Grassmere Country Club

--LAYOUT: Modern greens, along with the typically wide fairways that precede them, are the hallmarks of Grassmere. Several broad landing areas on the par-4's supply enough room to work the ball left or right. Putting surfaces are well contoured, some dramatically. Some holes are set up so that bending the ball one way off the tee is advantageous.

--KEY HOLES: A trio of strong holes begins at two; on each, length and green design will mean that pars are hard work. Each has a different character, but four pulls out all the stops: a tee shot that almost demands a fade; a long and blind approach uphill, with a big bunker guarding the green’s right side. If you push or slice the second shot, you’re in jail.

--TWO GOOD PAR-THREES: Five is a fine hole that drops from a high tee to rolling green framed by marsh to the right and woods left. Nine travels straight uphill, ending this nine on a wildly tilting green that may induce agony. On this green, you’ll need deft touch and good judgement of borrow.

--THE SEVENTH: (Best hole on the course?) A lively short par-4 where the drive must be precise and the approach even moreso. The elevated green, squeezed between a hillside and woods, has a road behind it and a wide-spreading trap in front to catch weak shots.

SETTING: Quiet farmland on the outskirts of Enfield. Pastoral, beautiful, secluded. The holes aren’t totally isolated, but the backdrops are mostly natural.

--SOME CONCLUSIONS: The course is immaculately conditioned, its greens smooth, fast, and blemish-free. And everything else is, as the British say, spot-on. Like most nine-hole layouts, it’s not long and invites a relaxing walk (or ride) in the countryside. It will also demand careful play to card a good score. Strongly recommended.

Grassmere, a fine course set in the Connecticut River Valley, enjoys an attractive setting in rolling farm land. It features some excellent ‘old school’ features, a careful balance between long and short holes (several of them exceptional), and a routing that takes advantage of the hilly terrain.

The second hole exemplifies these aspects well. It’s a longish 390-yard par four, ascending strongly uphill and culminating in a table green, which happens to be especially good at rejecting under-hit approaches. And there are no weak holes among the nine of them at Grassmere. On the other hand, you may consider the standout holes to be the two big four-pars that play uphill, including the aforementioned second. But four, a grueling test of 415 uphill yards, seems the slightly more resilient of the two, demanding a well-hit drive followed by an even tougher approach: it is blind and straight up the hill to a green protected on its right flank by a yawning bunker.

Add the third hole—another satisfying four-par of 405—to this duo, and one quickly realizes that Grassmere has no shortage of challenging two-shotters. And none of them really qualifies, I would say, as the best hole of this layout. For that distinction, I like the seventh, an ingenious and complex short four-par that poses problems from tee to cup. First, you’ll need a precise tee shot to land on the short grass. The second, equally hard, must be flown into the green’s right side, because the entire surface tilts sharply from right-to-left. The green itself is quite elevated, protected by a frontal bunker, and set hard by Town Farm Road. Thirdly, and perhaps above all, you’ll need discipline and imagination both if you hope to two-putt this agonizingly difficult putting surface. One way or another, the seventh may prove an absolute card-wrecker. My three playing partners on the backside, all of whom have played here often, call a score of five here “almost like a birdie”. That was five, not four. I’d hardly disagree, and I’d call this among the most challenging short par-4’s in the entire state.

Enough about harsh challenges; there is some good news, as well. The rest of the holes—the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 8th—give you a bit a breathing room to put enough pars—and perhaps a birdie—on the scorecard. Of these, I like the par-5 sixth best, containing as it does a hard dogleg-right off the tee, providing risk-reward possibilities but encouraging a strong fade for best positioning. The second shot may be as little as 200 yards or less, provided you’ve hit a long and very accurate drive. A small brook, lying about 180 from the green yet blind from the tee, will make big hitters think twice about attempting tee-shots fueled by greed. The bantam bridge that crosses the brook almost evokes the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th at St. Andrews. The ninth is another noteworthy hole, an uphill, mid-range three-par. It’s not particularly testing off the tee, but its green is contoured about as aggressively as the seventh’s.

One of the pleasures of playing Grassmere concerns a refreshing lack of fairways that might be called ‘alarmingly tight.’ In fact, all fall on the side of generous, some even wide. Given that this track was built in1927, and most likely designed by a Scottish architect, this comes as no surprise. Much in the tradition of St. Andrews, then, the bulk of these relatively wide fairways allow the player more strategic options in picking a route to the hole, and, for the better player, a choice to play his or her preferred ‘shot shape.’

