Jay Peak Golf Course

In what is the dryest summer I have experience in northeast Vermont in the last 3 years, the course was in amazing condition. This is a true test of golf with difficult greens, long carries to the fairway (from the tips, much more manageable from the blues and whites), difficult to read wind direction and gusting winds through the mountains. Fairways were generous landing areas for the most part but true to mountain golf there was slope on many fairways and a ball you think is in the middle of the fairway may not be when you get there. This is a course I could play over and over and never feel like I can master it. If you like a good challenge this is your course in the area to explore.

This is the nicest course I’ve played in Vermont this season.

Fabulous course in great condition. Lots of forced carries off the tee. Bad ball striking will incur lots of penalty strokes & lost balls. Lots of elevation change. Leave the family at the indoor water park and play a round.

My wife and I wanted to escape the Florida heat from Mid-July to Mid-August and we had been to Jay Peak skiing in the winter (years ago) with our kids but never in the summer to play golf. I saw the youtube videos about it and since it looked very nice, I decided to book a stay. We joined as "members" for the summer, and it worked out very well. We played 20+ rounds here which came out to be about half price, if we had paid each time to play. We rented a condo on the mountain. We also played some courses in Maine while we were up here.

This Graham Cooke layout (built 2006) is exciting , and is golf in 3-D. Beyond the great mountain views that will distract you, the elevation changes off a few of the tees set this one apart because it makes for some "wow" moments when it comes to airtime of your golf ball.

Fairways are wide, rough is thick where you may have difficulty locating your ball quickly but usually you find it. Beyond that if you hit one in the forest...forgetaboutit. It is dense, dark and steep in places. I looked for an errant ball a few times knowing exactly where it went, and usually found 5+ balls and sometimes mine. The drop off is because Jay Brook meanders throughout the course, providing some nice waterfall views and babbling water.

The greens are the bugger here, they are sloped and undulating and of moderate speed, but they are a little grainy too and if you get a downhill and down grain putt, look out. They are VERY deceiving (at least they were for me). There are several greens where the ball will appear to break uphill (because of the overall slope of the green and local undulations).

The bunkers are mixed. Many of the fairway bunkers were ground under repair due to rain and conditions but most don’t really come into play. The bunkers that were protecting the greens were in good shape and playable. They are not white powder but more like brown dirt/sand but they play fine.

The course overall was in very good shape. Not perfect but very good. I always had a good lie when on the fairway but there were a lot of divots that people didn’t fill or replace (a peeve of mine) and you might find some ball marks on the greens. When things were slow, I emptied my sand multiple times and repaired ball marks. But don’t let that bother you, they are very playable, and you will enjoy the course.

The landscaping at each tee box with ball washers and areas framing some of the putting greens have some very attractive flowers… and the ladies that work on them take pride in their work.

The clubhouse and outdoor patio with fire pit is nice and the staff are friendly and helpful. I had them replace a grip and they did a fine job. The food is good, and the waitresses are happy and friendly. If you are there on a Friday, they have an outdoor pizza oven and they cook up a storm. On Saturdays I hear they have a prime rib deal, but I never made it to that. It was fun to look over the very exciting 18th and the mountains and take in the food and good vibes there.

The golf carts are brand new electric lithium Yamaha with a really sweet electronics package. I took a short video of it.

Bring your range finder WITH slope! Slope plays a big part in club selection here. And wind acts on your ball a long time on those downhill shots. When the wind is blowing in your face the longer par 4’s that are uphill all the way are a challenge to get to in regulation.

One thing to take note of is they host a large hockey tournament most of the summer at their rink. Jay has all kinds of stuff to do for kids (check website). Anyway, they offer 9 holes of golf as part of their hockey package. So, you may see a lot of newbies playing. Some will choose to walk and carry a bag to avoid cart fees. I am all for newbies learning the game, but this is not an easy first course and it is quite hilly with some distance between some of the holes. This can be a pace of play issue if you time it wrong. I kind of figured it out after a bit.

The managers are aware and have placed gold tee boxes for juniors midway up the fairways and they actively encouraged them to use them, but most play from the back tees so we did have a few rounds over 5 ½ hours. Almost always we had 4 hour rounds when worked around the kids. I would like to suggest that they have the kids tee off in the afternoon. This area attracts a lot of Canadians both as parents of the hockey kids, and just Canadian golfers. I saw an older guy one day in hiking boots carry his bag in front of us and I thought we were doomed but he kept up the pace of play and I was impressed. Let me tell you it is not an easy hike, and I wanted to buy him a beer, but he was gone before I finished. So, you never know what you might get behind. But just a heads up.

