(July 6th) Day 31 – Chicopee Country Club, Chicopee, MA     drove 240 miles

Margaret & I stayed near the Hartford airport and I got her to the terminal about 6 a.m. in the morning. I had waffled on whether or not to play at Chicopee, though it had been on my radar since I planned the trip last year. I decided I would drive up there (only about 25 minutes from the airport) and get on as a single. I hadn't enjoyed my other Massachusetts golf course & I figured I would give it a go.

This course is SO popular that on Sundays they do a 9 a.m. shotgun start with (pretty much) full foursomes on every hole. At one time it was a Country Club, but now I THINK its a Muni. It's a great course with really great greens and pretty good maintenance, and LOTS of patrons. There are 5 sets of tees that range from 6414 yards to 3091 (for beginners and kids, ladies normal tee is 5159) and is a par 71 golf course. I played from the white tees at 5986 with a slope of 123 and a rating of 69.1. There's a little water on the course, trees to deal with, several doglegs and slight changes in elevations, definitely a walkable course for those that like to walk, and a couple of steep greens. I paid $46 for green fees with a cart. The first hole was cart path only (always) while the rest have turnouts before you get near the greens. The carts have a good GPS system and they will shut your cart down IF you drive where you're not supposed to be. 

I played with Rick & Tom, two nice gentlemen who played from the senior tees (5508) and both had some game, especially Rick. They had a flag on their golf cart and could drive (almost) anywhere they pleased though I saw their cart shut down (you have to back out when this happens) when they were where even they shouldn't have been. 

I REALLY like this golf course and would love to play it again. I was rushing myself the first 6 holes and started poorly, but played much better the last twelve, except for one brain dead hole, #15. The course was a little wet from the last night's rain, but in really good shape all in all. Not a great score, but a very enjoyable round of golf.

My next destination was New Jersey and as much as I hated to do it, New York City was by far the shortest option. From Chicopee, the drive takes you to New Haven, CT and then along the coast all the way to the Bronx, where traffic was HORRENDUS! There was a sign along the the highway I was stuck on for quite some time, NO TRUCKS IN LEFT LANE, but the left lane was nothing more than a long line of trucks and when I finally got out of the jam I saw why. The George Washington bridge (Manhattan to Fort Lee, New Jersey) is two levels and trucks cannot be on the lower level. You can only enter the upper level of the GW Bridge from the two left lanes. That and a merge point close to the GW Bridge brought on truck after truck after truck and all of them had to cross traffic to get to the two left lanes. STUPID!

I was moving so slowly I called my friend Paul Wenig (who sells produce and also hauls in season produce from California (oranges, grapefruit, etc) and Washington (particularly the Yakima Valley) to sell to grocery stores. Paul drives a lot of semi-miles and he didn't answer, but I told him he was lucky to NOT have to drive in the NYC area.

Out of that traffic jam (I turned off before the GW Bridge) and down into Manhattan I drove. I have to admit there is some awesome architecture in Manhattan. It's almost hard to pay attention to the road. I was in fairly light traffic, thankfully, but there are LOTS of people (using the crosswalks!) and street vendors and you NEED to pay attention. My GPS sent me to the Holland Tunnel to get to New Jersey. The tunnel is 1.62 miles long, travels under the Hudson river and connects Manhattan to Jersey City. There is no toll from NY, but NJ charges $6 to go to NY from their end.

I drove to Somerset, New Jersey to spend the night. I encountered (for me) the first of several states that do not allow left turns on their designated highways through urban areas. You have to exit right, go to a stoplight and left turn and go back to your destination. I can see the advantages of NOT having a left turn lane (where traffic backs up) and this is the way New Jersey does it with a concrete barrier between opposing traffic lanes. I also found that (many, most, all?) places in Jersey will pump your gas, ala Oregon on our side of the country. 

BTW, I had never eaten at a White Castle and after watch Harold & Kumar go to White Castle several years ago (great movie!), I wanted to try one. There will never be a 2nd trip there for me (and same goes for Cracker Barrel) as I was not enamored with their product(s).  

           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                        $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)         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.






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