Boston Area Visit

[Lyndell Young]

I'll be in Boston Sept 19th till 29th and would like to meet up with any GCA'ers to play. Looks like Boston has some great courses.I would enjoy meeting some local experts. Please PM me I'm in the planning stages so I'm flexible. Cheers Lyndell

[Tyler Kearns]

Lyndell,

Have only played 4 courses in the Boston area, all of which were very good;

Essex
Old Sandwich
Plymouth
George Wright Municipal

TK

[Lyndell Young]

Whitinsville has been suggested. supposed to be top nine holer in US.

[Chris DeToro]

Tons of great golf to explore in and around Boston--highly recommend Whitinsville though

[Lyndell Young]

If I can get in three- four rounds should play Classics or New designs or a mix.Thanks

[Mark McKeever]

George Wright is a blast!

Mark

[Brad Tufts]

Hi Lyndell,

I live on the North Shore...would love to take you out, but I am out for two weeklong work trips upcoming when you will be in town.

If your pro is willing to call in some favors with privates, there are many great options....TCC, Charles River, Winchester, Brae Burn, Essex, Myopia, Concord, etc. at varying levels of friendliness to out-of-towners on weekdays.

On the public side, there are both modern and classic public options within 1-1.5h of Boston itself.

Modern...Pinehills Nicklaus and Rees Jones (2 courses), Waverly Oaks (Silva)...The International (Fazio) is accessible some days...Butter Brook...Granite Links (Sanford) is ok but has great views of Boston.

Classic....George Wright and Franklin Park (GW is Ross, FP is a Ross-redesign and second oldest public course in the US) are both close to town and make for a really fun 36 holes...they are about 15mins apart.  Wachusett out near Worcester is Ross and pretty fun.  Whitinsville is a treat but maybe an hour from Boston.  Beverly Golf & Tennis and Gannon Muni are solid Stiles courses on the North Shore.

There are probably a few more threads with more advice if you use the search function at top right.

-Brad

[Howard Riefs]

In conjunction with last week's Deutsche Bank tournament, Matt Ginella on GC "Morning Drive" ranked his top 5 public courses in the Boston area:

5. Wiilliam J DeVine GC
4. George Wright GC
3. Granite Links GC
2. Red Tail GC
1. The International (Oaks)

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/morning-drive-top-courses-boston/

[Brad Tufts]

Hmm...not such a bad list....but "around Boston" needs to be defined.

If we say about 50 miles....mine would be:

1.  George Wright
2.  Redtail
3.  International (Oaks)
4.  Waverly Oaks
5.  Pinehills Nicklaus
6.  Wachusett
7.  Pinehills Jones
8.  Franklin Park (WJDevine is another name for FP)
9.  Butter Brook
10 generously.  Granite Links

[Mark Steffey]

if we go 50 miles from boston you are bringing providence in with 10 miles to spare!!!   
i'd vault triggs up into the 10 public list and wannamoisett into the top 3 private.

[Brad Tufts]

Yeah I was staying in Mass....but if you include the International as "Boston-area" then we might as well throw in Providence too!

Triggs would be #4 on my list above.

[Lyndell Young]

I'm staying near so Dedham so southside is best, thanks guys for suggestions.

[Dan_Callahan]

While rankings are always subjective and open to debate, a list of public courses in the Boston area that has Granite Links in the top 3 is laughable.

[Pete Blaisdell]

   So many women, so little time.

   There are so many great tracks to play in the Boston area it boggles the mind.

   I highly recommend Winchester . It's always been the most underrated course in New England and I always tell out of towners to find the time to play it.

   The head professional is a great friend and one of my former players on the New England Pro Golf Tour (2001-7). If you need an intro, contact me at cypress1516@aol.com.

[J_ Crisham]

Charles River is very under rated IMO - some of Ross's best work. I second Winchester as well as Brae Burn. Fun golf .

[Rich Goodale]

   So many women, so little time.

   There are so many great tracks to play in the Boston area it boggles the mind.

