OT: Connecticut golf courses

[RMoore1999]

I am not sure Hampden is open this year as they are changing the opening hole and a few others………Hampden MA we're talking about right RMoore? Straight down hill, drivable but whacky #1?

That’s it. Perhaps “quirky” doesn’t fairly describe it, but “awful” surely does --- SEVERE downhill, semi-blind, trouble everywhere…6-iron - wedge to start a round just svcks bad in my book…actually played it the day of my first wedding…so apropos….

From those pics, Hampden (like me with mine) looks to have won the lottery with the re-do...

 

[mauconnfan]

That’s it. Perhaps “quirky” doesn’t fairly describe it, but “awful” surely does --- SEVERE downhill, semi-blind, trouble everywhere…6-iron - wedge to start a round just svcks bad in my book…actually played it the day of my first wedding…so apropos….

Hopefully the re-do works as well for Hampden as it did for me...

So the first hole, like your first wedding, was downhill from there? LOL……..sorry glad to hear it's greener the 2nd time around.

Wow JLocks' pics are of a entirely different course in Hampden………they are looking upscale a bit it would seem? Huge clubhouse would seem to be an understatement. Too bad Hampden is not only in the middle of nowhere but also has the absolute worst police in WesMass in accordance to it being okay to have a couple during and/or after your round.

 

[RMoore1999]

So the first hole, like your first wedding, was downhill from there? LOL……..sorry glad to hear it's greener the 2nd time around.

Wow JLocks' pics are of a entirely different course in Hampden………they are looking upscale a bit it would seem? Huge clubhouse would seem to be an understatement. Too bad Hampden is not only in the middle of nowhere but also has the absolute worst police in WesMass in accordance to it being okay to have a couple during and/or after your round.

Oh yea, MUCH greener....think Hoylake to Augusta...

Wouldn't be surprised if they're repositioning it to go private or at least to compete with Ranch (whose greens are currently in pretty bad shape, FWIW).

 

[gorbowski06]

Just went to River Ridge in Griswold yesterday i would definitely recommend this course, although i would most certainly ride a cart because there are numerous hills. Especially the 18th hole which is straight up hill.

 

[mauconnfan]

Oh yea, MUCH greener....think Hoylake to Augusta...

Wouldn't be surprised if they're repositioning it to go private or at least to compete with Ranch (whose greens are currently in pretty bad shape, FWIW).

The Ranch has had a tough year, hasn't been in great shape pretty much all year………but I would agree that would seem to me the marketing plan…….Cold Springs also tried that and are falling short only because the lay out is so whacked from what I hear, haven't ventured there yet and not in any hurry.

 

[mauconnfan]

Just went to River Ridge in Griswold yesterday i would definitely recommend this course, although i would most certainly ride a cart because there are numerous hills. Especially the 18th hole which is straight up hill.

Always have been a fan of that course and layout. Fun and not easy, need to hit it pretty straight and when it's in good shape it's a good golf venue!

 

[UMass]

Oh yea, MUCH greener....think Hoylake to Augusta...

Wouldn't be surprised if they're repositioning it to go private or at least to compete with Ranch (whose greens are currently in pretty bad shape, FWIW).

Multi-gazzilionaire bought Hampden 3 years ago and still hasn't opened it yet. Bought the course so his son (an asst. pro in Florida) could come back up and have a course to run. Some estimates of what he put into the course so far are in the 8-10 million dollar range, and that is just the course itself, not the buildings. The maintenance barn looks better than most clubhouses. Rumor is he is being considered for a dot com tour event in 2017 or 2018.
But to the point of where Hampden is located, I don't think the area will support monster membership fees. They might steal a few from Longmeadow, Twin Hills, and Ellington Ridge. But the owner truly doesn't have to make a lot of money there. He might surprise everyone and make it within reason.

