THE FAB FIVE

‘Loudmouths’ beware:
If one of these five courses is on this season’s hit list, leave your ego in the parking lot

Casey Kasem has his Top 40, college football its Top 25 and Letterman made top-10 lists famous, but trimming that fat to its lean-meanest means distilling greatness to a top five. And have we got a doozy for you.
Everybody has a favorite and the average golfer doesn’t need a law degree to convincingly argue that such-and-such a course is one of the toughest around. But we’ve crunched the numbers to arrive upon a definitive list. You simply can’t say you’ve played the best unless you’ve played these five public courses, which are ranked the highest in the area strictly by slope. And if you plan to play any one of them this season, bring your “A” game.

By Chad Konecky

1. Bradford Country Club – Bradford

Par: 70
Slope: 132
Yardage: 6,311
Course record: 63 – Mike Shoueiry (1999), Marc Spencer (2000)

Bradford is narrow (think Arena Football League goalposts) and unforgiving (think Pacino kissing Fredo in Havana). On top of that, Bradford plays with your mind.

With average-sized greens beckoning, the course dares folks to grip it and rip it. The thick, bilateral tree line hugging the fairways seems to whisper in the breeze: “Play me. Be my master.” But let the word go forth, any attempt to swashbuckle through this course will result in being played. Like a 10-cent bingo card.

“I don’t think you get blown away when you see the course, but you’ve got to play it smart and conservative,” says club pro Mark Mangion. “You get what it gives you. The key is to play with course-management in mind. If you only play once a month and you want to get out there and hit drivers, well, you can’t do that.”

“If you hit it off the fairways, not only are you not looking at birdie, you’re not going to sniff par either,” adds reigning club champion Phil Langelier of North Andover. “This is a very penal golf course.”

Built in 1989 and designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva, the course’s par-4 No. 9 is the No. 1 handicap hole, but Mangion sees only the persistent wind gusts there as problematic. Even a middling handicapper can get away with an iron off the tee and the overall layout is “more open, more user-friendly,” according to Mangion.

It’s early in the back nine where you encounter the meat grinder. The par-4 13th is a devil with a tee shot straight uphill and a second shot that forces golfers to fly it onto a severely sloped green. That wouldn’t be so bad if your knees weren’t still quaking from the 510-yard, par-5 No. 12.

“This hole is tough because you have to gamble on a course where you really shouldn’t be gambling,” says Langelier. “A 20-handicap, in theory, can’t finish this hole. Off the tee, you’re safe-landing area is about the size of a green.”

Yeah. And there is no margin of said safety, given the fact you have to carry a downhill water hazard the size of the Baltic Sea off the tee. The green is reachable in two, but a lie too far back off the tee makes it a Tums-worthy proposition to club-select for it. You could still make birdie at this point, but you could also be scribbling in a triple-bogey.

“Anybody can say you’ve got to hit it down the middle, but at Bradford, you have to pick a spot,” says Mangion. “And if you miss it, pick where you’re going to miss it. You can shave four or five strokes if you pick your spots and keep out of trouble.”

2. (tie) Sheraton Colonial Golf Club – Lynnfield

Par: 70
Slope: 130
Yardage: 6,565
Course record: 67 – Rupe Daniels

The Colonial Golf Club is steeped in history, but none of that’s going to help you when the tee shot you’ve hooked on No. 15 is skipping down Rte. 128. Right about then, you’ll be wishing it was still the nine-hole course it opened as in 1925.

The par-70 course, then known as the Colonial Country Club, opened in the fall of 1961. Three years later, it became the nation’s first championship course to equip nine of its holes for night golf (insects drawn by the lights permanently shelved the project). Anyone gutsy enough to try this course in the dark probably had enough tenacity to match the 1972 Stanley Cup Bruins 1972, which roomed at the adjacent Hilton (and surely played a few rounds) during the playoffs.

History aside, the Colonial is exhausting. With the exception of a breather at the beginning of the turn for home (10 through 12), it doesn’t let up. Club pro Bob Jacobs calls the par-4 No. 4 “extremely challenging.” Mostly because there’s water on both sides with a fairway landing area the size of “a U.S. Open-rated landing area,” says Jacobs.

The par-3 5th is long at 235 yards and bunkers on both sides guard the green. Wind becomes a factor on this hole in the fall.

