Pequabuck Golf Club
About
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blue | 69 | 6015 yards | 69.8 | 123 |
White | 69 | 5692 yards | 68.5 | 120 |
White (W) | 72 | 5692 yards | 72.7 | 123 |
Red (W) | 72 | 5349 yards | 71.0 | 120 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue M: 69.4/124 W: 74.1/128 | 294 | 435 | 515 | 181 | 330 | 169 | 510 | 183 | 386 | 3003 | 198 | 410 | 407 | 345 | 425 | 380 | 164 | 341 | 342 | 3012 | 6015 |
White M: 67.8/120 W: 72.0/123 | 286 | 424 | 470 | 169 | 322 | 155 | 465 | 174 | 371 | 2836 | 190 | 406 | 377 | 329 | 401 | 337 | 155 | 328 | 333 | 2856 | 5692 |
Red W: 69.7/120 | 278 | 413 | 410 | 159 | 276 | 132 | 432 | 140 | 356 | 2596 | 182 | 410 | 348 | 290 | 402 | 310 | 146 | 273 | 324 | 2685 | 5281 |
Gold M: 66.1/112 | 278 | 413 | 410 | 159 | 284 | 132 | 432 | 140 | 356 | 2604 | 182 | 410 | 348 | 294 | 377 | 310 | 146 | 273 | 324 | 2664 | 5268 |
Handicap | 14 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 11 | 17 | 5 | 15 | |||
Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 34 | 69 |
Handicap (W) | 14 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 17 | 11 | 9 |
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Reviewer Photos
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Hole four: The par-3’s at Pequabuck set a virtually matchless standard for Connecticut public-access courses. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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Seven: One of many standout holes here. Your approach, typically from over the hill, may set up a birdie opportunity. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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A threesome plays the par-three 10th hole. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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The scenery and the design of the 10th and 11th holes speak for themselves. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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Eleven starts from a tee overlooking the Bristol #1 reservoir. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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The 16th is a masterful short three-par, with views to match. Photo submitted by AptlyLinked on 10/20/2020
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4 green from 9 tee Photo submitted by u000006422071 on 12/17/2019
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11 from the tee Photo submitted by u000006422071 on 12/17/2019
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5 approach and green Photo submitted by u000006422071 on 12/17/2019
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10 and 11 from patio Photo submitted by u000006422071 on 12/17/2019
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Photo submitted by Jaehong3854715 on 10/31/2014
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Photo submitted by Jaehong3854715 on 10/31/2014
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Photo submitted by Jaehong3854715 on 10/31/2014
Playing through Corona
Only one per cart for social distancing. The front nine is compact with tee boxes right on top of others. Back is nicer with holes having more separation. Greens rolled true
Welcome break from quarantine... unique course
This course was unique and interesting, even for the Northeast. It’s a par 69 course, with some shorter holes on the front... and more typical distances down the back. The course is maintained well enough from fairways through greens, but the tee boxes could definitely use work. The bunkers are hard to judge in the corona virus world... seemed fine. The course is tight, with some holes using white stakes to separate one hole from another. Spraying a drive into the next fairway can be a 2 stroke penalty, whereas courses with more room don’t seem to have this issue. The course is working with what it’s got, and I prefer this solution to simply being a spacious 9 hole course. People were raving on and on about the back 9, and while there is lots of water and some unquestionably unique holes... I still didn’t love it. No par 5’s on the back and lots of par 4 fatigue. This is not an easy course so don’t be fooled. But you can still shoot 20 over par and technically be in the 80’s... so idk take what you will from that.
All in all I would play here again if asked to. I probably won’t seek it out, there are other courses I might prefer at the $40-50 price point. Just my opinion, I could see why some would be loyal fans of the course.
Countryside Bliss and a Riveting Back Nine
Pequbuck is a fascinating hybrid of a golf course. Mostly, it favors substance over style, its moderately –scaled fairways bending and twisting in classic fashion through forests of pine and oak, its tough green complexes always posing a challenge to your short game. Yet there are some flashier, modern holes here as well, where tumbling hills—reminiscent of British golf—add some drama, or long stretches of water side both fairways and greens, generating strong visual allure. At par 69, it has an extra par-three, but the five of these are all mid-range to long. And, while only two par fives are on hand, both exceed 500 yards. Add to this a quintet of long par-4’s, and Pequbuck plays, in reality, quite long (see note at end of review) even though its total yards are 6,015 from the blues.
