There’s plenty of great golf in Massachusetts. I broke up Massachusetts into seven regions and picked one course in each region that is worth playing.
Hey everyone and welcome back to the base State Golf podcast I am your host Sean milia thanks as always for joining today’s topic is we’re going to talk about one golf course that I think you should visit in each region of the state I have divided the state up into some
Different regions no idea if these are uh what everyone else would break them up into but that’s what we’re doing we’ve got seven different regions looking forward to talking about some new golf courses uh that I have played as always these are courses only that I
Have stepped foot on and hit a golf shot on since 2020 when I began my quest very quickly before we get into those golf courses and jumping around the state just a request to rate review subscribe wherever you’re listening to or watching this podcast uh it’s a huge help and if
You want to see some of the videos and pictures you can check out the YouTube channel where I kind of drop in some some footage of the different golf courses as I talk about them and then the last thing please subscribe to my newsletter it comes out every Friday I
Write a little essay I kind of comp compile all the stuff I’ve done over the course of the week and share it on a Friday morning um also have some links in there of things I’ve read some podcasts I’ve listened to music I’m listening to books I’ve read food I’ve
Eaten and enjoyed uh what I’m drinking um whatever else I kind of enjoyed from the week my my Friday favorite so please subscribe to that you can find that at Baystate golf. beehive.org eh H i.com it’s a huge help and it’s a nice way for you to get all my stuff in one
Place on a Friday morning uh kill some time before you jump into your workday or just kill some time on the weekend um all right let’s jump into my one Golf Course per region we went public golf this week as usual try to shout out some
Places that um I have liked I have tried in this list to come up with some places that I have haven’t spoken about yet in some cases they are courses I have talked about um but for the most part you know trying to mix it up trying to
Give you all some new places to check out it is the end of March right now and people are excited to go play golf maybe in your mind you’re thinking I’m gonna hop in a car and drive for an hour to a different part of Massachusetts and play
A new golf course uh so you can do that also make sure to check out my weekend trips podcast that I did last week uh it’s also on YouTube um but I put together a few trips that you could take throughout New England if uh you’re feeling very adventurous and you want to
Take a weekend or an overnight trip and go play some uh golf in some different parts of of New England okay so my regions I’m going to break them down here and then we’re just going to go through and I’m going to share one Golf Course per region I’ve got the Metro
West I’ve got Central Mass I’ve got a course in the City I’ve got a course on the Southshore south of the city I’ve got one course on the cape I’ve got one course in Central Mass and then I’ve got one course that is in the NorthShore north of the city
Area so we’re going to bounce around the state a little bit and might give some honorable mentions because it’s hard to just talk about one or hard to just shout out one um especially in some of these sections where I’ve played a lot of golf so let’s just start with where I
Grew up Metro West area I think this is the Metro West um it’s some people have told me that butterbrook is in Central Mass I don’t fully completely buy that it’s it’s a 40 minute drive for me from uh from Boston I grew up in Acton never
Once did I really think I was in Central Mass or living in Central Mass so I’m going to give you butterbrook as my first choice um in the Metro West area there’s there’s a few other good ones but butterbrook is a place that if I wasn’t on my quest and I was still
Living in Charles Town would be a golf course I would play regularly it was of course before the quest I did play regularly and would H would happily drive out there uh find a time when I was a teacher I had the luxury of having free time during the week some people
Would argue that I still have free time during the week and your argument would be pretty accurate but this was no work to be done um and I could go and and kind of make a tea time whenever I wanted without any sort of UH responsibilities and butterbrook was one
Of the courses I really liked going and playing obviously I grew up there so the drive was comfortable easy I knew where I was going I knew it was in the area uh but the golf course is very very good uh it’s treelined it’s challenging I know
That some people would love to see the greens just be a little bit faster the pace of play be a little bit faster but it’s a it’s a course that offers a lot of different shots you play the first um 11 holes through some trees you’re playing kind of around some dog
Legs uh you play three par fives on the front along with three par 3’s on the front and three par fours on the front so it’s kind of a interesting setup um I don’t think you play I think after the sixth hole you don’t play a par four
Until the 10th hole so there’s some kind of interesting routing it’s not distracting um and I I just I think it’s a very good golf course then you play 12 through 18 12 13 14 15 and 16 play completely differently they’re in open land there’s kind of waste area
Separating um the holes and 15 feels like you’re off playing a little bit of Florida golf and um 16 is a great par five that typically plays downwind and it’s a nice one to play downwind because then you get 17 downwind and 18 once you make that turn on 16 you’re heading
