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3.9
79 Reviews (79)
5 Stars
17
4 Stars
34
3 Stars
22
2 Stars
5
1 Stars
1
Conditions
3.6
Value
4.2
Layout
4.0
Friendliness
4.4
Pace
4.2
Amenities
3.1
86.3%
Recommend this course
69 out of 79 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.5
2 Reviews (2)
5 Stars
1
4 Stars
1
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Conditions
4.5
Value
5.0
Layout
4.5
Pace
4.5
Amenities
4.5
StaffFriendliness
4.5
100.0%
Recommend this course
2 out of 2 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.0
22 Reviews (22)
5 Stars
6
4 Stars
9
3 Stars
7
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Conditions
3.7
Value
4.1
Layout
4.1
Pace
4.1
Amenities
3.2
StaffFriendliness
4.5
86.4%
Recommend this course
19 out of 22 reviews
Read Reviews

About

Holes 9
Type Public
Par 70
Length 5983 yards
Slope 121
Rating 68.0
Book a Tee Time at
Chanticlair Golf Course
Powered by GolfNow.com

Course Details

Year Built 1972
Greens Bent Grass
Architect Hymie Stoloman

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range No
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Credit Cards Accepted VISA, MasterCard Accepted
Metal Spikes Allowed No

Food & Beverage

Snacks

Reviews

3.9
79 Reviews (79)

Reviewer Photos

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Ddogs

9 hole course, was wet, but nice course overall. The holes aren't marked, which would be nice if they could do that.
Good value with the discount.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played

Love it there

I love playing there it's close to my home I live in Columbia

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 2
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Only nine holes

For the price I would not play 18 here 20 for nine plus a cart is ok
Layout is roughy and navigation through course was not so obvious

Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Fair
Friendliness Average
Pace Average
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 43
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

The course needs some TLC. The tee boxes on several holes were in terrible condition mostly dirt. The rough could be mowed to allow you to find your ball easier. The course has character but needs more care.

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Played On
Reviews 7
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart
Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Poor
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Beginner
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Nice, Well Maintained

Arrived early for our tee time and used the putting green a bit. Got out on time. The course was really busy so it was slow going but a fun little nine hole course I will return to.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Brought back memories

Played with my wife and best friend. We use to play there in a work league.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing

Very nice course, pleasantly surprised! 8.8/10

First time playing at Chanticlair yesterday, and can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by the experience as a whole. Other than a few (very) bald tee-boxes, the course is in very good condition!

On-course amenities: 8.5/10 — There are plenty of trash bins scattered around for easy and convenient trash disposal, as well as ball washing stations. The carts come equipped with divot-filler canisters, which I haven’t seen very often on CT courses.. but ours were empty. Wasn’t the end of the world, we had no trouble fixing our divots and ball-marks ourselves.

Off-course amenities: 8/10 — Unfortunately, there’s no restaurant or kitchen attached to the establishment itself, so no food; however, they offer canned beverages and one-serving size snacks. Perfect for taking a quick break and grabbing a beer between 9’s. I was told there is a restaurant close-by, which is highly recommended by the staff.

Speaking of Staff: 10/10 — Every single staff member I briefly spoke to was more than courteous about absolutely everything and anything. Checking into my tee-time was quick and easy. Most courses I’ve personally been to have very strict and uninviting staff, but this course was quite the opposite, to my pleasant surprise. My partner and I had accidentally parked our cart green-side, and instead of being scolded by staff for our mistake, we were very kindly asked to move the cart; no attitude, no eye-rolls. Even the greens-keepers would smile and wave at us when we were passing through a hole they were currently working on. THIS is the kind of staff you want running your course. They maintain the rules of the course, without being overbearingly strict.

Course layout: 9/10 — VERY fun and interesting holes. 4th hole is an island green, which was my partner and I’s personal favorite. The feeling of sticking an absolute dart within 10 ft of the pin, over water, is completely unmatched. The fairways are pretty wide and mostly straight, except maybe a couple doglegs.. so as long as you can hit the ball straight, I think you’ll enjoy this course a lot!

Worth the price? For me and my partner to play 18 holes (9 holes twice,) cart included, ran us about $100. Although I’m not sure why I was charged for 2 carts when me and my partner shared one. I’m guessing it’s the lack of specification within the GolfNow app; not by fault of the course / owners.

Overall I rate this course an 8.8/10. Can definitely see myself taking the 30 minute drive to play here more often. Highly recommend trying it out for yourselves at least once!

