I am unabashed in my respect for Arthur Hills golf course designs largely because he does not generally dumb down his layouts to fit some golf community developer’s conception of what is playable for a retired golfer.  If anything, Hills goes the opposite way.

        Although you will find a fair number of Hills’ courses in destination locations (resorts, second-home spots), his layouts are no vacation for the average golfer and are sporting challenges for the single-digit player.  Curiously, some developers of age-restricted communities defer to the now 82-year old Hills, who presents them with layouts few aging, distance-diminished male golfers can play, short of teeing it up from the ladies’ tees.  Hills designs are muscular, geared to golfers who can hit the ball where they want to, and a long way (i.e. the younger players).

The second tee gives a strong hint of things to come on the Arthur Hills designed Heritage Shores golf course.  Water is in play for many tee shots.

 

        I first noticed this pre-disposition to non-compromise at the Williamsburg, VA, 55+ community Colonial Heritage, where the Hills golf course was among the most brutal I had played in years, with forced carries of considerable distance, tilted fairways and green complexes that would drive a Nationwide Tour player nuts.  Yesterday, during a week on the coast of Delaware, where I am scouting five golf communities, I played the Hills designed course at Heritage Shores, a 55+ community, with a 72 year old West Point graduate who is fit as a fiddle, played the tees from 5,900 yards, and still approached some of the par 4s as par 5s.  I chose the “Championship” tees at a total of 6,477 yards and had all I could handle on a layout with a rating of 70.5 and a slope of, gulp, 138.

        Heritage Shores, which opened in 2007 (Arthur Hills was 77 at the time), is not as relentlessly difficult as Colonial Heritage, but those 60-somethings who don’t hit the ball 200+ off the tee won’t find much comfort or entertainment in the ponds and lakes that are adjacent to all 18 holes, and in play at most.  The course is tough enough that a major distance accommodation is made to women, with their tee boxes at an unusually short 4,740 yards.

Par 3 14th at Heritage Shores.

 

        Conscious that the golf courses will not appeal substantially to the aging population in the homes that surround both Colonial Heritage and Heritage Shores, which is just off Highway 13 in central Delaware, about 40 minutes from the beaches, the two golf courses are open to public play.  For those heading from New England south to the Carolinas and Florida, Heritage Shores would make a great stop to break up the trip and play a terrific golf course at a reasonable price ($64, helpful GPS cart included).  The greens are smooth and receptive to well-struck approach shots and the fairways are, for the most part, wide (in some places, very wide).  Heritage Shores is all about the lay-up and approach shots and, often, the chipping around the tough green complexes.  (You might consider putting an extra wedge in the bag.)  Oh, yes, bring a long-handled ball retriever as well.

*

        In the coming week, we will begin listing homes for sale in Delaware golf communities at our companion site, GolfHomesListed, including the Bayside Resort, Peninsula Club, King's Creek, Rehoboth Beach Yacht and Country Club, Bear Trap Dunes and Heritage Shores.  Delaware's relatively mild winter climate -- golf courses stay open year round -- will appeal especially to second home owners and retirees looking to remain within a few hours drive of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  New Jersey and New York residents can be on the first tee at any of these clubs in less than five hours with a drive down the Garden State Parkway and a one-hour ferry ride (with your car) from Cape May, NJ, to the charming town of Lewes, DE.  Contact me if you would like more information about golf homes for sale in Delaware.

The tee shot on the finishing hole at Heritage Shores is routine (top), but the lay-up shot (middle) is anything but, with bunkers at right a better alternative than pond to the left.  With wind blowing right to left at greenside, a slighly pulled or long wedge shot will find a marshy grave.  Note the almost perfectly rectangular green.

        My friend Ed and I played a public golf course in Simsbury, CT, last week, a course I have played regularly, if not frequently, over my 30 years in the Nutmeg State. It was Ed’s first time. He loved it and, I must say, that the combination of seeing it through his eyes and having played it enough to (finally) understand the dipsy-doodle fairways and odd angles softened my view of a layout I previously thought was a bit quirky.

        The course is Tower Ridge, about 20 minutes northwest of Hartford, and scraped into the lower slope of the western side of the Avon Mountain, below the iconic Heublein Tower, built in 1914 by the food and beverage magnate who gave us, among other consumables, A-1 Steak Sauce and

Smirnoff vodka. The golf course designer, the recently departed Geoffrey Cornish -- he was 97 and still evaluating courses when he died last February -- was not given the easiest piece of property to work with. As we played the four holes on the first nine that run along the slope of the mountain, Ed remarked, “They must have pushed around a lot of dirt to level out these fairways.” Still, the fairways on the 5^th through 7^th holes, all par 4s, tilt dramatically enough that tee shots to the center of the fairways will end up down in the rough. On #5 and #7, which play north along the mountainside, the blind tee shots are aimed where rough meets fairway; a slight push on a day when the rough is fairly lush could leave a daunting shot along the high side of the fairway to a smallish green. Anything short, or even slightly pulled, will risk bounding down into a ravine below (unless a well-placed bunker saves the day). The beautiful but distracting western views to the Farmington Valley below, as well as some tricky winds that get caught in the face of the mountain, don’t help the concentration quotient very much.

The approach from the right side of the 5th fairway at Tower Ridge is treacherous, especially with your feet below the ball and a steep falloff to the left of the green.

 

        Between the 5^th and 7^th, the angle off the elevated tee at #6 forces you to aim directly at the cart path that runs between the fairway and the deep and steep left rough. On this day, the golf gods were with me, and I hit the cart path, took a huge bound forward and to the right, and wound up a good 40 yards beyond my typical best drives (around 240 when solidly struck), leaving just a nine-iron into the small green.

At par 70, Tower Ridge is a short course even from the tips (6,500 yards), but there is nothing short, or easy, about its par 3s. Because of its elevation, the 240-yard par 3 8^th may play two or three clubs shorter than its yardage, but the largest green on the course –- at least it seems that way -– is not nearly as wide as it is deep, and getting up and down from either side of it is less than 50/50 for even the decent player. Judging distance on a green that is 30 yards deep, a small skyscraper’s distance below the tee box, and subject to those fickle mountainside winds adds to the intimidation factor (as does the fact that the front of the tee box blocks any view of the green from the back of the tee box). It isn’t every day a golfer faces a blind shot on a par 3?

The Heublein Tower, atop Avon Mountain, is visible from virtually every point on the golf course.

 

        A few of the holes that play up the mountain are not only sloped but doglegged, mostly to the right, necessitating a fade off the tee or a 3-wood for the longer hitters to avoid bounding into the woods on the left. Local knowledge counts for a lot on these and virtually all the other holes at Tower Ridge, so if you find yourself in the area and looking for an interesting golf course, plan to play early in the day in order to play it twice (our round was an extreme bargain at just $36, cart included). It will take at least two attempts to get the hang of this challenging, but fun, golf course.

*

        For those wondering about housing adjacent to the golf course, one sprawling home lurks above the 6^th fairway and another is a little farther south along the mountainside, well back from the golf course. That’s it. Nod Road, the street that bisects the golf course, is the only other sign of civilization once you get beyond the first couple of holes.