Straight towards the clubhouse and it’s just it’s just a a spot that I really like playing it’s got a good range uh in the last year I think one complaint was the price was a little high especially Friday afternoons and the weekends which I detailed in a in another video about
Value but if you play this place during the week it’s uh it’s a pretty good it’s a pretty good price you can walk for pretty cheap and um the other kind of piece of the value part was the third hole for the last year was under construction so it was closed completely
You just drove from the second T box to the or second green to the fourth T box and then once you finished the ninth hole on the golf course you would drive and play a short hole that was Mak basically the replacement hole of the
Third and it was at the back of the range it used to be um a little practice area that I loved when I was um really kind of grinding and and wanting some place to practice uh the little chipping green uh at the back of the range was
Great had Short Grass you could hit like 30 yard shots um it was typically pretty quiet back there and that became a part three and people thought they were kind of getting jipped a little bit not getting kind of 18 full holes but it seems like when I played there in
October the third hole was completely uh just about done and the grass was going to start growing so I would imagine that this spring it will be a fully open 18 hoold golf course as a extra plug I am also hosting an event there with Jordan from FN 3p we
Are uh inviting people to come and play a two-man aggregate on May 30th which is a Thursday tea time starting at 10: so it’s not a shotgun start um take a Thursday afternoon uh skip out of work play some golf meet a bunch of new
People uh you can sign up with a partner or we can kind of pair you up if you are a single and just looking to meet some new people and play some golf so two Manet aggregate um at butterbrook gonna be great please go and sign up for that
And um I will add the link in the description of this and you can also find it on my Instagram page jate golf so butterbrook Metro West go play it I’m going to give a little shout out to Sandy Burr which I’ve talked about um Shaker Hills maybe closer to the
Central Mass part um Shaker Hills wise but Sandy Burr is another really good option that if I had a little bit of free time during the week living in Boston um that would be that’s kind of another place if I wasn’t on my quest that I try to sneak out and play uh
During you know quieter times of the week when it’s dry because it can get a little bit soggy out there but Metro West butterbrook go check it out let’s go to Central Mass officially centr mass and I want to talk about kettlebrook a golf course that I another
Thing I was thinking about as I was doing this list was what are some courses that as I’m writing them down I’m thinking I would love to go play it again this summer maybe I won’t have time to maybe I’ll have to go play a place to check off um but kettlebrook in
Paxton is just just west of wer and it is a really fun I don’t really love using the word fun but it is it is a it’s a really good interesting challenging Golf Course the only time I played it was in November it was very cold I didn’t get to take many pictures
Because I could barely feel my hands and I had the um the FootJoy winter gloves on um I was just trying to stay warm not really that interested in in taking a bunch of pictures um just trying to get it around and and see the golf course so
That’s a place I would love to go back and play on a good warm day or just a normal summer fall day uh we finished in the dark we played 17 and 18 with headlamps um and just kind of hoping we could find our golf balls so I would
Love to go back and play kettlebrook it is Big it’s bronny it’s a little bit like butterbrook in the sense that you play kind of a cycle of there’s 11 holes and the 12th hole is a par three right by the clubhouse that if you’ve never been there before you’d
Think that it could be the 18th hole it’s really kind of Central in a central location as you’re walking um to the golf course and go into pay and and go into the first T you just walk by this par three that’s a long one um big carry
Forced carry and but it’s not it’s the it’s um it’s the 12th hole and then 13 through 18 you got to go across the parking lot 13 is a maybe the it’s the signature hole on the course at least visually um it has a kind of a barn off
To the left it’s a drivable par 4 and you got the road it’s a little bit risk reward if you really want to go for it um but just a a really good strong golf course it’s owned by the same people as watchus so it hosts the Worcester County
Am um so I don’t know when that is it’s usually early July that might be a really good time to go and and play wusd when it’s just been dialed up maybe a touch for some of the best amateurs in the state um who play there every year
In uh at kettlebrook so in the central go check out kettlebrook um some other ones that I would love to get back and and see again I I I like Blissful Meadows I don’t know why um necessarily when I think back on it but I I liked
The greens a lot I thought the back nine was was particularly good um so Blissful Meadows would be another little Shout out for the Central Mass folks all right let’s talk about in the city not a lot of choices here and I thought I got to
Put a stake in the ground and if I’m kind of gonna go back and play a place or if I’ve got someone in town and I want them to experience New England golf um George Wright is the place I bring them if I am playing 10 rounds and I’m breaking them
