A Donald Ross gem in Connecticut

        I spent the last two days walking the up and down course of the Country Club of Waterbury in Connecticut during qualifying for the state amateur golf championship.   The club dates to 1899, and in 1927 it commissioned the famed Donald Ross to develop 18 holes on newly acquired land on the western end of Waterbury, an industrious city that  once contributed much of the brass used for early lighting fixtures and clock making in New England.  Clock making was also a big industry in Waterbury.

        Indicative of most Ross-designed courses, CC of Waterbury is not long, playing to just 6,556 yards from its back tees and 6,120 from the

middle tees.  Its par is just 69 (35/34), with a single par 5 hole on the front (the reachable #9) and none on the back.  Course rating from the tips is 71.8 with a slope of 134 owing mostly to the tricky, sloped Ross greens with their false fronts and strategic but not overdone bunkering.  On many Ross courses, fairways are reasonably easy to hit from the tee boxes, but the correct placement in the fairway is critical.  Fairways are generally easy to hit at Waterbury, except on a few holes where the ground is sloped and even a shot down the middle can bound toward the rough.  However, more often than not, Ross taketh away and he giveth; shots played from the rough at the bottom of slopes typically have the best angle at the pins (although when the pins are on the front third of the green, angle is of no help; a bump, run and pray may be called for).

        Below are two holes indicative of the artistry of Donald Ross at Waterbury.  At top is the starting hole, 423 yards from an elevated tee box just below the clubhouse with a sloping fairway left to right.  The approach is long and best made from the center to left of the fairway to avoid the bunkers right and left.  However, the fairway slopes left to right making a challenging shot selection to most areas of the green.  The safe play is to below the mildly false front of the green, leaving a mild chip shot.  The 11^th hole is another par 4 of just 359 yards, a dogleg right that is downhill from the tee.  Balls that go through the fairway on the right (the orientation of the bottom photo) make it tough to stop an approach shot on the front half of the green.  A more restrained tee shot may leave a longer approach, but it is likely to have a better chance of stopping on the medium-sized but firm green.

        I picked up a membership package for the club and noted that they are waiving initiation fees “for a limited time”; dues for a single ($480 per month) and family ($735) are pretty steep given that a current assessment of $150 per month is tacked on.  But the Country Club of Waterbury course is more interesting than most of its competition, in superb condition and its pure Ross pedigree make it special.