Wintonbury Hills Golf Course

Always a fun, challenging round at Wintonbury. Greens were in great shape!

Enjoyable, scenic, real good golf. Don't recommend playing if cart path only rules are in effect. My cart was inoperable while all four wheels were on path.

I had higher expectations for the condition of the golf course. Greens were super slower and seem to be very slow come back from an early season aeration. Probably wont be back anytime soon.

Course is in great shape. Fairways are lush and thick. Greens are above average speed but not the usual fast speed, probably due to recent rain. Course was very busy yet pace of play was excellent - 4 hour round for Saturday 8am tee time.

Great course .. can be challenging . Fast greens for those who aren’t used to them but very nice conditions especially late in the season !

A bit of a tough walk ( space to next tee box for a few holes ) but fine for a day of perfect weather. Great value (especially for Bloomfield residents)

First time playing this course after reading reviews online. Really interesting course some very open holes as well as tree lines fairways.

Really nice. Will definitely be back.

Had to cancel due to rain. Didn't get my booking fee returned. The help desk on the web site kept closing before I could reply. Doubtful I will use this service again. My apologies to the course for the 3 star rating.

Prior to playing Wintonbury today on a dreary, foggy and slightly wet afternoon, the kind of day that might be part of the setting from an Edgar Allan Poe short story, I had read up a bit on this now well-known Connecticut track. One of the more interesting things I found came from a comment made by the course architect himself, the late Pete Dye, concerning why he chose the A.C. Petersen dairy farm from among several possible sites: "We ended up with a heck of a piece of ground. I wasn't so sure at first, but it worked out better than any of the other sites would have." (The Hartford Courant, June 8, 2004).

As I observed within a few minutes of looking around the premises and realized only a few holes into the round, it was clear that Dye had been understating. Wintonbury is a spectacular site and a nearly ideal piece of ground for a golf course.

I had also read a few reviews from websites other than GA before my round. Critics of Wintonbury have claimed that the not-so-dramatic, flatter land around this track’s clubhouse leads to several dull holes. My preference is to think of these holes in different contexts: one and ten are ‘warm-up holes’ for their respective nines; eight and seventeen still supply rigorous enough challenges; nine and eighteen are neither tame holes nor simple pars. In truth, none should be called ‘easy,’ nor did I find any boring.

Apart from the aforementioned six holes, which are situated at the southwest end of the property, the real heart of this course is comprised of the other twelve. This includes a stretch from the short woodland section at the northeast end of the course, some of the other links-like holes in the mid-section that flow up and down large hills, and a couple of holes—namely 14 and 15—that parallel the Bloomfield Reservoir. Following a good but unremarkable opening hole, the second is a short four par of 365 yards but playing much longer up the steep hill. The most dramatic among the next three, following a long and uphill par-5, is the shortest: the 333-yard fifth. From the highest point on the course, your tee shot plunges down to a fairway which doglegs slightly to the right, and, if well-placed, should leave a pitch into a green best approached—to avoid the pot bunkers—from the fairway’s left hand side. Fourteen, a photographer’s dream, runs along the reservoir to the fairway’s right; it’s a stout par-4 topping out at 455, but with a small, elusive green. Fifteen completes a one-two punch here: the tightest hole at Wintonbury weighs in at 427 yards and concludes with a green complex that is well-bunkered on its right flank.

Par-Fives: Wintonbury’s trio of five-pars is reachable for longer hitters, or perhaps for many golfers who are playing the appropriate tees. Surprisingly, none of the three poses a ‘go or no-go’ dilemma on the second shot, although reasonable caution will be necessary if you go gunning for any or all. Ironically, it was the more pedestrian 8th that I found the most interesting to play: this basically straight and flat 564-yarder did afford the option to pitch-and-run the ball into the surface from 30 yards, enabling me to score a pleasant birdie. But four (the number one index) and thirteen, playing up the same big hill, are somewhat more brutish, though open enough that you can swing away on the tee shots. As always with Dye holes, precision tee shots will afford you better scoring opportunities as you play each one to conclusion.

Par-Threes: As a group, these carried their weight respectably. Interestingly enough, none are constructed around or close to water (the seventh flirts only a bit with the marsh). Three and seventeen are both solid yet unexciting. Still, the latter will put some pressure on long approach skills at 230 yards. The par-three seventh features an elevated tee sporting a handsome view of the green far below, and, from 255 yards, your tee shot must not only be well-struck but also quite precise to find, safely, the well-guarded surface. Nine is the most original of these 3-pars, topping out at 190 and leading to a Reverse Redan green site with three pots on the right and a couple more set up on mounds to the rear.

