Country Club of Fairfield

US New England Division Best in State Rankings 2020 At last, a golfing journey that started five months ago in the Pacific northwest comes to a conclusion on the other side of the country in New England. This, the ninth and final divisional update in our biennial revision schedule for the United States, takes a fresh look at courses located in the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. When we last conducted this exercise in 2018, we featured a total of 145 courses across the division. We’ve now added another twenty-five layouts to that number, which brings the grand total across fifty states to exactly two thousand, a figure comfortably encompassing the top 10% of all the 16,752 courses in the USA, according to statistics quoted in the R&A publication Golf Around the World 2019. To get started with our reappraisal process for New England, we begin in the Constitution State of Connecticut. Connecticut There’s a surprise in store for those expecting to find Yale at the top of the standings, a position it had held since we started our Best in State rankings in 2012. We simply could not ignore the serious conditioning issues that occurred following the departure earlier this year of Yale’s superintendent of 17 years, Scott Ramsay, to the Country Club of Farmington. The course only re-opened three months ago and there’s still plenty of work for Peter Palacios, the new man in the greenkeeping hot seat, to undertake before the layout returns to its former glory. Therefore, opportunity knocks for the Country Club of Fairfield, moving up one place from the runner-up position to the new No.1 slot. One of Seth Raynor’s earliest designs, which both A.W. Tillinghast and Robert Trent Jones Sr. modified after it was brought into play in 1921, the course has hosted a number of prestigious regional competitions in the last few years, including the Met Open (2008), Connecticut Open (2010) and Met PGA Championship (2012). Country Club of Fairfield Only eleven courses make an upward move in our new Top 40 for Connecticut and the most impressive of these is Shennecossett Golf Course in Groton, rising seven to #20. Golf on this site dates back to a four-hole layout established in 1898 but it took until 1919 to have eighteen holes in play, designed by none other than Donald Ross. Recent reviewers have remarked: “Shenny shows how an engaging design at the municipal level is truly possible… I could play here all the time without a complaint.” Shennecossett The highest new entry in our extended state rankings arrives at #22 and it’s another Donald Ross design at Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford. Established in 1924, Wampanoag’s the home club of author Brad Klein, who devoted several pages of his book Discovering Donald Ross to the development of the course, terming much of it “regrettable tinkering”. He’s been working on a Master Plan for the course (along with architects Kyle Franz and Tyler Rae) which is due to be presented to the membership in the coming weeks. Wampanoag Country Club Click the link to see full details of our latest Connecticut Best in State rankings. Maine The course at Portland Country Club took over as Maine’s No. 1 track in 2014 and it maintains the top spot in this edition of the state’s new Top 20. The club was founded in 1895 but moved to its current location twenty years later. In 1921, Donald Ross was called in to set out the course that’s still in play today. Ron Prichard was hired in 2017 to conduct a restoration on the layout, removing trees, expanding greens, and refurbishing bunkers. Portland Country Club The course at Boothbay Harbor Country Club is the biggest climber in our new standings, advancing four to #8. Starting out as a 9-hole layout designed by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek in 1921, the course was renovated and a new nine added by Dick Harris and long-time superintendent Clayton Longfellow in the late 1990s. Bruce Hepner completed a five-year redesign last year, modifying fourteen green complexes, re-shaping all of the bunkers and installing new water features. Boothbay Harbor Country Club We’ve added another five courses to our Maine contingent and the foremost of these is Brunswick Golf Club at #14. Established in 1898, the club appointed Stiles and Van Kleek to remodel what is now the back nine during the early 1920s. The front nine was then added by Geoff Cornish and Bill Robinson in the 1960s. Brunswick Golf Club In the book The Life and work of Wayne Stiles , Bob Labbance and Kevin Mendik refer to the original layout when they write: “many of the holes require a well struck ball thread through a narrow opening in front of the green.” The authors also sing the praises of the newer holes: “even for Stiles aficionados, don’t miss the Geoff Cornish front nine, which has back-to-back signature par threes (4 & 5) that share a pond.” Click the link to see full details of our latest Maine Best in State rankings. Massachusetts As an indication of how strong a golfing area Massachusetts is, courses in the top seven Best in State chart positions also occupy slots in the US Top 100. It so happens that these layouts now remain in the exact same order as last time, which means the Clyde and Squirrel nines at The Country Club in Brookline retain their status as the No. 1 course in the Bay State. The Country Club A lot has changed here since the club’s first professional, Willie Campbell, laid out the initial eighteen holes at The Country Club. In 1927, William Flynn rebuilt most of the existing bunkers and greens and added a third nine then a couple of renovations were carried out before Gil Hanse’s recent overhaul, resulting in the removal of hundreds of trees from the property. Look out for the inclusion of the drop shot par three 12th hole in the Composite course that stages the US Open in 2022. This will be the first time since the 1957 US Amateur that the hole has been part of a championship layout and it will take the place of the short par four 4th hole in the new configuration. The elevation