Agawam Municipal Golf Course

This is a muni that under promises and over delivers.

After a quick look at the scorecard, I assumed Agawam to be a pushover: it’s short overall and has a bundle of five-pars, gentle-seeming par-fours, and a raft of short par-3’s to boot. The course rating is 67. And in actuality most of the front-side holes were feeling tame when I began playing them.

Then again, I soon realized that all of this was a bit deceptive. Even over the first seven, easier holes, where the layout tumbles down from its hilltop clubhouse, there are uphill, downhill and sidehill slopes everywhere, and the greens are hardly a bargain (especially a couple of them). Small mistakes will still put bogies on the card.

Yet scoring on the outward half turns out to be a must, because the course adds many perils on the journey home, when the real game is on.

MORE ON THE COURSE LAYOUT:

On the front side Agawam Municipal plays the well-behaved Dr. Jekyll. For the majority of this nine, the fairways are open and wide, the tee-to-green yardages short. Yet a transformation begins at eight: the drive must be hit uphill to a plateau landing zone, and the hole’s 518 yards feels more like 560. Then, at nine, the course turns ornery with a short but hard 3-par, its plateau green raised some four stories above the tee. The small putting surface falls off all around its edges. Double and triple bogeys, I would guess, are common here.

By the back nine, you are facing Mr. Hyde, who doesn’t leave the party for quite a while. Opening it up are three mean holes (one of them a par-5; two are four-pars), all situated on the same two huge hills. Each fairway plummets from a high tee into a valley; each one then rises back up to its opposing hilltop. The twelfth also happens to be tight, its green guarded on the right by a wide-spreading tree. Up next at holes thirteen and fourteen are a three and then four-par, the former made ticky by a partially blind shot (you can’t see the putting surface from the tee), and the latter’s tee shot an even bigger problem: your drive must carry a stream but not run through the dogleg fairway.

Settling down a bit, the remaining holes are not as tough overall, though there are very tricky second shots on the two remaining par-5s, sixteen and seventeen.

MOST INTERESTING HOLE: Par-five 16th; 521 yards

Sixteen and seventeen are both unusual par-5’s. Seventeen struck me as fussy but interesting, while sixteen instead puts up just the right mix of obstacles, moving, as it does, in a sweeping arc that forces you to play the angles carefully. The drive is blind; the second shot demands high precision; the third, into a raised green, will need to land relatively close to the pin for a two-putt on this tilted surface.

BEST HOLE: Par-4 11th; 395 yards

Eleven is exhilarating, starting from a high tee and encouraging you to rip it, as the landing zone is fairly wide far below. A perched green is set on a mini-mesa (clubbing the approach is dicey).

EXPERIENCE:

Today I enjoyed my first play here, though the round was marred by slow play, the cause being a twenty minute wait on tee ten. Service was polite and helpful in the pro shop, and also excellent at the first tee: the starter was friendly, pleasant, eager to help. The restaurant was spacious and stylish, and it seems to have been remodeled or renovated not long ago. The course itself is easy to find, and its beauty can’t escape your attention with exceptional views into the distance, including downtown Springfield. The Pioneer Valley has to rank among the more striking parts of New England, a mix of rolling farmland and picturesque surrounding hills.

The course is clearly a value proposition. Built in 1944, AMGC may lack a slew of cavernous bunkers along with the ubiquitous water hazards that modern courses favor. But what it offers is a great deal of fun as you play eighteen solidly designed golf holes: the challenge is not formidable, but it’s enough. Getting here is a bit of a drive for me, but I plan to return this summer.

Lots of people out there whenever I go but overall well worth the $. Not overly challenging but offers several fun holes especially the 9th. This course won’t blow you away but it is extremely solid.

have played it before and on the whole was pleased with the conditions, Good pace of play and greens in good condition.

I play at Agawam a couple times each year and always enjoy it. The course was still a bit wet yesterday, but we managed.

Great public city course. Nice layout to tune your game or break the rust off from the winter. Nice open par 5 holes and a couple of challenging ones.

Inexpensive municipal course. Mostly wide open. Typical early season conditions.

Great early November golf. For a beginner, it’s a forgiving course and great value for the fee.