Yale

Many cavernous bunkers require careful entry via wooden steps and from the depths of these traps you’ll need a hot sand wedge to keep your card intact. With fairways that pitch and roll in a pleasing, almost seaside fashion, you can expect a fair share of awkward stances at Yale. Expect a few three putts too. The greens at Yale rival those at the Home of Golf in terms of size and severity of undulation.

The Yale golf course has played host to every significant championship in the State of Connecticut, along with two USGA Junior National Events. To play Yale you’ll need to befriend a member or a Yale student or employee. Alternatively you might want to gather together a group of 100 friends and acquaintances… Yale do allow outsize group outings on Mondays.

In the book Golf’s 100 Toughest Holes by Chris Millard, the par four 10th is described as “a straightaway par four”. The author continues: “At 396 yards from the back tees, this hole gives new meaning to the word uphill. Immediately off the tee, the fairway elevates to block out any sight of the landing area. A 240-yard drive will put you in the swale. Whereas you couldn’t see the landing area from the tee, now you can’t see the flag. The fairway is lined with dense forestation on both sides, and the green is 40 feet above the fairway. A deep trap extends across the front width of the green to catch short shots. The green itself is double tiered so that the rare approach shot that does find the green needs to be accurate.”

In September 2021, Yale University announced the commissioning of Gil Hanse to prepare a detailed master plan intended to bring back the full scale and drama of the course. Hanse told Golf Course Architecture that the likely scope of work would include a complete reconstruction of expanded putting surfaces, a thorough overhaul of the bunkers, fairways, course drainage, irrigation, tees and trees. “The goal is to bring back the scale of the grounds. It was massive, grand and we hope to get back to that.”