change from tee to green on the 120-yard 12th is around 30 feet. Players who hit and hold the green have a great chance of birdie but those who miss will face sand on the left and in front, a steep runoff on the right, and a penalty area behind the putting surface. The course at GreatHorse in Hampden was a new entry at #30 two years ago and it now powers another ten places up the chart to #20. It’s a redesign of the original Hampden Country Club layout which started out as a modest bunker renovation then developed into a complete makeover of just about everything on the property. GreatHorse Our regular contributor M. James Ward was here a year ago and had this to say about the man chosen to revamp the old course: “selecting Brian Silva, the long-time New Englander and top tier architect was a brilliant move and demonstrated a clear conviction to get the most out of the site. Silva is a known quantity and his efforts in course design have demonstrated the capacity to tie classic architectural elements in concert with a modern connection.” His favourable review was then backed up by somebody else a couple of months ago: “GreatHorse is a special place. The course is very nice. Every day the Antonacci family endeavors to improve this very good course. Brian Silva worked some magic redesigning it. It is fun to play. It will garner state events.” The course at Belmont Country Club leads a raft of new entries at #35. Set out by Donald Ross for Belmont Springs Country Club in advance of the 1916 US Women’s Amateur (when Alexa Stirling won the first of her three titles), the course was remodelled a few times before Craig Schreiner upgraded the layout in the early years of the new millennium. Belmont Country Club All the greens were rebuilt, bunkers were renovated and new tees added. Ponds were enlarged to facilitate better drainage, enhance wildlife habitats and add irrigation water storage. Tree removal and replacement was key to improving playing conditions, with old Donald Ross plans and aerial photos used to verify original fairway and green shapes. The club subsequently hosted the Senior Players Championship in 2015, with Bernhard Langer claiming his second of three consecutive victories in this major championship on the professional senior tour. Click the link to see full details of our latest Massachusetts Best in State rankings New Hampshire The Mount Washington course at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods jumped three spots to #1 in 2018 and it holds onto that leading position in this revision. Another of our raters, Colin Braithwaite, posted these remarks after playing here three months ago: “Mt Washington is a classic throwback resort course. Originally a Donald Ross design, it has been reborn by Brian Silva. The resort itself is a classic golden age hotel… the setting and scenery are dazzling”. Mount Washington course Eight courses progress further up the table in our new chart and the most notable of these is the 18-hole layout at Shattuck Golf Club in Jaffrey (up eight to #9) which lies in the shadow of Mount Manadnock, one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the United States. With playing corridors literally carved from dense forest, this is a notoriously tough track that takes no prisoners, as a slope rating of 153 from the 6,764-yard back tees will testify. The Shattuck Golf Club The only new entry appears at #12 and it’s the course at Nashua Country Club, which officially opened to its 240 founding members on 3rd August, 1916. This was the very first design of Wayne Stiles, who left the architectural firm of Brett and Hall the previous year to start his own landscape architecture company. William Mitchell remodelled parts of the course in 1949 and Ault & Clark made changes during the 1980s but the original routing is still the same. Nashua Country Club Click the link to see full details of our latest New Hampshire Best in State rankings. Rhode Island The course at Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Charlestown took over at the top of the Rhode Island listings when we last updated the Best in State charts and its No. 1 stature remains intact after this latest re-ranking exercise. Recent review comments for this Hurdzan/Fry co-design include: “Shelter Harbor is a wonderful golf experience due to the beauty of the golf course and the challenges it presents… it’s just a fabulous day to be at this club… the land is accentuated by a skilful routing eschewing banal golf holes.” Shelter Harbor Golf Club Moving three places upwards to #6, the course at the Misquamicut Club in Watch Hill is a Donald Ross redesign from 1923 which lies close to Block Island Sound, with sandy-soiled fairways laid out close to the tidal pools that feed into the Atlantic. Reviewer opinions recently include: “Misquamicut is a true delight to savor and relish… it is a course that is inspirational and sparks joy… having played all of the best of Rhode Island I would humbly say this is the best.” Misquamicut Club The only new entry for the Rhode Island chart at #12 is the 18-hole layout at Pawtucket Country Club outside Providence, where only the clubhouse, two tee boxes and the 18th green lie within the state – the vast majority of the course actually sits on the Massachusetts side of the state line and this has caused no end of problems this year as covid-19 restrictions (affecting around two in every three members who are Bay State residents) have forbidden golfers from playing outside their state. Pawtucket Country Club The club was formed in 1902, starting out with a 12-hole layout on a 50-acre site. When more land became available in the early 1920s, Willie Park Jr. was engaged to expand the layout to eighteen holes and he used every available inch of land to shoe horn a new par 69 course into a very compact 105-acre property. Little, if anything, has changed from that time onwards. Sadly in September 2020 Metacomet closed and the curtain was drawn across more than a century of golfing history. The financially ailing club had succumbed to the developers and in December 