Finishing Holes: These may disappoint purists who want something with high drama. I found 16, 17 and 18 to be good but—compared to what preceded them—undistinguished holes. The short sixteenth is the most interesting of the three, highlighted by a huge, elevated pot in the right rough (again, quite similar to something I saw at Prince’s) and some bold slopes in the neighborhood of green here. Eighteen’s wide open landing zone should mean a driver and mid/short iron finish for most.

Hardest Hole: Eleventh, par-4, 443 yards. This visually intimidating monster of a hole seemingly takes on a Gothic presence. It travels up a monumentally steep hill to a relatively small green. The hole demands nothing less than two excellent shots: one objective on the drive is to avoid the centrally located bunkers; another, on the second, is to take enough club to reach the perched putting surface. Protecting that surface, of course, is copious trouble.

Course conditioning here was very good overall, but marred a bit—as fully expected—by the aerated greens. For the extraordinary price I paid, though, to play a course of this caliber, I was hardly disappointed. The gentleman I met in the pro shop, Connor, was both personable and professional.

Most Intriguing Hole: The sixth is a tough par-4 of 430, playing uphill to a green with a huge falloff on its right side (The falloff is a virtual twin for another dramatic greenside slope—in shape, height, and contouring—that I played in Sandwich, England at Prince’s Golf Club: the sixth hole of the Shore Nine). My seven-iron here into green six seemed good in the air; the ball landed slightly short, however, and was shunted by the slope down the steep hill. What follows from this spot will be, generally, an ignominious bogey, which proved true for me (I lack the lobbing skills of Phil Mickelson, and subsequently missed my 15-foot par putt).

A few misconceptions still exist among some golfers about the nature of Wintonbury. One is that this is not a true “Pete Dye course.” The biggest preconception here seems that a genuine Dye layout must possess some combination of features that may include railroad ties, sleepered and/or pot bunkers, extensive mounding around all greens, water hazards on every hole, or an abundance of slender fairways that have light rough, such that your slightly errant shots will be directed straight into the water hazards. And one of those hazards must contain the signature Dye island green. The fact is that Mr. Dye had begun deviating from significantly from this overall pattern by the early 1990’s, when he was quoted as saying that, in the future, “there will be more plain golf courses without steep bunkers and exaggerated undulations.” And while Wintonbury is anything but a plain course, its designers have eschewed several of those old Dye features that in actuality do not typify the body of his work, especially post-1990. A second preconception is that WH is not hard enough to be called a characteristic Dye creation. Again I think that’s untrue. Dye was long ago designing courses that were tough but far from preposterously so, such as his Oak Marsh track from 1972 at Amelia Island (I played it in the early 90’s) whose course rating is 72.4 against par of 72. Wintonbury’s rating is a slightly higher 70.8 against par of 70. That’s comparable. And this course, like Oak Marsh, is certainly tough enough to qualify as a “Dye,” yet both are far from excruciating.

A Final Opinion: This is a top-notch layout, period. It easily stands up to the best modern (post-war designed) Connecticut public courses: Lyman-Jones, Oxford Greens, Fairview Farm, Blackledge Anderson’s Glen, et al. Unlike anything else I’ve experienced in the Nutmeg State, the fantastic site seems unmatched. And the architectural talents of Dye and associate Tim Liddy, fully on display here, are beyond reproach. Having now played here (I’m not sure why it took me so long to give it a spin), I’m thankful that Bradley Klein was able to persuade Pete Dye to apply his expertise and fashion a great one in Bloomfield.

Drove 90 minutes to play here on a windy cold Sunday. Worth the trip if you haven’t played here. Very open, almost links style course for most of the holes. Can’t wait to play here when the greens ha ent been punched. Great course.

Greens were sandy and aerated, otherwise course was in terrific condition for late-October. Beautiful layout, greens always roll true even with the sand on it evident. Not a course where you’d lose a lot of balls. Driving cart rate is a little pricey for non-Bloomfield residents. Potentially my favorite course in CT, always enjoy a day at Wintonbury.

The course is in fine shape. However we were not informed they were airrating the greens so we could only play the back twice. asked how much to play without the hot deal $45. we paid $36 green fees and $25 for a cart. Not such a hot deal after all.

Interesting layout mixture between links course and mountain course with lots of tilt to fairways. Pace of play was good . Playing mostly private courses I though the course was in good condition. Enjoyed playing the course.