What is most important, perhaps, about this course is its cunning layout. Today I was fortunate to join up over eighteen holes with Scott Dery, who has enjoyed countless rounds here and is a genuine Pequabuck aficionado. It is his considered opinion that this is a thinking man’s course, as it forces players to “always be planning their shots, carefully, on each and every hole. It’s not a simple drive-and-pitch golf course.” Scott is an excellent player who routinely hits 270-plus yard drives with his TM M-1 (he also birdied 1 and 10 today), so I’m inclined to put stock in his opinions. He proved an able guide throughout my first return visit to this course—which won’t be the last—in many a year. I also have to apologize to him for the lack of photos that were to accompany this review, due to a camera malfunction (he was helping me as we played with suggestions for pics of ideal angles on key holes, etc.).
Pequabuck’s first five holes are serviceably good, with an especially demanding long par-4 second, but the course stays in lower gear over the opening stretch until the sixth, when the elevation changes become more pronounced (Buckle up for a riveting experience, almost to conclusion). This par-3’s green of 169 yards is perched on a hillside; it is all carry to reach it with a mid-iron or hybrid. The distinguishing feature of this hole is this green’s pronounced tilt; it slopes dramatically downhill from left to right. Leave yourself a distance approaching—or exceeding—30 feet from the cup and you’re sadly in 3-putt city. It’s certainly a nicety to make a very hard-earned par at six, because after it you’ll be facing the par-5, 510 yard seventh, where the fairway drops into a huge swale from the tee, crests in the driving zone, then rises and falls—moving downhill—such that it appears like huge ocean waves, a beautifully irregular landscape that flattens eventually as it arrives at a smallish but tilted green (moving downhill from its high right side). Such contours make this a superlative and stunning golf hole.
The eighth, a strongly uphill and long par-3, features a rolling green flanked by bunkers set into its hillside. It’s another marvelous looking hole whose aesthetics may distract you from having to safely two-putt its surface. Nine is a handsome finisher on this outward side, a longish 4-par with another rolling and heaving landing zone that will test your driving skills. Once down this broad fairway, you will likely be left a mid-iron approach to its green, prettily set back in the pines.
In case, as of yet, golfers haven’t been entertained thoroughly enough here, there follows a ferocious back-nine—the subject of so much praise from previous reviews on Golf Advisor. And things get off to a rollicking start on 10, 11, and 12, arguably the best trio of back-to-back-to-back holes in Connecticut. From a high vantage point at tee ten, a spectacular par-three, you can see all that awaits you some 200 yards away at a green menacingly surrounded on both sides by a reservoir. Throw in a pair of flanking bunkers, some undulations, and a wooded backdrop, and the full scope of the threat below quickly becomes apparent. I was briefly imagining a watery grave for my Bridgestone (should my aerial assault via a 5-hybrid have misfired—by ever so little). Fortunately, my tee-shot stayed dry—though its landing spot did not leave me smiling.
The 11th hole is equally demanding and equally fantastic, lined by the same reservoir, now stretching from tee to green on its left. Down the right periphery of this fairway is a stately row of towering conifers, which concludes at a dauntingly small green. It is precariously situated on a hillside, its deep fall-off on the left side looming, and ready to catch the faintest pull or over-draw, which shall be swallowed by the reservoir. To add to the challenge, the green itself is a mere 17 yards wide, and a third of its surface slopes down sadistically toward the water. I should also mention that you have to putt the green, also no small task, on this number1 index hole. Of great appeal, too, for both its beauty and challenges is the rolling twelfth, a 407-yard par four with a fairway curving gently to the right as it falls markedly downhill, amidst the woodlands, to a circular and ably-defended green.
After these theatrics, you may enjoy what feels like a modest breather on the next three holes, yet this may well turn out to be an illusion. Each of these, in reality, poses tests of placement and straightness off the tee and into the green: Holes 13 and 15 dogleg in opposite directions, and the long par-4 (sandwiched between these two) places a premium on both length and precision. From a high tee at the following 16th, you’ll need another precisely-judged mid to short iron fired down to a bunker-flanked green with OB behind. Neither this tricky tee shot, nor what follows, is for the timid. Seventeen is simply a great hole, a short but uphill and dogleg-left par-4 that will potentially test both your long and shorter clubs—including those used greenside should you miss the putting surface. A sharply titled and strongly contoured green here will not take kindly to longer putts that are haphazardly judged. Eighteen is a good yet short finale that I found a tad anticlimactic after so much shot-for-shot excellence before it.