Up between George Wright and Franklin Park I’m probably playing Franklin Park six maybe seven times to George wri 3 George Wright is an ass kicker uh it’s very challenging um a bunch of blind t- shots and it’s just harder than Franklin Park but if I’m gonna get one round in
If I’m just looking at T if I’m looking at t- Sheets George Wright is is probably the place I’m gonna want to go play if I’m trying to sharpen my game get a little test or if I’ve got someone out of town who has never really played
New England Golf and wants to go play it’s it’s likely the course that I’m I’m gonna go to First and check te times and then Franklin Park a very close side I love Franklin Park I’m trying to qualify for the mass am at Franklin Park so it’s
A place that uh I’m hoping brings me some good luck and maybe this is the karma will come and slap me in the face and uh I want you to good score there but I I’ve had people particularly had a we had a family friend out from Texas
She plays at Bowden um and she had never played New England Golf and she was looking at colleges and um and actually had already settled on playing at Bowden and that’s where I took her to play it kind of blew her mind coming from from uh from Texas and just playing very
Different Golf out there so George Wright is my city is my city Choice Franklin Park is a close second if you want to I don’t know I don’t know if you if people count Fresh Pond or not um but that would be that would be the third
Out of that if I was going to power rank them for one round let’s go south of the city so many options I realized looking at my map that I have built and is on my website that I’ve really played a good cluster of golf courses that are you know within
45 minutes of where I live and there’s a slew of them on the Southshore I tend to try to play the Southshore courses in the spring um I made it a point last year and even the year before Friday mornings I would try to get up go play
Somewhere early on a Friday so I could avoid traffic getting down there and then maybe come back in the middle of the day and not sit on 93 coming home so I’ve played it I’ve played a bunch down there this is another one that I would
Really like to get back to and play again and again I’m only talking about ones I’ve played so there might be places that in your mind that are you’re running through that you’re thinking why is this not on the list why has he not talked about this golf course if I
Haven’t played it um it doesn’t make the list crosswind is my choice Crosswinds has 27 holes Crosswinds has incredible value it is Inc it’s affordable you can play all 27 in a day I did I played it on a rainy dreary day um June of 2021 so this is
I’m going on three years since playing there I will be back there this year playing it in July in our second half swing series event with fn3p um and that is on July 18th so I’ll be down there playing um that day I’m excited to te it up and go play 18 maybe
Sneak in an emergency n um on whichever course uh I I don’t play it’s just a really strong set of holes it was in even for the rain it was in good shape I think it’s always in good shape when you compare it to Waverly Oaks which I also
Think is very good and Pine Hills which I have not played on the quest I’ve played it but I haven’t been to Pine Hills in I believe five or six years I have not played on the quest and um maybe so it’s at least since 2019 I
Don’t really feel a draw to go back and play Pine Hills which I think maybe says something about about the golf course I know that people really like Pine Hills for the experience of feeling like you’re a member and and the attention and the facilities I I understand all of
That but I’m not particularly drawn to look at tea times a week in advance and go play Pine Hills maybe it’s because it’s low hanging fruit it’s an easy place to get to for me I can wake up in the morning and be down there pretty
Quickly I remember in 2017 I played one of the courses in like two and a half hours um 2018 actually I know because it was uh right before we we went on a trip for our for uh our first anniversary so it was early July
Of um of 2018 I played in like two and a half hours I was the first guy off it was I don’t know if that’s if you can even do that anymore but that’s that’s kind of the pine that the Pine Hills is not calling me to come
Back and I think that means something I’d rather go play Crosswinds a second time and see it and and check it out and and play all 27 holes there I think the one strike against Crosswinds which is not nothing to do with the golf course
But with 27 holes you don’t play a set 18 they kind of send you out um depending on what the what the busyness of the place is um at least in the experience I had in 21 in 2021 where you’re you’re not you don’t really get to kind of pick where you’re going
You’ve gota you’ve just gota you’re at the whim of the of the pro shop and and where they want to send people out which is which is kind of too bad I know Bayberry Hills just um kind of created their 18old championship course and then they’ve got their their links course as
Well so you know when you show up you’re playing their 18 holes I think they used to be red black and blue um I believe are the colors and now it’s um now it’s a championship course and I think the links course never played the links
That’s the nine I’ve got to go back and and play but Crosswinds outstanding outstanding value very very good conditions strong golf really good land you’re playing over and around uh kind of that typical Plymouth Hills um area that you see at Atlantic and at Pine
Hills um and at Waverly so go go play Crosswinds if you’re G to play Crosswinds sign up for our event to meet some new people like I said before it’s the same setup as butter BR 150 bucks to play um get a partner Fork over 300