The course also boasts firm and fast greens, conditioned to near-perfection. Except for seven and nine, most of the greens slope gradually rather than sharply, but you’ll still need finesse to putt each one well. Speaking of conditioning, this is among the best in the state, with beautiful fairways, consistently cut rough, and well-cared-for tees. This is country club quality at a public-access golf course, and the value is outstanding. My only disappointment in today’s experience was the sluggish pace of Saturday afternoon play, as my round of two nines ran on to 4:40 or so. Granted, it was a weekend, and there were a few youngsters, along with some other less-experienced players (both a good thing for the game), playing the back, but the front side was still equally slow.

Still, I plan to come back to Grassmere, given its many advantages. Once again this course was simply great fun to play and, in late-autumn colors, equally impressive to take in. For me, all was well worth the drive.

For a year that we've had zero rain this course was in great condition and green fairways and greens

The golf at Grassmere Country Club is short but not easy, its nine-hole, par-35 track sloping at 121 from the blues. This layout’s challenges are very well balanced: there are some difficult greens while others are relatively tame; some long, uphill holes but several shorter, tighter ones and some tricky approach shots but a nearly equal number that are straightforward. One noticeable imbalance is four holes with right-bending doglegs, versus none the other way. If you can fade the ball like Jordan Spieth or Ricky Fowler, then, you’ll have a marked advantage on these nine.

The course, set in an area where farmland is prevalent and quite a distance from downtown Enfield, is gentle and rolling, aesthetic and peaceful. At this semi-private venue, it’s clear that the club’s owners and managers, the Kamerers, set high standards for conditioning. Although the fairways showed some small blotches here and there, for the most part they were excellent, as was the rest of the course. In light of what I’ve played recently, this standard rises far above the norm during this hot, dry summer. The ultra-smooth greens were especially pleasing to play, all rolling at a near-perfect pace.

Playing the first hole, this much becomes apparent: the tree-lined fairways, even though roomy enough, lead to trouble if you stray too much from them, while, around the sloping and well-protected greens, you’ll need a solid short game to earn a good score.

Holes two through four, moving back and forth in parallel, set the tone for an even greater challenge. Three and four both play over four hundred yards; the second hole plays like it, moving strongly uphill on the approach.

Holes five through eight present the genuine scoring opportunities at Grassmere, although none can be called ‘easy’ by any stretch. The best of them comes at the par-5 sixth, a sweeping dogleg-right around tall conifers that leads, after crossing a stream, to a slightly raised green well-protected by trees all around. At 446 yards, the green can be hit with two solid strikes, though the second must be a very accurate one.

The closing ninth is a handsome uphill par-3 of 165 with the clubhouse as backdrop. Its large, sloping green may give you fits, though—it’s sharply canted from a high left side, but other, more subtle undulations blend into this surface, making putts quite hard to read.

MOST INTERESTING HOLES: The seventh, par-4, 301 yards; and the eighth, par-4, 348 yards.

Seven doglegs a bit right, leading uphill to raised, sloping green fronted by a massive bunker. Eight, somewhat tougher, trundles down the slope beautifully on both drive and second shot, and is punctuated by a slightly perched green with a falloff behind it. Tree placement on eight, along with a big left-to-right slope, could mean headaches on the approach if your drive isn’t carefully placed. Eight may also win the beauty contest for prettiest hole here.

HARDEST HOLE: Par-4 fourth; 404 yards.

At index 1, the drive should be a fade around the huge trees rightward; hit it even a bit left and your ball likely will find Grassmere’s dense rough—to boot, you may have tree troubles. The approach is strongly uphill, and from the fairway you won’t see surface of the green, protected mostly on its right flank by a huge, lengthy bunker.

Response to Covid-19 conditions was first-rate here. Two really nice touches: hand sanitizer on the course itself (haven’t seen this yet!) and at outside of the clubhouse, plus scorecards placed—very cleverly—on a table outside and separated from each other (a small rock on each keeps it in place).

Grassmere rates a great value, given the high level of conditioning and its fine balance of holes, all of them well-designed. For those who love strategy, I’ll peg this on a notch below a small number of very top nine-holers in the state, but on balance it’s certainly a satisfying track—and a very good one. Above all, you’ll be challenged to play careful golf by which straightness and control, both on tee shots and approaches, are assets. I had lots of fun walking this nine twice today, despite the hot, humid weather. No doubt I’ll be returning before long.

This nine hole course is a little jem enough challenge but more than playable for the novice golfer, with a friendly staff. The best part of the course I would say is the beautifully kept greens, a little firm but smooth and true. My favorite holes are 1, 6, 7 and 9. Holes 2-4 are three good 4 pars that will test you a little but give you more than enough landing area.