Soaring Heights

Red Tail Golf Club is armed with much more than just a magnificent golf course

By Gary Trask

To know Red Tail Golf Club is to love it.

That point becomes crystal clear after playing the course, or by simply speaking to the people who have been around the club from the very beginning.

After an easy drive from the North Shore to Devens, Mass. (a traffic-free ride from the Rte. 495/Rte. 93 interchange takes less than 30 minutes), Red Tail offers everything a golfer would want from a course.

There are a wide variety of holes and an engaging layout. The groomed fairways and testy greens are plush in every sense of the word, despite the fact that the course still has room to mature since its grand opening in April of 2002. You can plan on using every club in your bag, particularly your sand wedge, which will get worn out if you’re not cautious both off the tee and on your approach shots to the typically guarded greens.

But there is much more than simply great golf at Red Tail, and that’s precisely what makes it unique. A round at Red Tail provides the golfer with history. And we’re talking classic American History 101.

This 7,006-yard, par-72 Brian Silva layout was built on a piece of land at Fort Devens, the former military base that served as a training ground for United States soldiers as far back as 1914. Before making their way onto the actual course, golfers will drive along Patton Road (as in Gen. George Patton) and Bulge Road (as in the Battle of the Bulge from World War II). By the time you get to the parking lot, you’ll feel as though you should be pulling combat gear out of your car’s trunk rather than your golf clubs.

This is where Gen. Patton taught tank maneuvers. Secretary of State Colin Powell was stationed here during his time in the service and it’s where he met his future wife. More than 3,000 reservists and National Guard troops were deployed for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990-91 from Fort Devens, which closed in 1995 under the national Base Realignment and Closing Act.

“It certainly adds a little more flair to the whole experience,” said Jim Pavlik, the club’s PGA pro and Director of Golf. “When you play the 17th and 18th holes you can see the actual ammunition bunkers. It’s really kind of cool to think about what’s gone on here.”

In addition to the history angle, Red Tail provides some unusual wildlife. The course is named after the red tail hawks that nest on the property. These stunning birds of prey, with a wing span of 19 to 25 inches, are commonplace throughout the course and provide striking scenery while walking the fairways.

But history and nature aside, the reason to make the road trip to Red Tail is the golf course. The 51-year-old Pavlik, a Pennsylvania native, was hired a year before the course opened, but fell in love with the location after his very first visit.

“It wasn’t even seeded or really even framed yet, but as soon as I saw it I knew right then it was going to be one of the best courses in America,” remembered the 24-year PGA pro.

Silva, who was named Golf World’s “Architect of the Year” in 1999 and is a partner at Cornish, Silva and Mungeam Inc., was a visitor to the site long before Pavlik and his reaction was similar.

“When I saw the land, I knew it was going to be a fabulous golf course,” said Silva, 50, a Framingham native who made more than 100 visits to the site during the construction. “The land had a nice variety of flat areas and rolling hills. We’re very pleased with the way it came out”

Pavlik and Silva’s prediction of greatness for Red Tail gained some validation when the March edition of Golf magazine listed Red Tail in its national “Top 10 You Can Play” list.

Silva is no stranger to those types of honors; his design of Shaker Hills Golf Club in nearby Harvard, Mass. was runner-up in Golf Digest’s list of Top 10 New Public Courses in America in 1991.

“I’d like to be modest, but I wasn’t surprised when we got listed,” Pavlik said of the Golf magazine piece. “Believe me, I’ve played probably 800 courses in my life. The ranking is more than deserving.”

The attention Red Tail has received has the club well on its way to surpassing last year’s opening season log of 34,000 rounds played; and with good reason.

The Red Tail experience begins on a practice range that features bent grass tees and five greens to take aim at. It is well advised to rent a hand held GPS system or purchase a yardage map to help plot your strategy through what can be a minefield at times.

A journey through Red Tail is like a trip across the country. You have the classic New England holes with tree-lined fairways. Hole No. 11 and 14 to 17 are like a sojourn to the Southwest with expansive bunker layouts, while Pavlik said parts of the front nine remind him of Pinehurst in North Carolina. That’s three sections of the USA in 18 holes of golf.

Many holes are memorable, beginning with the 570-yard par-5 second, which is called “Tanks Crossing” because the area between the first and second landing area was used for just that. In addition, both the second and eighth hole were built directly over the foundation of a string of apartments that served as housing for the military. The foundation, which could not be removed because of the chemicals used to treat it for pests and termites, remains in the ground today. Like most of the holes at Red Tail, the second hole is fair: Keep your ball in the fairway and you can score. Spray you shots, and you’ll either be in a bunker or thick rough. Both the par-4 seventh hole, which measures a testy 481 yards, and No. 8, a short 323-yard par 4 with a fairway bunker 200 yards off the tee, are true testaments to this rule.

“You have to be strategic,” advised May Tung, a dentist from Carlisle, Mass. who was crowned the 2002 women’s club champion at Red Tail. “It’s why I decided to become a member after playing just one round. You really have to be careful with your club selection and pick your spots where you want to land your ball. Every round is a challenge.”

The back nine begins with the No. 1 handicapped hole on the course, a 559-yard, par-5 with a rolling fairway. The 11th is a classic Red Tail encounter. It’s called “Gravel Pit” because that’s what the gargantuan bunker that lies below the elevated tee acts as. But before you decide to go up a club in order to reach the green on this 171-yard, par-3, keep in mind you won’t have much of a chance at par, or bogie for that matter, if your tee shot sails right or long.

The 11th is only the second most sand-populated hole on the course. The 426-yard, par-4 17th, with a fairway that looks like a peninsula surrounded by a beach rather than water, has close to three acres of sand.

“That’s probably one of my favorite holes in all of New England,” said Marshfield Country Club’s Geoff Sisk, the three-time Massachusetts Open Champion who won last year’s New England Pro Golf Tour’s Red Tail Open. “I love the shape of the hole. You kind of feel like you’re in Arizona when you stand on that tee. Like most of the course, it’s challenging and scenic all in one.”

The variety of holes and appeal of each one has made it difficult for Red Tail to name a signature hole. Our vote goes to the 18th, the lone hole on the course with water.

Named “Temptation,” the dogleg right is a 543-yard, par-5 and Tung’s warning to be strategic certainly comes into play here. Long hitters off the tee will be “tempted” to carry their second shot over the small body of water that is set to the right-center of the green, which is also guarded on the back-left by (what else?) a horseshoe shaped bunker. More moderate hitters off the tee, however, will be forced to lay-up on the second shot, which is a dubious play since the fairway runs downhill to the water.

“Our goal is to get to the point where we can host some USGA events,” Pavlik said. “When we get to that point, the drama will be incredible to watch if someone is coming down the 18th with a one-stroke lead.”

By the spring of 2005, spectators will be able to watch that drama unfold from a deck attached to a yet-to-be built clubhouse that will overlook the water and the green on 18.

“People tell me every day how much they love the course and that they’ll be back, ” said Pavlik, who added North Shore golfers make up a large portion of his clientele. “And you know what? I can’t blame them one bit.”