East Hartford Golf Club

Course in pretty good condition, greens.in very good condition.

By Connecticut standards, East Hartford is nicely old-fashioned, and some will say it’s all the better for it. The fairways are broad enough for the most part. The greens tend to be smaller than the norm, and they’re often elevated just enough to make approaches tricky. The most prominent old-school feature is the strong pitch to many of the putting surfaces, which may well play havoc with your distance control. I found myself having a hard time on the front side judging their speed, especially downhill. Greens three and four, for example, are nightmarish on descending slopes. Most of the greens throughout the course, in fact, will require outstanding judgment if one is to consistently gauge their steepness.

While East Hartford does not fit the mold of an architectural classic on the order of Keney Park (about 6 miles from here), it still plays to almost the same level of difficulty from the blue tees: the slope ratings are identical at 124, although the Keney scratch-versus-par rating is tougher. Much like Keney, East Hartford has its share of challenging holes on which plenty of resistance is put up to the making of pars, typically from tee to cup.

Two of the most interesting holes come back to back at 13 and 14, both short four-pars. The former features a somewhat tight driving zone with water left; it’s all the more difficult to hit because you tee off on a hilltop. The latter is the best dogleg on the course, where the drive must be placed accurately to reach the bend, yet not traveling too far–as the trees come up fast. The uphill second shot is even better: it’s played into a long green pitched back to front as well as left to right, but also guarded by a lengthy right-side bunker.

This is an enjoyable driving course. Drive the ball straight and fairly long off the tee and you’ll have a chance to shoot your score. Some of the holes are a bit deceptive, looking quite open. But spray the ball more than a bit and the trees will quickly nab you. Especially good are the long par-fours–two, six and seventeen–each in the vicinity of 400 yards or more. A couple of the par-5s play over 500 yards and will be three-shotters for most golfers, but every one of the four has a trick up its sleeve–or the type of annoyance that may cost those who become careless a shot or more.

Other:

Pace was on the slow side. The company of two good playing partners was a strong positive.

Conditioning:

Good overall, and improved since the last time I played here early last year. Greens run smoothly and true; fairways are well-kept, and tees are mostly in good shape. Bunkers were decent, but the one real weakness proved to be patchy greenside areas on enough of the holes to become an irritant. Some of the fringes can also be more consistent. In general, the staff here seems to be serious about long-term improvement.

Some Conclusions:

This is among the top value tracks I’ve played in Connecticut this year. Above all, the price was right, and the conditioning improvements (over my last visit) impressive. East Hartford is definitely recommended to value-oriented golfers who also look for a challenging eighteen holes, and beyond that the course delivers both variety and careful design. The hand of architect Al Zikorus is evident in the slopes of these difficult putting surfaces.

18 holes. Good shape. Weather was unreal. Price for 18 and a cart is beyond reasonable. Best pace of play I’ve seen all year. Some spots could use some work but it looks like it was from the weather we had recently. Would certainly play here again

Beautiful day and the course was in great shape. Perfect day to be out there.

I have played this course many times over the years and must say it's at best ever so far.

If you know this course you'll agree!

Is this a PGA tour quality track, absolutely not. Is it as decent as the local country club, not even close. But it is cheap and reliable, open all winter, and primed to become the course where you shoot your career low.

I played this course today and I must say I didn't need the cart. The course was extremely well laid out. The tee boxes were basically at the end of or next to the previous green. The greens were amazing and minus the few wet spots because of the heavy rain the prior night, the fairways were in great shape. Also they have kids tees which I have never seen before and I was delighted to see, as I have 2 kids under 14 who want to play real courses but get overwhelmed with the red tees. So these tees are perfect for them and my wife who wants to golf but can't get the ball very far. Overall great course and an amazing value at 18 bucks to walk. (I bought the cart once I got there because I was afraid I wouldn't beat the rain and I most certainly did.)