Fairfield County, CT. Which public course should I play ?

[mangohead]

Any to avoid?  Crowded, etc.

Which is my best bet?

[mangohead]

https://www.longshoregolfcourse.com/course/course-info/golf-rates

http://www.sterlingfarmsgc.com/-rates

https://www.oakhillsgc.com/course/course-rates

[RTP419]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:25 AM, mangohead said:

https://www.longshoregolfcourse.com/course/course-info/golf-rates

http://www.sterlingfarmsgc.com/-rates

https://www.oakhillsgc.com/course/course-rates

 

I know I am a little late but I am not sure I would play Sterling or Oak Hills. Sterling they have tried to stretch every last yard out of that property and half the holes are so contrived and not what they were originally intended to be (tee boxes on top of greens or better yet directly next to fairways and the landing areas). Oak Hills has a strange layout to start as you could conceivably hit 4-6 iron off the tee on 4 of the holes, last 3 are afterthoughts that seem to be wedged into the property as well. 

 

Longshore is a short course but fun and you have views of Long Island Sound. Others I would consider are:

 

Public: 

Tashua Knolls in Trumbull 

Smith Richardson in Fairfield

Ridgefield Golf Course

 

High End Public:

Great River in Milford (just outside Fairfield County)

 

[ChipStrokes]

another vote for tashua.  i play there every week and it's a great course.

 

whitney farms in monroe is a nice track but its tough because it's extremely narrow and heavily wooded.

 

everyone has good things to say about richter park in danbury, but i haven't played it yet.  tee times are tough to come by.

[Shinny2017]

RTP nailed it.

 

smith early moves, afternoon good but slower.

ridgefield layout is great, course condition is decent, not great

 

great River is a treat, dk if greens are good or great….

 

fox hopyard use to be public, excellent private now….

[Nard_S]

 

Use range of Sterling, Smith Richardson & Tashua.

O. H.'s: Great greens, fast & smooth & receptive., bad sand traps. No range. Sneaky hard. They rent Tempo-Walker's. Good bar.

Smith Richardson, has good range, food bar and course, tee shots are more benign than OH.  

Tashua gets lots of praise but I only hit at their range. They do shot gun starts on weekends, so i don't play there.

Use Sterling's range, play there once a while. Like it, not blown away by it though. 

 

[Nard_S]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:56 PM, RTP419 said:

Oak Hills has a strange layout to start as you could conceivably hit 4-6 iron off the tee on 4 of the holes, last 3 are afterthoughts that seem to be wedged into the property as well. 

Agree on start, original design used #7 as 1st tee. 

Target play, not the best way to get off to a round. Don't agree about last 3 holes. #16 is a solid par. Green is well guarded by slopes and grades. Great par 4. #17 is weakest but #18 is drivable and there's the whole palette as to how to play it. Birds are there on last three but you need them because #14 & #15 are solid bogies. 

[RTP419]

1 hour ago, Nard_S said:

 

Use range of Sterling, Smith Richardson & Tashua.

O. H.'s: Great greens, fast & smooth & receptive., bad sand traps. No range. Sneaky hard. They rent Tempo-Walker's. Good bar.

Smith Richardson, has good range, food bar and course, tee shots are more benign than OH.  

Tashua gets lots of praise but I only hit at their range. They do shot gun starts on weekends, so i don't play there.

Use Sterling's range, play there once a while. Like it, not blown away by it though. 

 

FYI- Tashua only does shotgun starts once the clocks change in Oct/Nov. From opening day until then it is regular tee times. They double tee off 1 & 10 which creates 3 “waves” of tee times (6:30-8:30, 11am-1pm and then 3:30ish) since the course has to “shut down” for players making the turn. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by RTP419

[Nard_S]

14 minutes ago, RTP419 said:

FYI- Tashua only does shotgun starts once the clocks change in Oct/Nov.

Do you mean ''till'? Because I used to go there Sat am (it was several years ago, son played bball near by) all the time and every time it was shotgun. I like the course, the Pro, great place to practice. I need to tee up there.

[RTP419]

N

7 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

Do you mean ''till'? Because I used to go there Sat am (it was several years ago, son played bball near by) all the time and every time it was shotgun. I like the course, the Pro, great place to practice. I need to tee up there.

No disrespect but I have been playing there for 25 years and the only shotguns they have are end of season once the clocks change. All the Saturday times for next weekend are booked but if you look at Sunday you see a couple individual openings during the 2nd wvae. The first wave fills up fast (like 5 minutes once they go available 7 days out at 530am) but I can assure you that from April until Oct/Nov it has always been tee times.

There is no group starting a round on 1 or 10 between 830-1045ish, just those making the turn from either 9 or 18, the next potential tee time would be 11:09am.  

Edited September 6, 2022 by RTP419

[Nard_S]

5 minutes ago, RTP419 said:

No disrespect but I have been playing there for 25 years and the only shotguns they have are end of season once the clocks change. All the Saturday times for next weekend are booked but if you look at Sunday you see a couple individual openings during the 2nd wvae.

Correct me here. The clocks have not been changed and you speak of ''waves''. That's pure shotgun to me.

[RTP419]

7 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

Correct me here. The clocks have not been changed and you speak of ''waves''. That's pure shotgun to me.

To me a “shotgun” is 108 players all starting at 8am but on different  holes (some holes having more then one group) and more or less ending at the same time. That is not what is occurring, it is just a typical double tee start. At Tashua there is a 6:30am, 6:39, 6:48, etc tee time through 8:27am, 14 individuals tee times off both the 1st and 10th tees for 28 total, that is not a shotgun start.