The long and short of it, when my round was done, was that I found myself in full agreement with the insightful Mr. Dery about the quality and outstanding playability of Pequabuck Golf Club. Built in 1902, it has stood well the test of time, and I observed that its conditioning was far, far better than when I last played it: during the spring of my senior year of high school. It brought back fond memories of competing on the golf team here. Despite its ‘shortness’ (we need to put that in air quotes, really), Pequabuck Golf Club can go toe-to-toe with virtually any other layout in Connecticut.
***An explanation on why this 6,015 course plays ‘long,’ in a few, short mathematical steps: A) At par 69, only 33 full shots are required from tee-to-green versus 36 on a par-72 course; B) Divide 6,015 by 33 to yield 182.27 yards per full shot; C) Multiply 182.27 yards by 36 shots (the comparable number for a par-72 course) to get 6,561 yards. The 6,561 is the EQUIVALENT YARDAGE on par-72 yard golf course, because both courses—whether 69 or 72-par—require an average of 182.27 yards per full shot. While I'm no Mark Broadie, this seems logical to me.
Amazing Golf Conditions.
Course is in great shape, greens are perfect and fast and the tee boxes and fairways are in great shape as well.
Excellent track
Course was in excellent shape from tee boxes to fairways to greens. Played along with three others, one being a member which was nice because there are some blind shots (doglegs) which require accurate tee shots to set up approaches to greens. There is quite a contrast in the layout of the front 9 and back 9 with the back 0 being a bit more interesting and scenic. Would definitely recommend playing here.
Most fairways in excellent condition. Some tee boxes pretty hacked up. Have to do something about the filthy geese on 10th & 11th holes especially
Greens Recently Aerated!
Great day for golf- pace of play was excellent (everyone back to watching the NFL?). Greens were touch as they were recently aerated so very sandy. Overall, good value for the money!
night and day
Played course for first time. The front nine is congested with some tee boxes alongside greens/tee boxes/cart paths. Was ready to hit driver when detected motion, it was carts coming from another hole and the path is directly in front of me. Course was in decent shape and people were nice. (group of 4 in front was very very slow and even stopped alongside green to drink water, beer, and chat) instead of moving so we could hit) Then they quit after 9 and the back 9 is different. Lots of different elevation holes, water and alot of fun to play. Nobody in front of us and very unique holes. Make sure you play the back 9!
Past member
I was a member there for many years. The course was in very good condition and the pace was good. However, they had 4 forward tee boxes that were moved up into the fairways which made the holes playing at a different par and not according to the scorecard, rating or slope. How to screw up your handicap. Just because the few women that belong there can't play from the normal tee boxes according to the scorecard doesn't mean women that come to play should have to. For the record, I played from where the red markers were supposed to be. Also, the men's gold tees rating/slope is a joke.
Fine course
Fairways are in excellent condition. The greens were quite fast & some difficult to read.
The Rookie
I’m new to the game this year and have tried as many different courses I can. This place is beautiful as well as challenging for all golfers.Not only do I highly recommend this course, I can’t wait to go back.
Interesting Layout
The front 9 on this course is very tight and makes it difficult to score. It's not the longest course but can be very challenging if you aren't at the top of your game.
Good Day
Nice course, perfect weather, course in great shape
First experience
I was looking to book a last minute tee time Friday night and saw the great reviews and a lot of availability, so decided to try this course for the first time for an 11:32 tee time Saturday.
The pro shop person was very friendly and helpful, and the course was in great shape. There were only two of us in my group and we played in front of a foursome and never had to wait. The course was in great shape and will definitely play here again soon.
Always nice
Play all 18 holes without seeing a house! How often do you find that? Great to tee it up there!
Hidden Gem
Pequabuck is such a hidden gem and one of the most unique courses in central CT. Don't let the par 69 layout of just about 6100 yards fool you, you'll be tested and use all the clubs in your bag. The front essentially presents scoring opportunities on the odd holes and real challenges on even holes. The back starts off with 10 being one of the most picturesque holes around, a long par three with water surrounding the approach and green on all sides. Then comes 11, a 400+ yd par four with water all down the left. A four here is a feather in your cap, its as challenging as it is beautiful. The rest of the back nine weaves through the pines and each hole is unique back to the clubhouse. The greens have been in great shape compared to years ago. The food is great and affordable. And there is no better place to have a beer than the patio overlooking 10 & 11. Great value for your money and always a blast to play.