Waverly Oaks Course Conditions

[MyShortGameSucks]

Waverly Oaks has always been one of my favorite Mass. public courses.  I am a big Brian Silva design fan and I enjoy the fun layout and usually good conditions there.  I always felt it got a rough deal with Pinehills and Crosswinds next door.  I preferred Waverly to both of them.   I have not played it for a few years so yesterday my son and I drove down there for a round.   Mid week green fee was $105 and you get cart and a tiny warm up bucket of balls.  A bit pricy but for a premier public course ok.
 

Have to say we were both massively disappointed and a bit sad.  Waverly has seen better days and it just seems like no one there gives a crap.  Course conditioning was awful.!  The main issue was the fairways and tees.  Burnt out and bare areas plus  unfilled/unrepaired divots everywhere.  Really no excuse given all the weather we've had.  This has to be a complete lack of maintenance effort/budget and the folks playing they're not giving a sh$t about fixing/filling there divots.  Greens were not great either.  Very slow and inconsistent.  The 2 practice putting areas had many bare and  burnout areas.  As a comparison we have played some other public courses up north like Atkinson and even Bradford CC and they are in fantastic shape compared to Waverly.

 

Despite this we made the best of it and just played preferred lies on fairway and realized we were probably going to have a few 3 putts 😀 

 

Next time I'm down there I'll head to Pinehills instead!   There are definitely better options for the $105 weekyday and $130 weekend green fees.

 

 

 

 

[psn13]

I have not been there in 2023 but was a lot from 2015-2022...it's been a slow decline over the past few years and last year it was solidly behind Crosswinds.  It was so bad we only we played Waverly when we couldn't get a tee time elsewhere.  Ownership/management probably doesn't care much as the tee sheet stayed pretty busy from receiving the Pinehills and Crosswinds leftovers (like us). 

 

I wonder if they are getting distracted and/or financially constrained by the new real estate development around the course, which is funny because who would want to buy a house on a course that's in serious decline/has an uncommitted owner?  

 

I agree it's a sad situation.  Golf demand is up so much in the past few years so losing a better public course is tough.

[jdl]

Played a mid week round as well back in early June and agree conditions were not up to what I remembered from the past. Have played both Crosswinds and Pine Hills (Jones) since and both are in much better shape. And the Pine Hills round was only $80 as we teed off at 3 pm.

[1s1k]

Played Pinehills Nicklaus yesterday and it was in fantastic shape.  

Edited August 25, 2023 by 1s1k

[cbbaron]

Played today I can report new Superintendent and course is in the best shape I've seen in a couple years and have over 200 rounds there

[MyShortGameSucks]

On 6/13/2024 at 7:04 PM, cbbaron said:

Played today I can report new Superintendent and course is in the best shape I've seen in a couple years and have over 200 rounds there

That's great news!  Will definitely have to head down again sometime as I love the layout.

[mark174ace]

On 6/13/2024 at 4:04 PM, cbbaron said:

Played today I can report new Superintendent and course is in the best shape I've seen in a couple years and have over 200 rounds there

I appreciate the info. I will be coming home in a couple of weeks and I may have to play Waverly. I have not played there in 15-20 years. I always play the Jones course at The Pinehills when I come home, but how would you compare Waverly in the upgraded consitions to The Nicklaus Course?

[cbbaron]

1 minute ago, mark174ace said:

I appreciate the info. I will be coming home in a couple of weeks and I may have to play Waverly. I have not played there in 15-20 years. I always play the Jones course at The Pinehills when I come home, but how would you compare Waverly in the upgraded consitions to The Nicklaus Course?

I prefer both Pinehills courses and think they're both superior as far as layout and conditions but you wont be disappointed by Waverly