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New England in 2005

by Moe Miller

My friend Steve has a Ph.D. trained son who is working to cure cancer in the Boston area. Michael is also a golfer, and he named his first child after my mother. I felt compelled to visit.

We started the trip north off with a twilight round ($50) at Longaberger in central Ohio.

Longaberger in Central Ohio

The Arthur Hills (2000) course is outstanding, with 11 excellent holes and 7 good ones. It was also in great condition. The greens are fast and undulating, and I had several 3 putts on my way to an 87. The only putt I made all day was on number 18. It was for par, and to square the match. We did drive by the Longaberger Basket Company headquarters to see the building that is shaped like a big ( 4 story ) basket, but we do not have a restaurant to recommend.

The next day we tried Stonewater Golf Club, which is a Hurdzan/Fry design from 1996. It is located in Highland Heights, Ohio, just east of Cleveland.

Stonewater Golf Club

We paid $92 to play. The course is rated the 29th best public course in America by Golf Digest. Not by Moe. I gave it 8 excellent, 8 good, and 2 just OK holes. The course had 5 short par 5s, which is two or three too many. It just makes me think the development trumped the golf course. They were preparing the course to host a mini tour event that week-end, so workers were everywhere and the greens had been mowed and rolled to be too fast for Moe to handle. I did get to pretend the bleachers were full when I rolled one in on number 17 (for bogie). The course has lots of sand, water and was fun to play. Maybe # 99 in America.

We then drove over to upstate New York and took a few days to gamble at Saratoga. I would have saved money if we had gone ahead and played Saratoga National G. C. instead of playing the horses, but that $135 twilight rate just kind of put me off.

Crumpin-Fox is located in Bernardston, Massachusetts. It is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design from 1990. Golf Magazine rates it the # 91 public course in America.

Crumpin Fox

I gave Crumpin Fox 5 excellent holes, 9 good, and 4 just OK. It was a nice course in the woods, and the back side was tighter with more features to challenge the golfer. We played for $85.

On to Framingham, Massachusetts, where we enjoyed the best dinner of the trip. Michael is from Tennessee, but he is a Ph D and a good learner. He's learned lobster! He brought them in alive and struggling. No, they did not scream when they hit that boiling water, but boy were they tasty. I give him four stars and intend to go back.

Michael recommended a 2002 Brian Silva designed course called Red Tail Golf Club. He picked us up the next morning and even had ordered a perfect 85 degree sunny day.

Redtail

Michael is trying to cure cancer, so he doesn't get to play much golf anymore. He was a little wild off the tee. I forgave him for his wildness and told him to keep working hard. The course was cut out of the woods, with many elevation changes and more fast greens. I gave it 5 excellent, 11 good, and 2 OK holes. It will get better with a little more time.

The next day we loaded up again, and went down into Rhode Island to play my 63rd Arthur Hills course. It's called Newport National and it just opened in 2003. Drew Rogers is an Art Hills senior designer and graduate of UK. He worked on Newport National with Art and got us our tee time at the private club. When we checked in at the pro shop called me an Art Hills employee and comped our rounds. I explained that we didn't work for Art, but that I was just his number 1 fan and did not require a free round. He looked at his book and said," It says here you're comped therefore you are comped Enjoy your round." And we did. Newport National is right beside the Sakonnet River which runs into Rhode Island Sound. It's an area without many trees, so the wind was a factor all day. I gave it 3 excellent holes, 14 good, and 1 OK. The wife shot a 100 to win the day.

On the way back to Saratoga (I never give up) we stopped in Williamstown, Mass. to play another highly rated, and way over rated New England course called Taconic. It is located on the campus of Williams College. The course was built in 1896. Golf Magazine rates it as the 30th best public course in America. I'm sure that was true in 1896, but we've built at least 1000 golf courses better than Taconic since then.

Taconic

I gave it 5 excellent, 10 good, 1 OK, and 2 poor holes. The course lacked room, and was actually dangerous in several places. Twice we had to drive the cart in front of another tee box to get to ours. The club is old and storied. The dining room is very nice, as were the people we played with, but that golf course should not be rated so high and is definitely not worth the $150 we paid to play it. When you hear people speak of the East coast bias in our media, this is one small example of what they mean. The great grandfather of the current senior editor of Golf Magazine may still be a member on the board at Taconic!

And I didn't get that money back with my second try at the Saratoga races either. But we did drop down into northern Pennsylvania for a relaxing week-end with Lew and Donna at their house on Lake Carey. Low humidity, cold beer, and good friends.

On the way home from there we played a course north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, called Felicita. I gave it 4 excellent, 12 good, and 2 OK holes for design, but it was in poor condition, so I can't recommend it even at $25.

We were scheduled for Eaglesticks, near Zanesville, Ohio for our final day out, but remnants of Hurricane Katrina rolled through Ohio that day, so we just found a hot tub on high ground with a roof over it and watched the rain. I recommend that over golf for rainy days.

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