan_Callahan]

If the maintenance ever reaches the level of the other Boston Ross courses, it would compare favorably in my mind.

I don't know about that. The last time I played Ponkapoag, the course condition was an embarassment. That was about a year ago. Have things improved?

[Dan Moore]

Brad,

Thanks for the in depth update.  

[Brad Tufts]

Dan C.-

We were discussing George Wright above, but I can speak of Ponkapoag as well.  I played the CYO there a few years back, a fun tourney, but it kind of served as the Mass. Amateur consolation tourney for the 18-26 yr-old crowd.  I guess the Ross 18 is split between the two courses there, and I've never played the #2 course.  

The conditions at Ponky are definately deporable, some of the worst I've ever seen at a golf course.  I have never seen a course with what could only be deemed as "potholes" in the fairway where water has washed away the underlying soil.  Another famed Ponky maintenance practice is leaving the grass cuttings in the rough where they were cut, causing a dead grass layer that suffocates the rough underneath, and causes lost balls just off the fairway.  I also once witnessed a grounds guy get his ride-on bunker rake stuck in a bunker, and bounce on the thing and push it for about 10 minutes before getting it out, making a three foot deep hole and destorying the bunker face in the process.

I would like to say that there are some good holes hiding on that course, but it just isn't true.  When the rumors flew that the USGA had offered the MDC the "Bethpage package" for a US Open, the management apparently balked at closing the two courses for the 18-36 months required to renovate.  It would have been interesting to see what they would have done, as I don't think there even is a good combined 18 to work with.  Secondly, how would they have spun the project into a Ross tribute when it would had to have been a total redo?  At best, this could be a good public course, but it isn't near the level of Franklin Park and George Wright.

[Michael Moore]

Count me among the believers. A fixed up and pruned George Wright would compare VERY favorably to the Ross heavyweights around town. This is not misguided populism or just sticking up for the little golf course that could - there are some eye-popping holes there, and to follow up Brad, 5,6,7 is a very fine sequence of par fours.

The clubhouse/Norman castle is outrageous. It seems to be mostly empty.  Coming upon it for the first time is one of my fondest golf memories.

Speaking of misguided, I now have an intense and somewhat morbid curiousity to play Ponkapoag - all of it !

[Dan_Callahan]

Brad,

I know. Just giving you a hard time about "the other Ross courses" in the Boston area.

I don't know if you could even call Ponky a golf course at this point. It is a very unattractive combination of dirt, mud and weeds. Fortunately, the play there is shockingly slow, so during a six hour round you have plenty of time to notice how bad the maintenance practices are.

[Brad Tufts]

Yeah, I gotcha...I was thinking more of Charles River, Brae Burn, Essex, Winchester, Woodland and the like....George Wright could fight with those if conditions ever approached their level...but Ponky will never get to that point.  At best it could be a Sandy Burr, Newton Commonwealth, Merrimack Valley.

During those CYO tournaments (by the way, who has a tournament with an age limit of 26?, also irrespective of amateur status...the catholic church does?!) we played lift clean and place within one club length.  Also, we were allowed to lift, rake and place in the bunkers, and were told that if our ball went into a rough/weeds/soggy area and the group agreed it was in there and not retrieveable, we could drop with no penalty.  If you can't play the course within the rules of golf, then maybe you are right and it isn't a course at all.

[Keith Durrant]

Good to see some George Wright fans - there is something epic and romantic about that course.

This is a great run of holes: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Two more strong par 3s on the back 9: 14 and 17.

I always thought that if one put in a couple of drainage ponds on 1 and 2, that these holes would be improved.

And play 18 to the putting green instead of the existing one with a slight re-routed stream closer to greenside. It strikes me as a bit of a weak finisher, in today's day and age.

[Willie_Dow]

Acushnet River course outside of New Bedford is a very good and not too expensive a round to play.  There are many memorable Silva golf holes there.