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 313
Handicap 0-4
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Top 25 Contributor
Connecticut Advisor
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Respectable Golf

Chanticlair is a popular nine-hole golf course located not far from Old Hartford Road and Main Street, Colchester. Its character can be described as open, parkland golf over the first five holes, after which, on the sixth through eighth, the fairways and greens head into woodland. The last five holes are quite hilly by contrast to the first four. Yet the most well-known hole here–the shortest–has been the one that has contributed most to Chanticlair’s memoratility: this is the par-3 fourth, with its island green sitting amid a large pond, a pond that consumes–every day the course is open–many a Srixon or Bridgestone or Titleist. After hitting your tee shot at the fourth, the suspense alone, over that five-second interval when your ball is flying toward the island, seems worth the price of admission. The fourth is simply great fun. Or will it lead to agony when your score for the day is inflated by one faulty tee shot?

But this layout has several good holes, and today, after not playing here since last fall, these struck me as the most interesting:

A 192-yard opening par-3, the first demands a longer iron or hybrid for most players. Its green, mostly encircled by mounding, makes pitching or chipping a bit trickier than normal.

Three is not all that hard, but I like the idea that you can smash a drive toward its wide fairway without too much concern for hitting a tree. Some short drive-and-pitch holes should give you this opportunity; golf doesn’t have to be all hard work!

Six, an excellent four-par playing downhill from the tee, is both interesting and aesthetically pleasing. The fairway bends leftward, favoring a draw, and big hitters must be wary of driving the ball too far into the marshy cross hazard. The approach plays into a sprawling green tilting front to back; it’s a difficult two-putt when your first attempt is more than thirty feet from the hole.

The seventh hole tests accuracy off the tee but also strategy. The hole plummets from the tee to a fairly tight, valley-like fairway, tree-lined on both sides. What of strategy? If you choose to hit a shorter tee shot, there’s more room on the right side–including in the rough–to launch a wedge or short iron into the green, as long as you’re not too close to the trees. From the left rough, though, you’ll generally be blocked by the treeline. A longer tee shot, by contrast, has to find a narrower overall landing zone. Risk and reward. The seventh is also a fine second-shot hole, because the front of the green is guarded closely by gaping bunkers right and left. The green itself, tilting severely from back to front, may give you putting headaches when above the hole or even on sidehill putts.

One flaw in the layout is the shortness of the par-5 ninth. The tee today from the whites was set at about 425 yards, which left us only about 150 yards from the green on our approaches. The eighth hole, in my opinion, is compromised somewhat by a very tight landing zone, the fairway seemingly no more than thirty yards wide, and contributing to the penal nature are big overhanging limbs on both sides of the fairway. Yes, you need a straight shot, but it has to be so straight that curving the ball (draw, fade) is not a good option unless the ground is soft.

Conditions:
Average overall. Greens were good and putted smoothly, greenside areas mostly good. Fairways were also good, but roughs uneven, with a few holes needing serious work in places (the most needy is eight, on its right side). A few tees were okay but many poor, and those that are need both regrading and essentially much more grass.

Some Conclusions:
I’ve been playing Chanticlair off and on since the late nineties, and it has been, always, a respectable nine holes. I enjoyed the round today on a hot but clear morning. Pace was about average, but service was excellent here, both at check-in and after the round.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 8
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great local course

Fairways are in good shape. Tees are in ok to good shape although a few are in need of some reseeding. Course layout is challenging but play the course a few times and you can play it well. I personally like the course as you can drive a few holes, short game gets a lot of use and putting is challenging when they move the pin placement.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 13
Skill Beginner
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 77
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Top 500 Contributor
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Chanticlair Trail Run

The course and the greens were very nice. A few of the tee boxes could use some turf but in general the course was very well maintained and the layout is very nice for a nine hole course. Will definitely be back to conquer the island green.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 8
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
Previously Played

Call Before Making Reservations

I booked a teetime online and when I arrived, I was informed that there is a women’s league playing and I will be behind their last group, apparently there are leagues that play multiple times a week. When I say the pace was slow, I mean so slow that you’re waiting 20 minutes on each hole. I ended up leaving after the fifth hole when a group of elderly women were struggling to hit the ball further than 10 yards. None of the women had any respect for the groups behind them. A ranger is desperately needed. So a word of advice, call ahead of time and make sure there are no leagues the day that you’re playing. The guy in the pro shop was very friendly, and the course is located in a beautiful part of the state, but unfortunately, the cons outweigh the pros. Won’t be returning.

Conditions Average
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Fair
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