I had never heard of Meadow Creek Golf Course until a week ago. It is a new course that opened all 18 for play a few weeks ago. The project has an interesting history. According to the Boston Globe, the developer originally planned to turn 300 acres into a combination golf course and housing development. Work began in 1999 with an initial investment of almost $3 million. However, the developer had difficulty obtaining permits from the town and, as a result, couldn't find a bank to lend him the money to keep things moving. He turned to an investment company that charged him 21 percent interest on a $6.7 million loan, compounded monthly. Over the next 59 months, he failed to make his payments and the property went into foreclosure.
At one time, it looked like the project was going to be a huge success. The developer had planned for 180 homes priced from $500,000 to $1.3 million. Sixty homes were sold, and another 46 lots reserved. However, in losing the property to the lender, the developer is out an estimated $4 million of his personal investment.
The course itself is better than I expected. It is very affordable ($20 for 9 holes). We only played the front 9, which was an easy walk with some distance from green to tee late in the round. We were told that the back 9 is a very difficult walk.
I forgot my camera but took a few bad photos with my iphone. For what it's worth:
This is looking at the first green from the left. The course opens with a dogleg right that requires a shot down the left to have an open look at the green. It's a pretty decent, easy way to start. Note: the parking lot is to the right of the fairway. Park well clear of the hole—cars in the first few rows are sitting ducks.
The second hole is a long par 4 at 496 yards. However, the second shot plays downhill. The drive is tight but reasonable, and there is lots of room short of the green to miss. Long is dead.
The third is a good hole that plays uphill to a fairway that is bisected by a creek. Short of this tree is a cluster of bunkers. The best play is go left of the tree for a good angle on your second, however left also brings into play the hazard. There are loads of options here. The hole is short at only 367 yards. You could tee off with an iron and play short of the creek and tree and leave a 7- or 8-iron. You can hit driver to the right and have a wedge but a bad angle. Or, I think you might be able to fly the creek with a driver if you hugged the left side. That would lead to a very short second from a great angle, but brings all sorts of trouble into play. I'd like to hit a few balls here to see how each option plays out.
The fourth is a neat little par 3 at only 140 yards. The green is huge and slopes hard from left to right. A back right hole location would be very cool. I didn't get a picture of the hole but couldn't leave without a shot of this bunker behind the green. What is the rationale for building a bunker around a tree? It doesn't really bother me, but I'm not sure I understand why the architect would do this.
I didn't get a picture of the 5th hole, because it was my least favorite on the front. It is a par 5 that is flat for the first 250 yards and then plays downhill parallel to the second hole. It is at least a 2-club elevation change. What I dislike is that there is an odd hazard (kind of a small kettle pond) on the edge of the fairway about 270 yards from the tee and totally blind until you are about 50 yards away from it. We didn't hit any shots into it, but that was pure luck.
The 6th hole is a cool dogleg left. There is a significant forced carry on the tee shot, which I'll bet devours the balls of the mid to high handicap. It's got to be at least 200 yards to carry. However, for the better player, there are many options because the hole is only 370 yards. What club to choose and what line to take provide some real interest.
The 7th was my favorite hole on the front nine and reminded me of a Strantz hole (without the massive bunkers). From the tee, you look at a steep hill in front of you into which is cut a sliver of fairway. The yardage card shows a 400 yard hole, and you are suddenly thinking double bogey before you hit a shot. When you get to the top of the hill, however, you see a massive fairway with lots of room to miss. A definite psych out. The green is also interesting, with a pond that encroaches on the left, followed by some large greenside bunkers. To the right, the fairway flows into the green, setting up for a nice low draw.
The routing gets a little odd at this point. We actually took a good 5 minutes looking for the 8th tee. We finally found it across the road and were happy to discover another interesting hole. At 392 yards, the 8th plays downhill with a hazard on the left and these fairway bunkers on the right. The bunkers are bairly visible from the tee. Again, there is a decent amount of room to play to, and because the bunkers are only about 150 yards from the green, you need to make a decision whether to hit iron short of them or take driver and take them out of play. The green wraps to the right (hidden in shadows) and hole cut on the far right would be hidden from a safe right tee shot. This is another hole where, depending on setup, angles could be very important.
The 9th was probably my second favorite hole. A 180-yard par 3, the green is slightly higher than the tee box. This picture is taken from behind the green. Huge bunkers guard the front left and right, and some tight chipping areas act as runoffs to the back left and right. A mound extends down from the middle back, effectively splitting the green into two halves. Putting from the wrong side of that mound is difficult.
I am eager to get back and play the back 9, although it's disappointing to hear that it might require a cart because of green to tee distances. Although the development is set up to accomodate many, many houses, at no time were the houses ever in play. The course is short, playing only 6,500 from the tips, but I loved the options that were created by the strategic location of doglegs, bunkers and green orientation. The front 9 could very easily be played without hitting driver, but for someone who hits driver well, the added distance could be a significant advantage.
Without seeing the back 9, I'm not sure where I would put this course in relation to other layouts in the area. From what I saw, it is significantly better than places like Far Corner, Scottish Highlands, and the like. It obviously can't compete with a place like Red Tail, and it doesn't try to. It probably isn't quite as good as Butter Brook, especially given the unique open look that appear on Butter Brook's back 9. I think the closest comparison—with the combination of interesting golf and growing housing development—would be to Highfields Golf Club in Grafton. Meadow Creek is shorter and tighter than Highfields, but it has a similar feel to it. It will be interesting to return in the next month or so to see what the back 9 is like.