Shennecossett

The following is an edited extract from Great Donald Ross Golf Courses Everyone Can Play by Paul R. Dunn and B. J. Dunn:

“Since 1898, golfers have admired the awesome view where Long Island Sound and the Thames River merge. Strong breezes off the water keep golfers on their toes. Fairways lined with native grasses remind one of the great links courses Ross knew in his youth. Shennecossett hosts 33,000 rounds annually.

In 1916, Donald Ross was commissioned to redesign the course, which was played for three years, when in 1919 he remodelled three of his original holes to better suit his ideas of how the course should best be played. He was praised for sculpting his greens with a characteristic style that moulded putting surface contours into the existing terrain.

Alex Smith, who won the US Open in 1906 and 1909, was an early pro here. Glenna Collett, his star pupil, went on to win the US Open Women’s Championship six times. Tommy Armour won the 1921 Men’s Amateur Invitation Championship here. (The course was then called the Shennecossett-Griswold Country Club.)

In 1968, despite economic pressure to convert this beautiful land for housing development, the town of Groton, with the help of state grant, wisely purchased the course as a municipal golfing facility. In the late 1990s, a land swap with the adjacent Pfizer complex led to the creation of three new holes along the Thames River.

Todat the course maintains characteristics of Ross’s original design, a traditional American venue with a pronounced Scottish links flavor. The fairways are subtly mounded and generally wide open. The somewhat small greens are sloping and fast. The terrain is mostly rolling, with many uneven lies.

Shennecossett has preserved Ross’s holes as originally designed, with the exception of holes 8, 9, 15, 16, 17 and 18, which is now a chipping green. For just $3 it offers a valuable 48-page course guide which provides beautiful photos of holes, with drawings marking off distances from tee to hole, exact distances to every bunker, and advice on how to score well.”