Brian Silva's latest creation is Red Tail Golf Club in Devens, Mass, about 20 minutes north of Worcester. The 18-hole daily fee layout is located on land that was once part of Ft. Devens. The entire military area was not closed and training exercises still take place within earshot of some of the holes.
Although an 18-hole Phil Wogan design once resided inside the fort, Silva's layout is not near the previous course.
As we've come to expect with Silva designs, Red Tail is full of wonderful uses of angles off the tee and on the approach shot. If a tee ball calls for a fade, the second shot may set up for a draw, and vice versa. He also challenges players with bunker placements that offer a reward for a well executed carry shot and heavy penalties for balls that land in the sand.
The course is, and will be maintained, firm allowing for the ground game. I played in a group of 11 on Saturday, including Silva and associate Brian Johnson, and even though the area had received some rain during the week, the ground remained firm. Ability of players went from low single digits to high handicappers. Course played well for all skill levels.
Again as we've seen before on Silva layouts (Cape Cod National, Black Creek), he creates some intriguing closely mown areas around the greens that allow for a variety of shots. There were long putts, running iron approaches, bump-and-runs as well as arching sand wedges.
Red Tail has three-shot par 5s and others that are reachable in two, a good array of distances on the par 3s, and a variety of par 4s, including the 6th (264-365 yards) that may be reachable.
About halfway into our round a wild wind with plenty of sudden gusts kicked up adding to the drama.
While there are no wetlands to deal with, Silva did have one design constraint. Because the area around some of the former buildings are loaded with pesticides that accumulated over the years, the foundations could not be removed and instead had to be covered over. At no point is it obvious you are standing on top of a foundation, the middle of a street or on somebody's front yard.
Photos courtesy of Kyle Zimmerman.
First shot is of No. 3, a reverse Redan style hole that plays 185 from the back, 125 from the front. Silva created a bailout area to the left that allows for the up-and-down. What I like about the hole is that even though it tilts away from the line of flight, the angle is not so severe as to dissuade the golfer from trying to fly the ball onto the middle of the green and let it feed to the back cupping areas.
Second photo is of No. 14 that plays 440 from the back and 316 from the front. Left bunker is in play. Waste area is on the left. Although second shot is uphill, Silva set his green site into a natural hollow creating a wonderful punchbowl. Par 3, 15th tee can be seen above the green.
Third photo is of the 17th that goes from 305 to 406 yards. It is obviously a risk-reward tee ball over a large waste area. (the 14th fairway is visible in the distance). Fairway drops off slightly as it nears the green complex and the putting surface sits at grade, enticing the run-up second shot. One playing partner, Keith Angilly, smoked a drive from the 385 teeing area that rode a left-to-right wind and he had less than 100 yards into the hole.
What is not visible in the photo is abandoned grass-covered ammunition bunkers off to the right. Because the Army was afraid of sparks if the grass was mowed by machine, goats were brought in to maintain the bunkers. Goats are gone as well.
Any questions, Apioppi@earthlink.net.