 

[mauconnfan]

Multi-gazzilionaire bought Hampden 3 years ago and still hasn't opened it yet. Bought the course so his son (an asst. pro in Florida) could come back up and have a course to run. Some estimates of what he put into the course so far are in the 8-10 million dollar range, and that is just the course itself, not the buildings. The maintenance barn looks better than most clubhouses. Rumor is he is being considered for a dot com tour event in 2017 or 2018.
But to the point of where Hampden is located, I don't think the area will support monster membership fees. They might steal a few from Longmeadow, Twin Hills, and Ellington Ridge. But the owner truly doesn't have to make a lot of money there. He might surprise everyone and make it within reason.

Yeah one of my sales guys calls on him and talked about it…….the hauling and recycling world was good to him and going from a driving range to this course should be pretty interesting. Up there in that part of the world he will steal more form Elmcrest, LM, THills and Ellington/Somers I believe but he should run it like The Ranch with modest enough fees for members to fill it in somewhat while leaving plenty of time for golfers from all over to play the course. Should be interesting, anyone know the expectations of opening?

 

[UMass]

Yeah one of my sales guys calls on him and talked about it…….the hauling and recycling world was good to him and going from a driving range to this course should be pretty interesting. Up there in that part of the world he will steal more form Elmcrest, LM, THills and Ellington/Somers I believe but he should run it like The Ranch with modest enough fees for members to fill it in somewhat while leaving plenty of time for golfers from all over to play the course. Should be interesting, anyone know the expectations of opening?

He is a long time member of Elmcrest and actually made them a very generous offer before the Hampden situation became available. He's a very down to earth guy not to mention a very smart one. I don't think he will price himself out of business.
There really hasn't been any talk about a definite open date. He ran into some issues with both the EPA and the Town of Hampden so he has had to work around some cease and desist orders, but I think all of that may be behind him now. Just driving by and looking, it doesn't appear there is that much left to do.

 

[JLock819]

There's some talk of it being associated with the pending casino in Springfield...we'll see. Hopefully it'll be open for outside play, I enjoyed it even before the re-do.

 

[UMass]

To anyone who has played Elmcrest and liked it, they are going semi-private next year. The membership will drop to the $1,700-$2,000 range. They actually have a deal going now where you can pay $2,600.00 and play the rest of this year and all next year. Membership includes unlimited golf, weekend mornings blocked for members, swimming pool, driving range, 2 practice facilities.
Work is being done to spruce up the 19th hole and the course is in excellent shape.

 

[Jerry1714]

Have an outing at Butternut Farm in Stow, MA on Friday, has anyone played it?

 

[Hysteria]

Multi-gazzilionaire bought Hampden 3 years ago and still hasn't opened it yet. Bought the course so his son (an asst. pro in Florida) could come back up and have a course to run. Some estimates of what he put into the course so far are in the 8-10 million dollar range, and that is just the course itself, not the buildings. The maintenance barn looks better than most clubhouses. Rumor is he is being considered for a dot com tour event in 2017 or 2018.
But to the point of where Hampden is located, I don't think the area will support monster membership fees. They might steal a few from Longmeadow, Twin Hills, and Ellington Ridge. But the owner truly doesn't have to make a lot of money there. He might surprise everyone and make it within reason.

I don't see how that area supports a (or another) mega buck high end country club ?
everyone already belongs to Longmeadow or the Ranch...personally I think the place is screwed

 

[mauconnfan]

Have an outing at Butternut Farm in Stow, MA on Friday, has anyone played it?

I was going to say someone mentioned Butternut in a post recently but it was you……..guess you can't help yourself then huh?

 

[Jerry1714]

I was going to say someone mentioned Butternut in a post recently but it was you……..guess you can't help yourself then huh?

That was Butterbrooke.

Wondering about Butternut Farm

They are two different golf courses, hence the question

 

[mauconnfan]

That was Butterbrooke.

Wondering about Butternut Farm

They are two different golf courses, hence the question

Oops sorry………it was 1:43 am as you see and I just pulled in from a Yankee game and a 2 1/2 hour drive - no drinking yet didn't see the name difference somehow - tired!

