Player at Lyman Orchards Golf Club

The greens were awful , Not only where they were dryer than a bone they were aerated and only filled halfway with sand took 5 1/2 hour supply on the weekend. The starter was very nasty and probably had a lot of people bellyaching because it was so slow

A bit expensive, but the course was amazing! I played the Player Course and the back nine was beautiful. Narrow fairways were difficult to hit probably just my game, but if you hit it into the rough, good luck finding your ball! Great views and a great time out there!

course is under repair skip for at least six months

I don’t think the grass has been cut so far this year on the course. The fairways were like rough, and the rough was unplayable. Whoever cut the greens cut them so low that they were hard pan and aerated.

Just way too many people out there. Sometimes 2 groups on tee at same time.

Played the Player front 9 and though there was construction equipment strewn throughout the course still (as reported in other reviews) it was mostly off in the rough and didn’t cause any issues. Greens were on the tail end of being arrogated and played semi-true. Fairways were cut and very green. Overall a good experience this early in the year.

Course so wet, cartpath only. A lot of under construction. Red tees plopped in fairway on most holes!???! Parking lot so packed cars were on grass, on road and in undesignated spots. They should have told people of the situation. Some even took bags off cart and carried. This is not a cartpath only course.

Probably the worst experience I’ve had at this course.Major work going on everywhere on The Players along with aeration of the greens.

Car path only because of the weather and maintenance which is understandable but the problem is that the car paths need a lot of work as well.

The most shocking thing is that there was a group of 7 yes 7 playing up ahead of us and they Thought that it was OK.A course worker informed them to split up which they did but anyone who thinks that it’s ok for 7 people to play in one group no matter how fast you can play is mistaken

Usually have a good time playing this course but unfortunately not yesterday. Will return again after all the maintenance is done and greens are back to normal

The greens were air rated, so it was very difficult to put!

This place shouldn’t even be open yet. Back hoes and bull dozers everywhere. Replacing irrigation system. People everywhere digging.

They should have at least told us before we went out. Or just shut down and get everything done.

The Lyman Golf complex has always been a magnet for serious golfers. True to form, the sprawling parking lot had mostly filled up by the early afternoon and was close to overflowing upon departure. The reason for this, no doubt, are these two well known courses located in good territory for golf: a tranquil, countryside setting.

FRONT SIDE

In general, Player is not a course you can flinch on, both when driving the ball and with the irons–which must hit with precision. The layout is teeming with big slopes and deep bunkers, falloffs alongside or near several of the greens, humps that resemble the proverbial buried elephants, scattered water hazards (including ponds and streams), and gaping pits from which your golf ball likely will not be recovered. The front side is the tougher of the two, I would say, and here you’ll face a consistent mix of medium and long holes, forced carries, and a blind shot on the approach to green six. The thickly wooded landscape of the front side, serene and aesthetically pleasing, rolls up and down over some pronounced hillsides, allowing you to take in the best of the surrounding hills. Hole eight, which is among the most rugged par-5’s in Connecticut, actually borders the property of the Lyman Orchards farm and grocery store at the Apple Barrel–a place I’ve frequented many times.

TOUGH HOLES

On the front, which I played today, the Player kicks off with a difficult, uphill par-4. But the third, fifth and eighth are also fierce, and even the relatively tame holes, including the par-3’s and straightforward ninth. The par-four third (dominated by an abyss on the tee shot) requires nothing less than two powerfully struck and accurate shots to find the putting surface.

GREENS

They played surprisingly fast today, given the effects of aeration and sand, and moreover putted well enough. Greens of this speed must not be sloped too steeply (according to modern architects) and accordingly the Player surfaces are not.

CONDITIONING

Today the Player seemed a shadow of its typical self. It was in decent shape as of late October, 2021. Today, however, with long fairways (not recently cut), some scattered shagginess or patchiness in greenside areas and fringes, and a significant construction project (it seems to have expanded from last fall) on holes three and five, the course’s playability fell well below expectations. It didn’t help that several areas in both roughs and fairways were waterlogged from recent rains and that tees hadn’t improved much since October. Give Lyman credit, though, for investing in longer-term course improvement via the construction.

WILDLIFE SIGHTING: BOBCAT

After having walked some distance down fairway six, I spotted a large bobcat some 100 yards farther down the fairway. He or she had darted out of the hole’s left-side wooded area and seemed intent upon crossing the sixth fairway towards the twelfth hole–until, that is, it caught sight of me and beat a hasty retreat back into the dense wood.

BOTTOM LINE

I was not enamored with today’s pace of play, unusual for this course. Despite having gotten here early, I teed off ten minutes late, then waited on nearly every hole. Still, I like touring the Player Course: it’s a good test of ball-striking skills while staying within the bounds of fairness. Yes, there are some difficult holes, and all the more so when played sloppily–as we should expect on a course that slopes from the blues at 132. But that’s golf.

Just rained a few hours prior so course we soggy. But all the greens were air rated and impossible to putt. Lots of construction on course on almost every hole. Trenches being dug for wires in ground.

Horrible greens, beat up/soggy fairways and random construction on certain holes making play very awkward. Staff is pretty accommodating, left putter at home they let me borrow one at no charge. On-site pub/grill screwed up my lunch order then took twice as long as when I first placed it to get my corrected order back. There was no starter (as noted when we checked in by staff) but this led to a 4 some that was 40 minutes late to rush to the t-box effectively cutting several groups waiting to tee off at their scheduled times which led to a very slow pace of play and an overall miserable experience. Spring golf is wildly unpredictable and no one is expecting perfect conditions but the course still seems to be about a month away from being playable.