Wondering About Black Hall Club (RTJ, 1967) in Old Lyme, CT

[Tim Gavrich]

I'm playing in the US Am qualifier there on August 4, and I wonder what the treehouse has to say about it, if anyone's particularly familiar with it.  Pickings were fairly slim when I searched it recently.

Thanks, and cheers.

--Tim Gavrich

[mark chalfant]

bump

Tim be patient, sometimes theres a RTJ Sr boycott  on gca.com !


how did things go at  Hartford last week  ?

[Tim Gavrich]

Chuffed to see a reply!  Things went pretty well last week.  The young lady I caddied for played a spirited second round of stroke play to qualify for match play, but was eliminated in a soggy, delay-stricken first match play day.

I played my practice round at Black Hall yesterday.  Other than hundreds too many trees, garish runway tee boxes, too many five-wood-off-the-tee holes, uninspiring bunkers, and a couple downright-yucky holes, it wasn't too bad  .

In all seriousness, there's potential there.  I did really like the greens; lots of contours and potentially interesting hole locations.  I also liked the par 3s.  But it's so choked with trees, and there are so many needlessly blind tee shots (because of the nature of the tee boxes; it's not even the terrain, which would be fine and acceptable) that it was tedious at times.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tim,
Have a look at BHC at MSmaps live, or some such site. Focus on the holes on the lower(south end) half of the course.

Be sure to go there for a practice round.

Good luck.

[mark chalfant]

Tim

Other than #7  what are some of your favorite holes at HGC. Do you feel the three nines there are of equal quality, or does one color stand out.

thanks

[John Shimp]

I've played black hall a lot but its been over 15 years ago.  It was always very wet when i played there making it play longer than the yardage.  Also tends to be a good amt of wind due
to prox to the ocean.  I think its a great rolling piece of property with a nice new england feel with the exposed rocks etc.  Always been known as a tough course with quick greens and precise tee shots needed.  Good luck

[Donnie Beck]

Can you say DOG LEG !  You are going to hit a lot of irons off the tees. You can't hit driver on the majority of the holes. It is usually in very good condition. Superintendent Phil Neaton is a great guy.

[Phil Benedict]

Back in the '70's Black Hall was public and open year-round.  My father and his buds would drive at least an hour to play there on Saturdays in the winter.  Their preferred libation to try to keep warm was ginger brandy.  How foul does that sound?  We lived in central Connecticut which in those days had snow cover from December to March (at least that's the way I remember it), but the snow would melt at Black Hall because of its coastal location. 

I know this post doesn't help with the architecture.