There’s no relief on No. 6. The 531-yard par-5 demands a good tee shot that finds the narrow landing area; and there’s a hazard passing through the fairway between 240 and 260 yards out.

“It’s all water and marsh to the left,” confirms reigning club champion Mike Christo-foro, a Revere native. “It’s a tough green to hold, too. Even if you’re hitting your third shot.”

Jacobs calls the pin at the 6th “Amen Corner.”

“If you make it through that hole at level par, you’re going to have a decent round of golf,” he says.

Perhaps. But you’re not off the hook. The 560-yard par-5 No. 8 requires a slight draw off the tee with a hazard about 230 yards out along the right side and, frankly, even a perfect drive still has you muttering about how far away the flag is two shots later.

The 13th is a deceptive par-4 that plays slightly uphill, tee to green. Most folks under-club themselves the whole way. With a dogleg left and trees further left along with out-of-bounds on the right, you’ve got to draw the drive and hit it good. A tricky, two-tiered green is your reward.

The par-3 No. 14 will have you guessing everything from a 7-iron to a 3-iron and, depending on the circumstances, any of those guesses is right. Anything left will find a bunker and anything right a tree line. The right-to-left, sloped green is no picnic.

That brings us to the 15th: The highway hole. You’re teeing up out of chute toward a blind fairway. A river hazard runs right. Route 128, left. A break in concentration here and, well, you are history.

2. (tie) Far Corner Golf Course - West Boxford

Par: 72
Slope: 131
Yardage: 6,719
Course record: 64 – Paul Cortese (circa 1982)

You simply cannot ignore the fact that at Far Corner you will use every club in your bag. Failure to comply will risk the use of every ball in your bag. This a very long course by New England standards, so don’t play the back tees if you can’t poke it.

This course has some strong par-3s, including No. 4 and No. 7, both of which Danvers’ Steve Swedberg – who’s played more than a handful of the 29 annual North Shore Amateur tournaments held there – mirthfully calls “red-flag specials.” Basically, the scoring holes come early and late in this loop. In between, you’re just looking to avoid asking if anyone has a defibrillator handy. The trickiest of the bunch are arguably the par-4 5th hole, which runs 472 yards uphill to an undulating green, the par-4 6th and the 170-yard par-3 7th.

On No. 5, if you can’t competently control a long iron with your second shot, get comfortable with adding some sort of modifier to the word “bogey.” Course architect Geoffrey Cornish loves greens with ridges (they’ve been tormenting golfers here since the course’s founding in 1969) and the one on No. 5 is like putting from one side of a Humpback whale to the other.

“You want to be on the same side of the ridge as the pin when you make the green,” says course pro John O’Connor, who also notes that the dogleg-left fairway tilts left to right, so balls kick away from the green on landing. “It’s a long green. It’s a three-club difference from front to back. You simply have to take that into account, depending on where they’ve placed the pin from the 150-yard marker.”

On No. 6, woods pinch the fairway in the landing area off the tee, then the second shot presents a severe change in elevation – downhill – to a left-to-right green

“The 6th can give you fits, especially on that downhill because you can’t be long on the right or left,” says Swedberg, who’s finished as high as fourth in the club-hosted amateur. “Club selection is key on that hole.”

Owner Bill Flynn purchased the course in 1977, changed it from private to public and added a third nine in 1995. No hole is more brutal, however, than the 238 yards of real estate that constitute the 7th on the original, 18-hole course.

“You have to hit an extra club there and play from in back of the pin,” says O’Connor. “You’re hitting over water and your tee shot has to carry farther than you think because there’s a hill in between the water and the green and you’re almost certain to roll back. Most people under-club the tee shot. You’re better off putting back at the pin rather than from the tee side.”

4. The Meadow at Peabody - Peabody

Par: 71
Slope: 128
Yardage: 6710
Course record: 67 – Scott Johnson (2003)

The 236 acres on which The Meadow at Peabody now resides was known to generations of Peabody citizens as a destination for raucous winter skating and sledding parties. After two full seasons of the golf course’s existence, there is surely no shortage of folks who wish it was still known as a winter-sports venue.

What’s most intriguing about The Meadow is how varied the layout is. “Every hole is very different – it’s not traditional at all,” says reigning club and city champion Jon Gagnon, 33. “It’s definitely a Year 2000 golf course and that’s clear as soon as you step on it.”