Bucks uh between the two of you we got good prizes you’ll meet some people you’ll play some golf it’s on Thursday July 18th let’s go to the cape just keep going south we’ll head we’ll head over the bridges and uh and go to Cape Cod so
I haven’t played again looking at my map I have not played a lot of golf in Cape Cod on Cape Cod and I I I’m not quite sure why it’s just you know golf is at right now I’ve made a lot of day trips and so getting out to the cape I
Want to make it worth my while I think two of my trips down there have been 36 whole days I played Bass River and Bayberry Hills in a day um I played both Captain’s courses in a day um I played Brookside and that was early in the season probably the easiest trip you
Just you’re right over the Bourne Bridge and you’re and you’re playing golf um and then Cape cot Country Club I’ve played a few times um in a couple of events and and tacked it on with a trip to kou it for H for the crocker so those
Are all the courses I’ve played on the cape I’ve played both captains I’ve played Bass River I’ve played bayberries 18 holes I’ve played K Cod Country Club so not a big selection I’ve talked about a bunch of these golf courses in different places and I thought giving
Captain starboard a little bit of shine here um would be would be a good idea and partly because I’ve talked about Cape cot Country Club a bunch great fun Golf Course um I I like it there’s some stuff about Cap Cod that can rub you the wrong way doesn’t finish particularly
Strong the whole ownership trying to unload it during covid and turn it into a solar field you know there’s some stuff going on at Cape Cod um but I played captains both of them in a day in a boss and golf and social event those
Are also very fun uh we played kind of right around the solstice um Tom coin was there which was very cool he was playing in the group behind us for the first round where we played Port don’t like Port as much as I like um starboard and starboard just had
A little bit more character uh not as many funky holes the land moved a little bit more um there was some Quirk to it I found the closing stretch really strong um and I think I think it just overall was a was a more enjoyable course and
Playing them back to back was was kind of a nice way to compare I don’t love trying to compare all the time but when you play two places that are owned by the same owned by the same people and you can go make tea times at either one
Of them uh if you had the option I would put the starboard starboard typically hosts um you know some qualifying events I believe us Junior am qualifier has been there might be there this year there’s you know so it has it packs a little bit more of a punch than than the
Port and the port also has one one of the worst holes I’ve played uh par five it might be the eighth hole um as I’m thinking off the top of my head but just just a really really horrendous hole but starboard is good they’ve got a quirky
Hole with a tree in the middle of the Fairway but it’s not like I kind of liked it um it was done properly and just just a overall a pretty good golf course good closing stretch good greens um the part 3es are are pretty solid and uh that’s what I
Would I would send you out there go play go play um the captain starboard course um this summer if you want to play both you absolutely can it’s a kind of a nice day T boxes are right there you’re not driving anywhere it’s very much like
Pine Hills in that respect you just you can kind of have a home base and go play 36 holes um a day in the day in Brewster so that’s that’s a good one if you don’t want to go that far down the cape you could play Cape Cod Country Club you
Could play Brookside um you could play Bayberry or you could play Bass River those are the ones I played I liked frankly I liked all of them um if I could power rank them which uh which would be a good episode I think I think I would probably at the bottom
Actually I’m not gonna do that I’m just gonna move on I’m not gonna talk about a golf course or power rank them off the top of my head so Cap Cod Country Cape Cod go play captains the starboard course western Mass I know what you’re thinking he’s gonna talk about tonic again I’m
Not going to talk about tonic tonic is an expensive choice and I thought I’m just gonna tell people I need to play more golf in western Mass like a ton more golf because my map is basically devoid of any real golf in from Worcester through the the border of New
York aside from Waba tonic great horse in Elm Crest and I would really never recommend anyone go play Elm Crest unless you’re looking for the most strange unique experience I believe it’s closed right now anyways no idea what the future of that place holds uh completely odd um
Experience going and playing there great Hors is obviously private if you can play there don’t turn down an invite it’s it’s a it’s a solid spot very very good uh it’ll kick your ass um and you’ll have a blast doing it because it’s it’s fun the vibe is great there
And the energy is is um at the clubhouse food is good all that all that good stuff but I’m just going to throw ABA out there I’ve thrown it out there before so I’m not going to spend a ton of time talking about it and it’s just a
Solid Choice out in the Williamstown area I talked about it last week in my weekend trip podcast to as a place to go play on top of tonic um good golf course good greens good scenery you could go play it in the fall um you could go play
It and then play Crump and Fox on the way home if you drive through that way uh there’s a bunch of places you could kind of stop on the way out or on the way back if you wanted to make a little trip of it but Waba in western Mass
