Wintonbury Hills Golf Course

Course was extremely dry which is to be expected. Layout is great but what shocked me was the staff in the clubhouse. Guy running the shop was a complete grump, never even told me how much the round was. Just swiped the card and sent me on my way. Me and my brother checked our statements and the guy charged us each 25 dollars to share a cart which is INSANE. 25 dollars for a cart is fine. But 50.....can play a round elsewhere for that kind of money. Overall disappointing experience

I played this course today for the first time. I had really high hopes. After a 2 hour drive to get there, I was excited to play. Nice course, but no way this course should be #1 on GolfWeek. Oxford Greens, which is the only other CT course I've played, is much nicer and much more challenging. So by default, this would be #2 for me. I need to play some other courses in CT, and plan to this season.

Pros:

Tees were in fantastic shape.

Greens were in fantastic shape. Fast and true.

Fairways were firm, which I like. But see my Cons below as well

Cons:

Fairways. They were burned out and dry.

Rough was also burned out and dry. You could hear it crackling under your feet.

Kind of a boring layout. Wasn't much of a challenge to be honest.

I think part of the issue with me not placing this course on such a high level would be the fact that the course was one of the driest courses I've ever played. We haven't had any rain recently, so I imagine it's tougher to play when the grass isn't dead. I'd like to play it again when it's lush and green. Photos on this site and other sites don't really show what the course looks like in its current condition. So perhaps this rating could go higher in the future, but since I live 2 hours away, I can 't imagine getting there anytime soon. Next time I go there, it would have to be during a time when we have sufficient rain to make this course green.

Great time none the less. But next time I would cut my drive in half and hit up Oxford Greens. Or, Drive the same distance and check out some place else like Fox Hopyard or Gilette Ridge.

Pros

- Pete Dye design

- Lots of holes are forgiving if tee shots aren't great.

- Some blind shots make up for a bit of a challenge.

- Greens are quite good with lots of sloping.

- Staff is very friendly

- Pace of play was right on point at 4 hours

Cons

- This probably was because of the time I played, but the fairways where rather dry.

- Because of the driy fairways the bounces were crazy at times.

- Greens rolled well but speed was inconsistent.

Overall, I would come back when conditions are top notch, it has been a dry summer so I completely understand why the course was playing the way it was. Layout is wide and open and not the most difficult course I played.

Wintonbury is in great shape. Greens rolled true, fairways and rough alike were lush and green. Impressive given the lack of rain we've had the last month or two. They seem to be navigating Covid protocols well.

The Shark Experience, allowing you to play music from the cart is awesome.

$56 for a Saturday late morning tee time isn't bad. Pace of play was great for about 5 holes, then ground to a halt. Was more often in a 5-hour round pace than a 4-hour or less. That was really the only downside. Everything else was fantastic.

I booked a “Hot Deal” on Golf Now for a foursome for $46 + $3 convenience fee, total of $49 each. When we arrived at the course we were told that this was a walking rate and that a $15 cart fee was additional, so it cost us each $64. If we had just paid the regular Senior weekday rate at the Pro Shop of $37 plus the cart fee of $15, it would have only cost us $52. Read the fine print - this was not obvious on Golf Now and our “Hot Deal” was no deal at all!

I would not waste your time with the dining operation, after the round. Too restrictive. Masks while sitting there and nobody around you? Sorry, I’ll go somewhere else for post round drink. But the course was great.