Jay is a cool place with comfortable summers. We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to visiting again. You will have a memorable round here. Check out the youtube videos of Jay peak golf. Oh yeah, bring extra balls.

We flew from Phoenix to Burlington, VT, and played the Dinosaur at Gold Canyon just before leaving. The Dinosaur is a wonderful course and I loved it. Jay Peak was at least as good. The conditions were perfect. Fairways and greens of both courses were in perfect conditions. The sand traps were perfect and the flower beds were extraordinarily beautiful and smelled so nice at Jay. The friendliness of the staff is also exceptional. I would definitely give a rating for Jay at least equivalent to the one I gave for the Dinosaur..

The four-mile drive from the tiny town of Jay, Vermont (population 500) is a steep one up to the Jay Peak Resort and Golf Course. Route 242 is heavily forested and the roadside nearly devoid of anything man-made. Having driven in through Vermont’s low-lying farmlands, Jay Peak itself, situated five miles from the Canadian border, has already been visible: the tallest mountain in Orleans County, it towers prominently over the landscape.

The Jay Peak Golf Course has the sort of stature that matches its mountain namesake. Topping out at 6,908 yards from the deep tees, it’s slope rating is 153 (which, for comparison’s sake, exceeds New York’s Bethpage Black’s by a point) and the course rating 75.2. The latter number is a few strokes shy of Bethpage’s mind-boggling 77.5 mark. Curiously, this invigorating layout seems fair in almost every way despite the fearsome scorecard figures; the way you’ll find big trouble here is by simply hitting bad shots into the forested no-man’s land. The fairways, though, are generous enough.

While difficulty plays a role in this course’s superiority, many other qualities make the design a masterful one. Chief among these are key modern elements: sprawling greens, profuse and deep greenside bunkering, lots of ground movement in the fairways and around greens, multiple sets of tees to make the course accessible to a range of players. Most impressive here are some of the under-exploited aspects of modern layouts. These included closely shaved areas--instead of roughs--over large swaths of greenside slopes, the creative and strategic use of fairway bunkering, and large fairway contours and slopes that should govern tee-to-green strategy. The bottom line, then, is that the course should be attacked with gusto (and some cleverness) by tactical-minded players. The large greens alone, affording multiple pin positions, will vary how each hole may be played from day to day.

Such features speak to the course’s playability, yet they only partially answer the question of what supplies the real rigor. And that comes from individual hole design. Consider that every one of the five par-3’s, which would be considered quite challenging for most courses, are classified here as higher handicap holes. The par-4’s and 5’s, though, play much harder as a group.

Although they’re manageable, the par-5’s here are a mark of Jay Peak’s resistance to scoring. One exemplar of such comes at the brutal 13th, a neat switchback hole, which stands out by its uphill climb from tee over 568 yards (gold tees) to the green, by its brushy cross hazard positioned some eighty yards before the green, by the gaping fairway bunkers at the first big bend, and finally by the deep frontal and rear greenside bunkers. Into a headwind, especially, this monster will threaten to gobble up your good score. More troubles await at a couple of other great uphill par-5’s, seven and eleven, while the fourth measures a ‘mere’ 538 and plays downhill from the blue tee. If you play your cards right at four and the risk-reward 16th, they become realistic birdie-chances.

Jay Peak exerts its ultimate powers on players through many long and grueling par-4’s. I found that an incredible nine out of ten of the four-pars played long and tough today, especially given the wind, and it seemed like I wore out my 4-hybrid by round’s end. Part of this rigor derives from the fact that only two of the par-4’s are under 400 yards, and only of these two plays downhill. Six exemplifies how a sub-400 yard hole (of 384) can be difficult: it moves steeply uphill to a driving zone limited by a diagonal cross hazard, then plays further uphill to a shallow green set on a plateau and angled 45 degrees to the fairway.