Certainly go and check out um that Golf Course for me it’s a long drive for some folks it is not a long drive if you live in central or western Mass so Waba is my choice there in Williamstown mass and then north of the city uh another you
Know obviously like I said with the South another place that I’ve played a bunch of golf there’s also a lot of places that um that I haven’t played yet uh up in that area but as far as public gol and as far as a place I haven’t
Talked about again I I’m trying to avoid just repeating myself I’m very much looking forward to in the next few weeks finally getting back out on a golf course and playing new golf courses and uh having some new places to share with all of you um here and on my newsletter
And on my Instagram and all the places that I uh I post about stuff but one place that I have not talked about that I liked I liked and I think people should go check out is troll Brook uh troll Brook is a you know a
Pretty solid option if you live kind of North if you live in New Hampshire um as well it’s um it just has a a bunch of really good holes especially on the back nine I found myself Charmed by really like holes 10 through 15 are outstanding and particularly holes 12 13
14 and 15 are are really are really good uh you’re you’re playing along the maram river and I wish there was some spots where you could like I’ve said with Bass River and some of these other golf courses you’re kind of the trees are protecting you from some of the views
That you might get uh while you’re out there but troll Brook you know it has a few holes that are wonky a few hard elbow dog legs where you’ve got to really be accurate and kind of have a sense of what you want to hit off a te
So you don’t go screaming through a dog leg or come up too short and you’re kind of trying to hit a big curvy approach shot to avoid uh trees that are over hanging the near part of the dog leg so there is a little sense of playing there
A few times you can kind of get a Groove and find your way around it and figure out what you want to hit off T’s the first hole is hyper strange um I remember I think I hit an eight iron off the te because it’s such a short little
Hit to get to the dog leg to then see going in and I think I had hit I think I might have had a six iron into the green so you know that’s once you get through that first hole in a few on the front um you know
That are are like that and then a few of the closers some people like that type of golf and it didn’t really turn me off to the place I would love to go back and play it again um mainly because some of the other holes too is a really good par
Five that kind of rolls you downhill three you come back up the hill that you played uh the the you play down on the second hole the third hole comes back up with a really elevated green very hard hole um um two good shots to just get it
On the green and and try to make a par so there’s and then and then like I said 10 through 10 through 15 you kind of take a long walk from nine green to 10 T 10t and the 10th hole kind of you play down and then straight back uphill to
The green and then 11 you play downhill to uh the green it’s just a par three but you’re hitting over water um 12 is a really good par five one of my kind of HP holes that I’ve played um it’s not terribly long but the slope of it and
The kind of the Rolling movement uh is really good so go play troll Brook it’s it’s not terribly far from the city it’s you know you can get there pretty quickly you just need to head up to tuxbury so you know it’s a 35 minute
Drive on a on a good day from from uh from the city and I know I talk about living in the city because that’s where I live but but if you live anywhere North of Boston or even kind of Metro West tesb is not too far you’re just
Hopping on 495 and heading heading up North so that is kind of the last region uh and the last golf course if I could you know give you some other places north I would point you to cap um to capan I love capan it’s a nine hleer I
Also just tried to keep this to to 18 whole golf courses but capan is also very good I’ve talked about it a bunch of times just a beautiful place to go play golf just make sure you check the website to make sure that their green heads are not eating people alive out
There but you can definitely play some really good golf and and and loop it twice and and really enjoy it so kban would be you know my honorable mention I’ve talked about it a bunch it’s one of my favorites and uh you should go play
It whether uh you live near Essex or not it is worth the drive and just spending a day in Essex uh is is an excellent way to uh to spend a summer day early spring spring day late spring day whenever uh just check on the green heads let’s run
Through all of these One Last Time get out your pens write them down in the Metro West go play butterbrook Central Mass go play kettlebrook in the city go play George Wright south of the city go check out Crosswinds on Cape Cod go to Brewster and play Captain’s star board western
Mass go play Waba in Williamstown I know I have many more places to play in western Mass I’m looking forward to having some new places to talk about very soon and finally north of the city go and check out troll Brook that is the list I hope many of
You go and find some new places to play this summer and in the comments or shoot me a DM or write me an email with some of the spots that you particularly like in each of these regions if I haven’t played them I might move them to the top
Of my list thanks as always for listening thanks for subscribing thanks for rating and reviewing and your just general support making it all the way through this and any of my other podcasts and videos until next time hit them straight