What’s breathtaking about The Meadow is the course’s four par-3 holes at six, eight, 12 and 16 – intoxicating to gaze upon from the tee and a joy to play even when they’re getting the best of you.

Gagnon has endured his share of meltdowns a the 196-yard No. 8, where, from the back tees, golfers hit straight up a hill over a hazard. The shot is made more deceptive by a steady headwind. Gagnon estimates he’s played the hole 30 times and found the green twice with his tee shot.

“To look at the green from the tee, it looks so small,” he says. “That hole is a killer.”

Peabody High senior Kevin Osborne, the two-time defending Greater Boston League individual champion, shrugs off most folks’ complaints about No. 8. It’s the par-4 fifth hole that gives him fits, though he’s twice shot 65 (not from the back tees) at The Meadow.

“It’s such a small landing area on No. 5,” he says. “And you’ve got right-to-left hazards that are intimidating.”

Osborne notes that much of the front nine is made challenging by rolling hills and a number of tee shots where the wind is a factor. Gagnon adds that golfers must carefully note the dearth of rough between the course’s fairways and its tree lines.

“The course gives you a lot,” says Gagnon. “The fairways are wide. But don’t miss them.”

Peabody’s PJ Egan, who’s been fortunate enough to eagle all three of the par-5 holes at The Meadow, cautions against over-clubbing. His bag is iron-heavy when he plays this course.

“Take the second hole on the course – if you use a driver there and don’t hit it within a 20-yard landing strip, you’re dead,” says Egan. “I use a 5-iron and then a 9 [iron] to give myself a chance.”

Do yourself a favor, give The Meadow a try.

5. Rowley Country Club - Rowley

Par: 36 (nine holes)
Slope: 127
Yardage: 3325
Course record: 71 – Les York (1993)

A decade ago, the Boston Globe pegged Rowley as one of the top 10 courses in the state among nine and 18-hole layouts, and the only thing that’s changed since then is that the greens are right now in their best condition since the joint opened in 1971.

“When I first came here, they told me this is the course where you bring the loudmouths,” says owner Jerry O’Neill, noting that nine-hole layouts tend to be overlooked. “My son [Jeremiah] finished in the top 20 of the Mass Amateur in 2002 and the top 10 of the Rogers Tournament last year and when they asked him how he shot so well he said, ‘I learned to play at Rowley. If you play Rowley, you can play anywhere.’”

The club is attempting to heighten its profile this year by hosting 35 tournaments from April 17 to Dec. 4. That means there will be a lot of frustrated first-timers flailing away on a deceptively tough course that plays a world apart from the front tees vs. the back. Golfers face plenty of different lies, an up-and-down slope and a lot of postage stamp, pushup greens.

The par-4 No. 1 gets in your face with a 390-yard adventure right off the bat. It’s arguably one of the most picturesque holes in New England. The tee shot slopes down to a stream with a covered bridge. Too far right and you’re blocked from the pin, too far left and you’re hitting from the ninth hole fairway. The second shot is a steep uphill to an undulating green with distinct ridges and abutted by a lake. If your approach finds the wrong pitch of the green, “with the lake down there, well, you know where your ball is going,” says club pro Jim Falco.

The par-4 No. 3 is nasty. A monster dogleg right over a lake with a landing area smaller than the charitable donations line item on Scrooge’s tax return. If you’re not at least 240 yards out off the tee, you won’t have cleared the 90-degree bend. The lake covers the width of the green and from the fringe, the turf plummets down a steep slope to the water. Fly it onto the green or else.

“If you make birdie on that hole, you’ve earned it,” says Falco.

The 225-yard par-3 7th hole has a fairway skinnier than a swimsuit model and the green, though bigger than the course average, is well bunkered, especially front and right. On the left, you’re faced with a steep down-slope. “If you get it too far left, you might as well take your four and get out of there,” says Falco.

The par-5 No. 8 is all about placement. Drive your tee shot too hard and it will ride the down-slope to a lake. Think about a long iron.

“It’s a risk-reward hole,” says Falco. “Understand the game and your capabilities and you’ll do OK. The average player has trouble with this hole, though.”

There may be no better time than to try to tackle Rowley than 2004. Superintendent Paul Lever has been proactive, removing some trees to get more sun on the greens than ever. This is a challenging, player-friendly course.

Especially if you know a loudmouth who needs to be taken down a peg.