Whenever I get the chance to play at New Haven Country Club in the Connecticut city of the same name, I jump at it. The Willie Park Jr. design -– he contributed Sunningdale in the UK, Maidstone on Long Island, and about 170 other courses around the world – always holds a surprise or two. New Haven may not be Park’s most famous golf course, but it very well could be his most eclectic.
New Haven demands constant focus as you make your way up, down and around its swooping fairways and generally large, swirling greens. I barely broke 90 there on Monday during one of the most bizarre rounds of my life. I threw up a 9 on a par 4 after hitting into the heather and losing my ball, then hitting a tree and losing yet another ball. I quadrupled a par 3 after overcooking a draw into a stiff wind and winding up in the greenside stream. Then I chunked my next shot just over the water and could not handle the tilted putting surface. With two other double bogies, that meant I was 13 over par on just four holes. It was the best bad round in memory.
The shot from the 11th tee at New Haven is just the first challenge on the brutally tough hole.
The natural changes in elevation, a few quite severe, gave the playful Park the opportunity to have some fun without turning New Haven into a circus. The par 4 11th hole (412 yards from the men’s tees), the toughest hole on the golf course and, perhaps, in the entire state of Connecticut, starts with a tee shot to a fairway that swerves to the left and straight up a long hill. A hard hook left puts you into a deep grove of trees at the crotch of the fairway. Play too safe to the right, and tall fescue awaits, from which only a sideways blast is possible. Even if you miss the fescue, the play to the right leaves a 200-yard, straight uphill approach shot to sky and treetops, because there is not even a hint of a green in the distance. A huge tree on the right, about 100 yards from the green, forces a decision to bend the approach around either side. Bunkers short right and to the left of the green further terrorize but at least the green is large.
One Connecticut pro who has played the 11th at New Haven numerous times recommends a pair of two irons to get to the green (at least for fellow pros). I hit driver to just short of the fescue on the right, then played up the hill to the right of the blocking tree and just skirted the bunker beyond it. I got up and down for a 4, the proudest moment of an otherwise dismal day.
The photos below show the dramatic changes in elevation at New Haven. The top photo is the straight downhill approach to a short but tricky dogleg right par 4. The other two are downhill and uphill par 3s.
