Player at Lyman Orchards Golf Club

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.

Packed course being March and 70 degrees out as expected. Tee times backed up, again expected. No expectations as it is early in the season, Lyman always a fun course to play. See our round on utube… KTB Hackers Golf..

This is the first time I have ever witnessed watching a foursome video tape every shot they made using a GoPro on the tee box and a 5 foot tripod on every fairway and green. We waited to hit on every hole and kept asking them to pick up their pace. There was no ranger in sight the entire round! Pathetic display of narcissism and not caring about anybody else. Two holes were open in front of them. Ridiculous!

The course was a bit wet which was to be expected but overall it was a very enjoyable day the greens are in pretty good condition but with car path only and people walking it was a slow round.

Love to play this course every fall but last week was the worst slow play of my life and no starter or ranger was there. Teed off at 1:15 left the course after 8 holes at 4:40.

Front Nine Review: The Player’s front nine kicks off with a tough par-4 of 400 yards, a hole that doglegs uphill to a perched green. It’s a good indication of what’s to come. It may be comforting to know, at least, that the second hole is one of three shorter four-pars on the front (which include the 5th--which plays downhill to a green set amidst the trees--and the tricky sixth with its downhill, blind second shot). The overall difficulty, then, is balanced here with these easier, if not routine, ‘par-holes.’

Yet your score on this nine will likely be determined by how you play these pivotal holes, all rigorous ones:

-- Three, the most brutal driving hole on the entire eighteen, demands a long forced carry to a fairway sided by woods. The second shot is another target exercise to a raised and well-defended green.

--Four and seven are both mid-range par threes with different challenges, but the latter stands out because clubbing it is difficult given that the tee is set some fifty feet or more above the green.

-- Eight is the toughest tee-to-green hole on the Player. The drive plays steeply uphill to a tight fairway, which farther on makes a beeline toward a long trough, filled with a brushy overgrowth, that runs some 100 yards downhill toward the green. It’s another merciless crosshazard that doesn’t negotiate with golf balls, but rather eats them with gusto. The green has a small shelf in the back, which clearly can be murder for those incapable of 140-yard, high-spinning wedges (I certainly can’t).

Maybe it’s fitting that this is called “the Player Course,” because the slope of 132 (and that’s just from the blues) reinforces a name that seemingly puns on the idea that this is a course only for ‘players.’ With several sets of tees, though, it will be playable for a wide range of golfers. Is it harder (?) than its counterpart at Lyman: the Jones Course. I’ve always found the RTJ, Sr. course, with virtually every single hole a fairly tough par, to be the less forgiving exam from tee to cup. The greens at this Player are very good, but they’re more subtle than those at the Jones. But they’re also more fun--less stressful--to play here and they roll, as I was reminded again today, at what I consider perfect speed: medium-fast.

The Player Course also boasts terrific vistas across its rolling fairways and beyond, into the scenic hills of pastoral Middlefied. Mr. Player, who happens to be one of my favorite golfers (I’ll never forget his bold surge to victory in the ‘78 Masters at age 42, in which he overcame a deficit of seven shots) and who remains a great ambassador for the game, exploits the property’s landscape and its surrounds well throughout this routing. The views are particularly impressive at holes two, five, six, seven and eight.

Conditions: Presently in good shape. A few flaws exist around some of the tees, which apparently have endured heavy play in 2021, and in some of the roughs (the result of some small construction projects, it seems, going on near a few fairways). The fairways and greens were in very good condition, though there are a few wet areas--as expected-- after the recent nor’easter. But overall the course’s playability is good considering it’s nearly Halloween.

Some conclusions:

The Player course, though balanced and varied enough, emphasizes target golf on many of its holes. This will be an acquired taste for some players. I’m not all that partial to it, but I respect the integrity of these holes as well as the care and precision Gary Player put into this design. For those who want a ball-striking challenge, this will fit the bill. Not having played this in many years, I was a bit surprised today at my enjoyment of each one of these nine front-side holes.

We were warned that it was a tough golf course to walk in though we heated the warning we found it OK just that some of the walks in between holes was pretty long. T

The only other drawback is that a lot of the roofs were extremely tall and long and much too challenging for the average golfer.

The course was in great shape and we definitely would come back and play it again in the near future

Played my last round at Lyman. What a disaster! Whoever manages this course should be fired. No driving range on a Tuesday because they do "work on it". Another employee tells us "the ball dispensing machine doesn't work". We then have the same issue on an extraordinarily busy saturday. STILL no driving range.

And let's just make playing there EVEN worse....

I get having cart-path-only after some rain. But by 1 pm, 90% of the holes on the Player course were easily drivable. And the carts are all updated via some wifi to restrict their access to the course. Maybe lazy manager/superintendent guy can drive the course to open up most of the holes so we don't have to endure a 5 hour and 30 minute round. PLUS they let the rough grow so long that all the players hitting into the rough on the other side from the cart path have to walk across, then walk up and down looking for their ball wasting even more time.

This course is so poorly managed. There are far better places to play in CT.

Nobody at fault but it’s been cart path only forever, course has real trouble getting rid of rain

This course has fallen into disrepair and that is surprising considering the reputation that the Lyman organization has. The course was almost unplayable yesterday with standing water throughout, rough that hasn’t been cut in many days, deteriorating tee boxes and cart paths so bad in areas that you could hurt yourself if not careful.

I complained to the staff and they were very nice about it which is appreciated. I hope they reinvest in this course as it was always known for its great conditions.

The cart paths are becoming downright dangerous and need to be re-paved throughout. Also, someone should trim back the branches and foliage overhanging on the paths. The tee boxes also need some serious attention. Its not worth $75-85 per round in its current state.

Not quite worth the price paid. 2/3's of the course are blind shots. I'm talking tee shots AND second shots from the middle of the fairway on par 4's. The course wasn't in great condition. Not even close in comparison with the Jones course on the same facility.