The
next time you are in the Springfield, MA, area, check out Tekoa Country Club,
an 18-hole layout in the town of Westfield. Grab the clubs out of the trunk, head into the pro shop, and
plop down your $25 green fees.
Make sure you walk -- the course is flat, although distant mountains are
in view -- to assure that you soak in holes 2, 3, 4, 14 and 15 the way famed
golf architect Donald Ross meant them to be.
Most
New England Ross courses are private, so it is a treat to play them or even, as
I did on a tight schedule, grab a cart and drive along them. All the typical Ross elements are there
at Tekoa -- the generous fairways, the appropriately placed but demure bunkers
(demure compared with the monsters that folks like Fazio and Palmer design
these days), and the contoured greens.
Only one of the greens I inspected, the fourth, seemed severely
contoured, its entire left side a good 10 inches above the rest of the surface. But, of course, Ross' greens are
legendary for subtle, as well as visible breaks, and until you actually putt
them, don't count on them being as flat as they look.
Tekoa
has stories to tell, having first opened four holes in 1890 adjacent to
Westfield State College, and then commissioning Ross to develop a nine-hole
course in 1923. Across State
Highway 20, outlines are still visible of the four holes of Ross' nine that did not
survive. In 1961, Tekoa invited
the ubiquitous New England architect Geoffrey Cornish to expand the course to a
full 18; he added 13 of his own holes, retaining five of Ross' originals. According to the Tekoa web site, "A few of Cornish's ideas and features were lost
in translation" by the company that did the construction work; translated, that probably means the earth pushers
did not build to Cornish's specifications. Just as likely, the designer was not happy.
Nevertheless,
today, after one of the kindly pro shop attendants loaned me a cart for a ride on the front nine, I find myself hoping for one of those New England
Indian summers that make sweater golf possible well into November. The turf at Tekoa seemed in fine shape,
especially the greens, and putting on well-conditioned Donald Ross greens is an
experience worth the bargain green fees of $25 to play those five original holes, and 13 other
good ones.
Tekoa
Country Club's web site is: http://www.tekoacc.com. The pro shop phone number is (413) 568-1064.
The 3rd
hole at Tekoa is a 177-yard par 3 that is mostly all carry over a pond. Designer Donald Ross snuggled the green
against a hill on the right, making it possible to bounce a sliced shot toward
the green -- or get stuck on the hill in the gorse. Bailout here is as tough as hitting the green.
The green at the short par 5 4th hole is
severe, even by Ross standards, with an elevated section at left and a drop-off
to the right of the green. As on
many Ross-designed courses, there is only one safe play -- to the heart of the
green.
