Tekoa Country Club

So i have been playing a lot of courses in the past couple weeks in CT and all of the greens had been punched and were in bad shape with no discounts. Took a hot deal to drive up to MASS to play Teoka and def will be back! The greens were absolutely phenomenal! I even asked the greens keeper if they punched them and they said yes about a week ago!

The course is tight but the greens were in such great shape, but not unfair!

Course was good but I recommended calling to see if they have a tournament booked before booking. Wanted to get food after playing but the kitchen was closed because of a tournament.

Overall was good but the no food was a drag.

greens where plugged crap grass every where place is a good layout lack of tlc the place is a goat farm

This course was great for the money, however it didn’t seem like the tee boxes had enough attention to them, you couldn’t hit off the deck because of all the crab grass and it was weird to stand on

The trip to Tekoa Country Club leads you a few miles outside of the large town of Westfield, but there you’ll enjoy the relative peace and quiet of this secluded tract of countryside land. The course, as I learned before playing here for the first time, comprises nine holes that were originally the creation of Donald Ross, along with nine more designed by Geoffrey Cornish. As I like both designers, it was no surprise that my positive expectations were met by the round’s conclusion. This layout is very good, and it did challenge, entertain, intrigue, and–as Ross (and sometimes Cornish) courses do, infuriate at times–but even that only heightened the fun.

LAYOUT
Tekoa’s difficulty matches its par, with a 71.2 stroke number. With a slope of 120 from the whites, difficulty for the typical player ranges above-average, but the flatness of the course, as much as anything, should help you manage a good score. From the blues, three par-4’s–the second, eighth, and seventeenth– exceed 400 yards. Even though the par 5’s are short here (only one of the four actually tops 500 yards), the course is resistant to scoring, largely because of the challenging greens. But it’s one of those courses that feels quite fair to me, mixing up the shot values so that there aren’t too many tough shots to play consecutively.

The front nine struck me as good, but a tad pedestrian compared to the more demanding and sometimes riveting back side. Sure, my interest was held on the front by the long par-4 at two and, at the sixth, a 223 yard par-3. And there are scoring opportunities at the pair of reachable par-5’s.

On the back nine, several brilliant holes up the ante:

Twelve: Par-5, 580.
The hole is about as straight as a Utah highway, and yet you’ll encounter a tree situated on the fairway’s right side down near the green, possibly throwing a wrench in the plans of those long-hitters who would fancy an eagle here.

Fourteen: Par-5, 491.
Where you needed power on twelve, this five-par is all about finesse: the hole curves leftward between the pines; four fairway bunkers await those who misplay their drive or second; the green cants strongly from back to front.

Seventeen: Par-4, 445.
What a tough par-4! This beast runs 445, and its difficulty is compounded by a right-angle dogleg with woods guarding its elbow, meaning you can’t short-cut it. So seventeen actually plays as long, it feels, as the short par-5 seventh. I hit my tee shot safely down the left side of the fairway, making for an arduous tee-to-green experience.

Eighteen: Par-3, 231.
Ends the round with an exclamation point, and your par will be well-earned if you manage it. This uphill par-three’s green features a well-protected, contoured surface.

HAZARDS & DEFENSES:
Tekoa is mainly characterized by big bunkers and lots of mature–and often very tall–trees. Trees are numerous here and often line entire fairways; heavy vegetation is something you’ll encounter mainly at the property’s periphery. As the town is situated in the Pioneer Valley and the western edge of the Connecticut River Valley, the terrain is quite flat; there is not a sizable hill to speak of. The Westfield River runs around three sides of this course, but is essentially not in play. Only one hole, the short par-3 third, has water, in the form of a pond that protects the small green. About a third of the holes have fairway traps, while all but a few of the greens have at least one bunker. Many of the greens are at grade and some are raised, but putting is one of the most challenging aspects of the course, as it seems many of the greens that typified Donald Ross’ style have been retained: those with false fronts or ridges, large slopes and big fall offs behind them. Geoffrey Cornish, who apparently worked on Tekoa in 1961, applied similar traits to his greens, so it may be hard, in this case, to distinguish between the two. In particular, several greens slope significantly: 1, 3, 4, 5, 14, 17, and 18. Most of the bunkers, however, seem like vintage Cornish.

Driving the ball is not quite as hard as putting the greens. It is generally the short par 4’s, notably the eighth, ninth, tenth, and fifteenth, where I would advise care in club selection off the tee, as wayward shots are often punished. Nine, for example, has a thirty-yard-wide fairway that can shunt the ball into the trees, courtesy of its slopes.

OTHER STUFF:
CONDITIONING: Two words that came to mind were “inconsistent” and “so-so,” overall. The greens were very good–smooth and fast and predictable. The rest of the course fell into the so-so range, with the fairways and tees middling and the roughs lagging behind everything (some areas were OK, others poor). Some of this may have been due to a dry spring and early summer, but overall it’s a notch below most other courses I’ve played over the last five weeks in greater Springfield. PACE: Could have been faster. Someone ahead (not sure who) was dawdling. FRIENDLINESS: The gentleman I met in the pro shop was both friendly and helpful.

BOTTOM LINE:
The flatness of this course actually makes it a nice counterpoint to the typically hilly, far more commonplace New England track. Tekoa’s main appeal, though, lies in its nice blend of challenge and scoring opportunity, and I like the fact that water hazards are minimal here, while bunkers, too, are likewise not overused. My rating amounts to a “3” score primarily because of conditioning, which is not bad but not what I expected. Tekoa was worth playing and I plan to return.

The greens were in excellent shape. The fairways were fair, as were the bunkers. The pace of play was excellent. It’s a little boring, as there’s no hills, but the doglegs keep it interesting. The lack of a range is a negative. It’s ok, but if you’re coming from out of town there’s better options.

Greens in good shape, fairways could use a little help.

Course was in good shape for the beginning of the year,once everything greens up it will beautiful.

Great layout, challenging tee shots, lots of legit doglegs, only 17 is a little too much of a right angle, like it was squeezed in to make room for club house. Greens very firm but rolled nice. Off the fairway is sketchy, lots of dirt bare spots, even around the green, tee boxes in rough shape already. 18 is a bear (220 yds) from the blues. An interesting track, played it once, would play again if I was local.