(July 5th) Day 30 – Brattleboro Country Club, Brattleboro, VT drove 155 miles
When I had made my way to New Hampshire from New York, I traveled this same road, but it was new for Margaret. You go through Troy, NY (actually had a Major League baseball team, a long, long time ago) and into a spur of the Green Mountain range (remember your U.S. History, Ethan Allen & his Green Mountain Boys were players in the Revolutionary War) and down into the narrow valley where Brattleboro sits. It's very close to the New Hampshire and Massachusetts' state lines and they probably get traffic from every where. It's a pretty drive on a winding up and down highway (speed limit is 50 nearly the whole way) with a few passing lanes along the route. It is only a 50 drive from New York to New Hampshire along this narrow strip of Vermont.
The "Country Club" has four set of tees ranging from 6533 yards to 5051. I played the white tees at 6073 with a course rating of 69.6 and slope of 122. Margaret played the green tees at 5051 yards, rating of 70.0 and a slope of 115. Par for this course is 71. We paid $ 74 each for this (Monday after the 4th, so a) Holiday tee time with cart. They forgot to charge Margaret for club rental and we didn't remind them.
There are no restrooms on the golf course and the only time you are near the Pro Shop/Clubhouse is when you finish #8. We didn't know this so after we finished nine, Margaret took the cart back to use the facilities. This is something the pro shop should tell people who are not members or thy are unfamiliar with. There was a cart girl and I think I remember some bottled water in coolers at a few spots along the way.
This is a very steep golf course on many holes and few holes give you a view of other holes around you because of the evergreen trees and foliage and trees. One nine is newer (cart paths) and the uphill holes play quite a bit longer as you can imagine. We played the front nine with a long time local golfer, Gary, and a young man who was playing the course for the 2nd time, Evan. Evan would prove to be the best golfer I played with on the whole trip. They only played the front nine and I was sorry not to have Gary's course knowledge to help us along on the back nine. Margaret & I both shot higher scores on the back nine (We both had pretty decent scores on the front) without Gary to tell us where not to hit it and where the hazards were that you could not see off the tee. Evan shot a 37 (one over par) on the front nine and really had no apparent weaknesses in his game. When he hit a wood on his 2nd shot (on a par 5 and he was 250 yards out!) to a SMALL downhill green and landed it I was convinced of his talent. Interestingly, we talked about courses I had played, and the New Hampshire course (Lochmere) was where he had played the last couple of years before moving to the Brattleboro area.
I would play this one again. Maybe I would remember SOME of the trouble and avoid it, but there is no course map on the scorecard which is unfortunate. I would also play at midweek rates, because it's a $50 golf course at best.
After golf we went souvenir shopping (Vermont Maple syrup, what else?) and then went downtown to have lunch before heading back to Connecticut as Margaret was flying out early in the morning. Downtown was packed with tourists (and locals) and I felt like this is where the hippies that attended Woodstock settled. There were lots of back to nature type things, along with organic this and that, and people were dressed in more "earthy" fashion than anyplace I have been in a long while. I really liked the vibe of Brattleboro. Friendly, a little touristy, but down to earth people. I probably liked this small city better than the golf course.
Randy’s golf course ratings play again could recommend Price
Prairieview GC (Byron, IL) 5 YES YES $
Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA) 5 YES YES $$$
Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND) 5 YES YES $$
The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY) 4.5 YES YES $$
Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO) 4.5 YES YES $$
Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA) 4 YES YES $$
The Legacy (Springfield, TN) 4 YES YES $
Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE) 4 YES YES $$
Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA) 4 no*1 YES $$
Houston Oaks (Paris, KY) 4 YES YES $
Brandon GC (Brandon, SD) 4 YES YES $
Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI) 4 YES YES $
Portland GC (Portland, CT) 4 YES YES $
Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI) 4 YES YES $$
Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH) 4 YES YES $
Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY) 4 YES*2 YES $$$
Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH) 3.5 YES YES $$
Rivers Edge (Burley, ID) 3.5 YES ? YES $
Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI) 3.5 YES YES $
Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT) 3.5 YES ? YES $$
Martindale CC (Auburn, ME) 3.5 YES ? YES $$$
Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN) 3.5 no YES $$
Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT) 3.5 no good golfers only $
Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN) 3 no no $
Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY) 3 no no $$
Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT) 3 no no $ Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)
The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA) 2 no no $$
Jones Course (Wheeling, WV) 1 no no $$$
*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings
*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m.
Comments
Post a Comment