Gillette Ridge

3 years ago, if someone mention Gillette Ridge, you would think of a super challenging course but also a very superior course in the Hartford area. Once the rumor mill produced the fact that the same owners of keeney park also owned Gillette, many thought that the course would suffer, and it indeed has, majorly!

I showed up 25 minutes prior to my tee time to allow myself to put and maybe take some swings on their horribly maintained driving range, however they rushed me off to hole #1 as if we were late. They refuse to move tee boxes for what seems to be weeks and now the tee boxes are absolute chopped off as if I was back at Kenney Park.

Once I parked my cart on the 18 there was a guy cleaning my clubs, which seems quite nice, however I never asked him too and I keep my clubs relatively clean after each shot on the course, so there was an extra $5 in tips I wasn't ready to spend.

Gillette Ridge is in need of maintenance, the tee boxes are awful, the traps are rocks and mud or dried dirt. There are no decent rakes in the few traps that you might consider raking and the fairways and greens are full of divots and ball marks. the management company that's runs it now are ruining what was once a premier golf course. Not worth the money play somewhere else.

Played the course after a lot of rain and although it was wet, the course is clearly very well taken care of.

I have played Gillette ridge at least once a year for the past 4-5 years and it has declined over the past couple years....don't get me wrong I love the layout and most areas of the course are great with the exception of the greens and tee boxes....I will definitely be back and thanks to Fran for cleaning my clubs at the end of the round.

Gillette is a very nice course, pretty challenging not for a true novice, many carryovers and bunkers.

Greens were fine but bunkers were a mess, staff advised they are re-doing them gradually. Due to rain they were unplayable.
On a recent Saturday course was almost empty very nice time

THE COURSE NEEDS ALOT OF HOME WORK. THE LAY OUT IS AWESOME, BUT THE CONDITIONS ARE POOR. THE TEES, GREENS, AND SAND TRAPS ARE CRYING FOR HELP. TO BAD, WITH THE LAYOUT AND CHALLANGE OF THE COURSE, IT WOULD BE AWESOME.

This Golf Course used to be an elite course in the State of CT. Since new management company took it over it has deteriorated considerably... the bunkers are awful with no sand if you land in a bunker you'll find craters created by rain run off. The fairways are poorly maintained and on the 18th green there are several holes deeper than two ball lengths.Seems to me that management does not care.
I find that with better management and up keep this could return to be a fantastic track once more. Oh! and if you don't get a good deal on golfnow.com the regular price for green fees with a cart is $65 and if you want a cold beer from the cart girl its $5 are you kidding me! I will not play there again

None of the traps raked; often not a rake in sight; some of the greens pretty beat up; nowhere near as nice as when we last played there two years ago; w/o maintenance will continue to slide downhill:

Have played here 2 or 3 years ago, and was a real nice facility.
Very disappointed having played Sunday, June 23, 13. I have
played golf for 60 years, and these were the worst bunkers I have ever encountered. No sand in most traps, and lots of
rocks and dirt in place of sand. It is a real shame, rest of course
showing signs of neglect also. Owner not putting money back
into course. The staff was super friendly, as we talked to 5 or 6
different employees.

not a good course for an amateur bunkers were not racked and muddy

Wouldn't go back. For the money they charge, the course is not in good condition. The bunkers don't have sand in them, just packed mud--it's an embarrassment, but they don't seem to care. We also rented clubs and they were in worse than terrible shape. When we mentioned that, the staff didn't seem to care about our experience. Not worth it, don't go there.

Played the course on Wednesday and it was cart paths only because of all the recent rain. The sand traps are in terrible condition and need a tremendous amount of work. The course in general was not maintained to the level it has been in the past. I hope someone wakes up because it really has the potential to be one of the top courses in the state.

Due to previous rainy conditions, we were forced to play cart path only which exposes the lack of good distance markings both on the cart path and around the fairways. A minimal investment would easily fix this going forward.

I play this course 2-3 times a year. It's a nice layout with a good variety of holes, but the conditioning has taken a step back in the last year or so. The bunkers are in rough shape. What happened to the sand? They are primarily hard ground/mud. The tee boxes are also a bit scruffy in places. They don't give you range balls when using golfnow like most other courses do.

I really like this course. Yes it's challenging, but if you play the apprpriate tees for your skill level (I'm a 10 handicap and play the white tees), you will have a great experience. I've heard complaints about the manicuring of the course. I think these are unwarrented except in two cases - the tee boxes could use a little work (even just picking up the broken tees) and the sand traps - which seem to be a problem at many non-private courses in the CT area. The greens are fine as are the fairways I will play this course again (and again).

Playing it again soon. I also would not recommend it to beginners.

Gillette Ridge should, by rights, be the outstanding public golf course in central/northeast Connecticut. The Arnold Palmer layout is spectacular; every hole is unique and presents multiple challenges. You could play these holes for a lifetime and find new challenges every round. When playing on this course, you really feel like you are playing a tournament course - the sort of course that you could imagine hosting a professional tournament.

That's the good about Gillette Ridge. The bad is that ownership has neglected this course badly and is not giving it the care, attention, and, candidly, the love that it deserves. I played there yesterday on a great golfnow hot deal: $24 plus cart. I was a single and so was paired with another single and a two-some. We played fairly slowly, but there was no waiting (Tuesday morning). We played from the blue tees, so the course checked in at a robust 6,700 yards. This is a very challenging course that earns its 136 slope rating. But it's fair; good shots are rewarded, bad shots are penalized. Some local course knowledge is also very valuable. If it's your first time playing here, spend the extra $5 to get the course guide from the pro shop. And you'll need the cart, as there are some very long commutes between some greens and the next tee box.

Unfortunately, the course is showing signs of long-term neglect. The tee boxes are poorly maintained and mostly dirt and weed; the fairways are spotty at best, with no signs that ongoing maintenance is occurring; and the bunkers are basically concrete, having not been raked in ages. In fact, as one of my playing partners suggested, you should play the bunkers as though they were ground under repair. You are risking physical injury and significant damage to your equipment if you try to play out of them. This is inexcusable at any course, but especially at a course where the bunkers are such a prominent part of the course. Given all of this, it is amazing that the greens are actually in good shape: pretty fast and rolling true. I guess that the greens are the one area of the course that ownership has decided to maintain.

My bottom line is that I recommend this course, especially if you can get on with the sort of deal that I got through golfnow. But to the gods of golf: please, please, please make it so that Gillette Ridge is acquired by new ownership that will give this course the attention and the care that it richly deserves.

Loved the layout. Very difficult course not designed for the beginner. Many forced carries, lots of deep bunkers. Most of the greens were in pretty good shape. The bunkers were in pretty bad shape, sandy dirt is how I would describe them. Many fairways had lots of divots but they don't provide sand for repairs. Don't understand that. I believe this contributes to why people aren't repairing the ball marks on the greens as well. A little attention to detail and reminders from the staff to the players and this could be a fantastic course. Take note Gillette. Still a great value on golf now.

Overall, great course - booked for half price on golfnow.com for a Tuesday afternoon, so the deal was definitely worth it. Got stuck two groupa behind a VERY slow foursome and it unfortunately slowed down the whole course's rate of play. Overall though, greens were in good condition; fairways were good in most places, with a few showing signs of drought or divot repair that hasn't fully sunk in yet.

Use to be in GREAT shape, now the tee boxes are very very beat up. Most of the fairways were good. A few greens also need help. Bunkers not raked in along time. The layout is fantastic and you have to hit your approach shots. But just suffering from lack of maintenance. Sad, because it can be SO AWESOME!