   I highly recommend Winchester . It's always been the most underrated course in New England and I always tell out of towners to find the time to play it.

   The head professional is a great friend and one of my former players on the New England Pro Golf Tour (2001-7). If you need an intro, contact me at cypress1516@aol.com.

Thanks for those comments, Pete.  My parents met at Winchester CC and had their wedding reception there in 1940.  My paternal grandfather was club champion in 1913.  I last played the course in 2001, shortly after playing Merion, and I thought it was the better course of the two.  A friend and member of Charles River who knew both courses well agreed with me.

Rich

[Lyndell Young]

Thanks Guys Winchester pictures look awesome !

[ChipRoyce]

Very impressed with this thread. In prior years this would have been criticized for access trolling. Now folks seem willing to help a guy out beyond giving suggestions for public courses.

[Jay Flemma]

Hi Lyndell,

I live on the North Shore...would love to take you out, but I am out for two weeklong work trips upcoming when you will be in town.

If your pro is willing to call in some favors with privates, there are many great options....TCC, Charles River, Winchester, Brae Burn, Essex, Myopia, Concord, etc. at varying levels of friendliness to out-of-towners on weekdays.

On the public side, there are both modern and classic public options within 1-1.5h of Boston itself.

Modern...Pinehills Nicklaus and Rees Jones (2 courses), Waverly Oaks (Silva)...The International (Fazio) is accessible some days...Butter Brook...Granite Links (Sanford) is ok but has great views of Boston.

Classic....George Wright and Franklin Park (GW is Ross, FP is a Ross-redesign and second oldest public course in the US) are both close to town and make for a really fun 36 holes...they are about 15mins apart.  Wachusett out near Worcester is Ross and pretty fun.  Whitinsville is a treat but maybe an hour from Boston.  Beverly Golf & Tennis and Gannon Muni are solid Stiles courses on the North Shore.

There are probably a few more threads with more advice if you use the search function at top right.

-Brad

You left out the  best public:  Red Tail, and you also forgot another phenomenal private:  Black Rock, both by Silva.  I'll be playing both this coming weekend and will report back...

***UPDATE*** Brad, now I see you list Red Tail further down.

[Ronald Montesano]

I was underwhelmed by the Nicklaus course at Pinehills. Thought it was flat and not very inspired. The Rees course has better land and is more dynamic as a result, but I wouldn't play it over the classics, if you can get on them. Both are cart-ball courses.

I loved Whitinsville and highly recommend it (don't remember how far it is from Boston.)

Charles River has always looked great in photos.

Putterham Meadows (in Brookline) is a fun public track that abuts The Country Club.

[Dan_Callahan]

Caveat: Don't play Putterham if it's rained in Boston at any point in the last two years. With even a trace of precipitation, much of the course ends up underwater. There's a reason why The Country Club gave the city that chunk of land for a muni.

[Amol Yajnik]

You left out the  best public:  Red Tail, and you also forgot another phenomenal private:  Black Rock, both by Silva.  I'll be playing both this coming weekend and will report back...

***UPDATE*** Brad, now I see you list Red Tail further down.

I'll be very interested to see what you think about the conditioning at Red Tail after you play there.  It's probably my favorite layout among the publics within an hour of Boston, but IMO the conditioning has gone downhill in the past 2-3 years.  I haven't been out there this year though except for a round really early in the season where it was in pretty rough shape after the harsh winter.

I play Putterham (aka Brookline Muni) on occasion because it's less than 10 minutes from where I live, but if you have a chance to get to George Wright, go there and don't even consider Putterham.

Lyndell, since you're staying near Dedham, if you have access to any private courses, might want to check into Dedham Country and Polo Club as well.

[Brad Tufts]

Red Tail is not really near Boston, as it is at least an hour and 15 minutes away.  I liked it but have only played once, a couple years after it opened.  

Black Rock was omitted because it's private and all the private courses I mentioned are priorities anyways....I like Black Rock, but it is below about 8-10 classics closer to town.

I have played Putterham (now Brookline GC), and it has like 4 good holes...the rest blah.