Welcome to Connecticut
Despite boasting a bevy of terrific private clubs, Connecticut remained something of a upscale daily-fee wasteland throughout the 20th Century. Today, the Nutmeg State has seriously upgraded its public golfing stock. The past five years have seen a flurry of course construction resulting in a half dozen excellent new venues to complement the limited old guard. What's more, 2004 will witness a some more hotly anticipated additions, including an honest-to-goodness resort facility, the state's first.
The best of Connecticut's new breed is Fox Hopyard Golf Club, a Roger Rulewich design in East Haddam, about 15 miles inland from Old Saybrook. This semi-private club opened in 2001 and the thrilling routing here - it skirts and hopscotches wetlands when it's not plunging down from vertiginous rock outcroppings - soon won a large and loyal following. So did Great River Golf Club, which also debuted in 2001 and placed highly in the various national top-new-course contests that year. The course boasts a stunning front nine that plays along the Wepawaug River in Milford, between Bridgeport and New Haven.
The other commendable new addition to Connecticut's golf scene is Wintonbury
Hills Golf Course in the Hartford suburb of Bloomfield. It opened last
year and the design, courtesy of Pete Dye and protégé Tim Liddy, is what
you might expect: inventive, thought-provoking and loads of fun.
Before these newbies came along, the best public tracks in Connecticut were also municipals. Richter Park Golf Course in Danbury has long been considered one of the top munis in the country and some stubborn Nutmeggers insist it remains the best course in the state. Their reasoning is defensible: Richter is always beautifully kept; it's a supreme test from the 6,744-yard tips (134 slope); and there isn't a prettier course anywhere, as water comes into play on 16 of the 18 holes and small foothills frame the property on every side. Be advised that during weekdays, the first two hours of play at Richter are traditionally reserved for town residents.
Connecticut's other old-guard municipal star is Shennecossett Golf Course in Groton, home of Electric Boat, the submarine maker, and neighbor to Mystic, home to the famously quaint seaport. Shenny was designed by Donald Ross in 1915. In the late 1990s, the layout's corporate neighbor, Pfizer (apparently plump with cash from Viagara sales), approached the course about expanding its office complex. The company proposed a land swap and the town of Groton accepted, forfeiting three existing holes but acquiring three holes' worth of former Pfizer property right on the Thames River. Architect Mark Mungeam was brought in to design three new holes and renovate the other 15.
This southeast corner of the state is probably the richest public golf area in Connecticut, and it only stands to get better, as the Foxwoods resort is scheduled to unveil the 36-hole Lake of Isles resort this summer. One of the 18s will be private, but the other will accommodate casino guests and daily-fee play. Both were designed by Rees Jones, so expect a top-shelf experience. In the meantime, Fox Hopyard and Shennecossett are complemented by yet another little-known Ross design, Norwich Golf Club, a fine old course that makes up for it's lack of length (just 6,200 yards from the tips) with charm and devlishly small greens.
Closer to Hartford, the pickings are slimmer than you might expect for a city this size. Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield is a solid 36-hole facility with an older Robert Trent Jones design (the preferred track) and a newer one from Gary Player. East of the city, Willimantic Country Club is a lovely old layout that serves as home course to the UConn Huskies, based in nearby Storrs. In the immediate Hartford suburbs, the eponymous Simsbury Farms Golf Course is definitely worth a visit, while Manchester Country Club in particular is an old world delight, with several holes perched above the Globe Hollow Reservoir.
These established courses all take a backseat to Wintonbury, and they stand to drop another place in the pecking order when another Bloomfield project, the Arnold Palmer-designed Gillette Ridge, opens in the summer of 2004. But between Manchester and the Massachusetts border, there's precious little to pique the interest of traveling golfers. Best to make your plans for Hartford and points south. Feature Stories
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