Crumpin-Fox

The unusual Crumpin-Fox name was derived from the local Crump Soda Company, which was sold in the mid-19th century to Eli Fox and renamed Crump & Fox Soda Company.

The course at Crumpin-Fox Club is a much more recent vintage, dating to 1977 when Roger Rulewich completed the first nine when he was working for Robert Trent Jones. A decade later, after a change of ownership, Rulewich was called back in to add another nine and to renovate the original holes. This new 18-hole layout debuted in 1990.

“This upscale public course was one of the forerunners of the type,” commented Tom Doak in The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, “drawing most of its play from Springfield and Hartford, each an hour away. It won’t be mistaken for an older course, with its modern fairway lines, multi-tiered greens and prominent water hazards, but the golfers who make the two-hour drive from Hartford to play it know what they are doing.

The back nine existed well before the front and most of the better holes are found here, including the attractive sub 400-yard 12th whose fairway bends left between a rock outcropping short left and one long right and the daunting uphill approach to the 460-yard 16th green. The highlight on the front comes when playing the par five 8th where a pond parallels the last 450 yards of the fairway before one pitches over it to a green with several sections.”

According to Roger Rulewich, Crumpin-Fox “has been a labor of love by everyone involved. Variety is the key here, as the holes weave through the changing terrain. This terrain offers the major hazard and challenge with the strongest bunkering saved for the greens.” Clearly the architect loved the site so much, he located the headquarters of Rulewich & Fleury Golf Design adjacent to the 17th hole.