All of this toughness doesn’t mean you won’t have fun on these powerfully rolling eighteen. I was thoroughly engaged all the way round, especially on par-4’s like the third, eighth, ninth, and tenth, which lend an air of intrigue to the challenges because every one of them felt at least a bit outside-the-box. Jay Peak also gives several risk-reward shots, though I wasn’t a fan of one at the 15th. Here, from the tee, you’re encouraged to bite off as much of marshland as you can in hopes of hitting a wedge into the green, but the fairway is mostly obscured from the tee. Much better are the risk-reward carries at 13 and 16. Each of the five par-3’s was well-designed but also fun to play. Standing out were the two shorter holes of the five: the downhill second and uphill twelfth, while the fifth, a180-yarder, had the trickiest green complex to negotiate, a nearly ‘Reverse Redan’ design favoring a fade.

Most interesting hole: 7th, par-5, 531. A spectacular five-par that plays downhill off the tee, then up, the seventh’s driving zone is beset by huge bunkers left and right. It could be a two-shooter on the strength of a long drive, but the second is still fraught with difficulty in the form of a plateau green with big drop-offs around it.

Hardest hole: 3rd, par-4, 441. The #1 index lives up to its rating, if in unexpected ways. Starting from a high tee where the fairway is only in partial view, the terrain plummets to a tiered and split landing zone, its difficulties compounded by strong pitch and sideways roll. A tough approach follows into a well-guarded green. With impressive floral displays and other plantings, the hole is as beautiful to look at as it is to play.

Service and Course Conditions: At the front desk, service was especially impressive from on-duty Manager Aaron, who gave me detailed directions and tips about how to negotiate the course on a cart--even telling me to give a call on the cellphone if I had any problems--and supplied a ride back to the parking lot when finished. He was also knowledgeable about the layout and its special features. The course conditions were impressive for what is considered ‘pre-season’ in extreme-northern New England. It was a below-average 56 degrees when I arrived here at 1:15 p.m (!), though I still removed my medium-weight windshirt by the fourth hole. Greens and their surrounds were excellent here and tees near-perfect. Only the fairways were ‘good,’ if only because there were a few, minor bare spots on some of the holes.

Some Conclusions: Jay Peak is ranked number one in the reliable Golfweek (2020) among all Vermont public-access clubs. The rating, I think, is fully deserved. Kudos for this layout goes to renowned Canadian architect Graham Cooke: he brought to fruition a meticulously-crafted layout that is playable yet highly challenging, beautiful yet seamlessly interwoven into its spectacular setting. One of the things Aaron imparted to me today was of a golfing group that flies in from Toronto to play, expressly, this golf course. It was a fact that surprised me, but only a little bit.

We stayed in the Club House suite. Good accommodations. And convenient to the course. I wanted to make a tee time for 8-8:30 so we’d have time to play the 2nd 18. I was told first tee time was 9am because of frost delays. There were no frost delays and tried to get out early. We got out at 8:50. Finished at 1:20. 4.5 hours. You cannot make a tee time for the 2nd 18. We were able to get out at 1:30 and that round was going to be 5 hours plus. Never finished.

The three things i took away from this day of golf were 1. how perfect the greens were. 2. How well landscaped and decorated the course was (for Halloween) 3. WHat a challenge the course was. The greens were rolling so pure and fast. They were really fast! but just perfect. There was so much added color with flower beds. They decorated for Halloween. On every hole and in between they had lots of Halloween decorations very tastfully done . Very fun and interesting. There isn;t a flat lie out here. With the wind and elevation changes, makes for a real challenge!

Very beautiful setting with mountain views in nearly every hole. My family has been coming here for years and have never been disappointed with the condition of the course.

A large group of friends and I had the chance to play Jay Peak and came away completely underwhelmed at the overall condition of the course. The layout is really spectacular and the elevation changes create truly scenic and enjoyable holes and vistas but the condition of the course was just awful. In particular the greens on the back nine were borderline unplayable. The fairways and general condition of the course wasn’t great but typically I’m not one to really care about that assuming the greens are halfway decent. Unfortunately the greens were so poor and barely had any grass on them it was kind of pointless to even try and putt. To have to have paid full price for this round and not have had a ‘spring’ rate as an option was very disappointing. The proshop staff was also very nonchalant and dismissive of our feedback which made it even worse. Being a Canadian they also didn’t proactively advise us of a cash at par program they have which could have saved our large group money and weren’t open to honoring the program after the round (even as a make good for the poor condition). Wouldn’t go back there again, which is a shame because it could be spectacular.

Classic mountain course, lots of trees, rolling fairways, and greens to die for. What you see is what you get. Watch for the pin placements. If you get on the wrong side of the hole, yikes, have fun. I can't wait to go back.