HENCE the error!

 

[huskiesouth]

Played Yale GC a couple of weeks ago - good to great shape, greens of course are all larger than half a soccer field, trouble everywhere, wonderful historic coure, other than Stanwich CC probably the most difficult course in the state.

I caddied there for ten years as a kid (it was quite a while ago I think Wilson was president) so it was a day full of memories and very heavy-duty mountain climbing - great course for all masochists.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hampden is still closed. I know one of sons of the family who bought the course and they pretty much completely gutted the course. Routing is the same but that's about it. Bunkers have the rough edges and high lips you see on a course like Bethpage. New clubhouse is enormous. I think at this point the only holes left to finish are 1, 9, and 18. Here's a pic of the clubhouse and 17.

I was visiting a customer close to Hampden and this pic's made me drift over to see what was cooking…….the "other side" of the street looks very nice and has a high end course look to it now. The traps are strategically placed in fairways and shaped nicely and the hole with the rock walls on the water looks real sweet. What are they doing on the side of the clubhouse that's not as obvious?

 

[JLock819]

I believe the tee shot on 18 has been changed, I think the tee is over by 17 green now, but I'm not 100% sure. They cleared a huge area for the range/practice area. I'll post a couple more pics from my phone...

 

[JLock819]

#6, #14 and #16 (pic from late last year)

 

[ScottBonz]

Played 9 at Rockledge in WeHa last night. Track is in really good shape. Not a lot of traffic out on the course after 530 although I had a group in front me of 3 kids playing with one bag. Called the club house twice but just not a huge priority at 630PM at night unfortunately. The course is pretty straight forward and some of the holes seem easy but they do a good job of making the approach shots difficult.

 

[mauconnfan]

Played 9 at Rockledge in WeHa last night. Track is in really good shape. Not a lot of traffic out on the course after 530 although I had a group in front me of 3 kids playing with one bag. Called the club house twice but just not a huge priority at 630PM at night unfortunately. The course is pretty straight forward and some of the holes seem easy but they do a good job of making the approach shots difficult.

Used to play Rockledge a few times a year 15-20 years ago but then "traffic" became an issue there - slow play became the norm and we quickly took them off the itinerary. The course has some great holes and normally is in good shape so it's interesting to hear play moved along……playing around lunchtime or 8am was different back then but maybe even that has changed will have to check.

 

[SirHypeAlot]

I booked a tee time a week in advance to play Richter Park this past Saturday with some buddies from out of state because i wanted to show them one of our top notch muni's. Mid-week i got an email from the pro stating they were operating with a couple temp greens and then some other greens were partially covered. I decided I'd stick with my plan to go to Richter; they were offering discounted rates due to the course condition and just hope that it wasn't that bad. Yikes..... they're going to have some problems thru the length of the season this year. I've never really played with temp greens before anywhere but what an awful experience. I don't consider myself a course snob (i do expect solid conditions in the fairfield county area for the prices we pay) but i've played rounds at atleast 4 other courses this year that were above average playable condition. Richter Park will seriously struggle to recover this year. The partially covered greens have cotton blankets as close as 10 feet to the cup and cover some greens up to 65%. Poor experience for my buddies. Richter did warn us via the email but I had no idea it would be that bad.

Richter Park hasn't been the same for sometime now. Beautiful layout - hopefully they can sort things out.

 

[uconn_jack]

That's what happens when a town starts using a course like a cash cow, charging higher rates and siphoning even more money away from the course itself. Richter is a great course, but they can't justify the amount they try to charge anymore, not with golf declining and the number of quality courses available now. They need to get back to what made them a top course to begin with, but it will be hard for the town bearucrats to let go of the income.

 

[Danzz]

I never understood why Gillette was so highly rated. A golf course built around corporate row provided an awful golfing atmosphere.

That and MDM Golf should never own or run a golf course again.

Not a fan of the course but it is one of the toughest in the area.