2020 its assets were unceremoniously sold off at an online auction. Click the link to see full details of our latest Rhode Island Best in State rankings. Vermont The course at Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester is one of nine non movers in the rather static Vermont listings. It was the No. 1 course in the previous four editions of the chart and it’s still the No. 1 layout in the Green Mountain State. Designed at the end of the 19th century by Walter Travis and John Duncan Dunn, the course was, by some 500 yards, the longest golfing layout in America when it first opened for play. Ekwanok Country Club Host venue for the US Amateur in 1914, Ekwanok has since been altered a number of times by prominent architects such as Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Geoff Cornish but Bruce Hepner’s work in the 1990s (when he was with Renaissance Golf Design) is what really brought this Golden Age classic back to life through restoring bunkers, removing trees and redefining greens. Only two courses move forward in the new chart and the most noteworthy of these is the 18-hole Mountain layout at Spruce Peak in Stowe (up four to #6), which Bob Cupp set out in 2007. Formerly known as Stowe Mountain, this course is split into two sections; the first eleven holes climbing high enough to visit the lower slopes of Spruce Peak then the final seven routed around Peregrine Lake on the valley floor. M. James Ward’s verdict after playing here last year was: “give Cupp plenty of credit for routing the layout, given what he had to work with.” Spruce Peak Mountain course Click the link to see full details of our latest Vermont Best in State rankings. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Fergal O’Leary unravels patriotic New England Shelter Harbor Rhode Island offers so many wonderful old classic golf courses and it takes a very special effort for a newcomer to become established amongst so many New England gems. Shelter Harbor takes advantage of wonderful rolling terrain in Westerly, RI. This award-winning layout has many topographical changes from the low point of 102 feet, to the high point of 187 feet, and rock walls are woven through the whole of the course. The course has a strong connection with environmental preservation and protecting native ruins throughout the property. Players have flashbacks to North Berwick when you see rock walls in your line of sight; however the design of the clubhouse quickly reminds you that you’re in old town New England. One of the most distinctive features of the course is the rustic bunkers shrouded with native fescues. Shelter Harbor has trademark characteristics of magnificent velvet fairways and glass-like putting surfaces which immediately project it into the elevated ranks of the Ocean State. This young club is already a favourite of the New England PGA, and having recently consulted with a few golf professionals in the greater Boston area, this club is met with glorious approval. The course offers a serious test for even the best of players, but architectural beauty is effortlessly integrated with demand for precision. The par 5 9th hole is a signature hole with feverishly fescue lined bunkers leading to a dog-leg right around a forested area up to the small perched green. It’s a sight to behold and epitomizes the culture at Shelter Harbor. Visitors are keen to experience the exciting par 3 course. The par 27, 1,206-yard layout is located on the southern edge of the property. The par 3 course is punctuated with many elevation changes, rock walls and trees creating a challenging fun-filled experience for golfers of all abilities. Many of today’s exclusive clubs boast about their practice grounds. Shelter Harbor offers a 22-acre practice facility featuring six sets of tees each offering varying views and distances to the five target greens. The practice ground also has two short game areas along with a practice putting green and a private tee for professional instruction. With cottages on-site for visitors to enjoy, it’s no surprise to see this club growing in popularity and serving its players with nothing but he best. Country Club of Fairfield It's the most wondrous place with unsurpassed New England seasonal beauty overlooking the Long Island Sound and Southport harbor. The land once served as onion farms where produce was shipped from Southport Harbor. The Country Club of Fairfield was one of Raynor’s first solo efforts. But Raynor was not the only architect of note to work on the Country Club of Fairfield course, as A.W. Tillinghast and Robert Trent Jones Sr. also added their touches over the years. The result is a layout that not only serves as a superb member’s course, but also as a challenging venue for tournaments such as the Met Open, the Connecticut Open and the Met PGA Championship. It is rightfully regarded as one of the best in the country. With the obvious exception of Fisher’s Island, there aren’t many Raynor courses with ocean views serving as the backdrop. All of the iconic named holes are on display and it’s enjoyable to see how he created them on a seemingly flat piece of seaside land. The 9th and 18th greens are on the highest point of the property overlooking the remaining holes winding their way throughout the low-land and marsh. The symbolic Redan hole is an emblem of Raynor’s work, and the Redan at Fairfield is arguably the greatest in America. The tilt on many of these seaside surfaces married with terrifying green speeds, ensures this classic layout will be the eternal victor against the test of time. The exclusivity of this course has kept it under the radar, however with its recent promotion into the US Top 100, the attention of golfing aficionados will now migrate to Connecticut to bear witness to an ensemble of Raynor’s best. The holes are an unexplainable mix of treachery and excitement. Playing the holes is an honour by itself and experiencing the untouched history inside the locker room allows your imagination to be intoxicated by the unmistakable aroma of times past. Newport Country Club Theodore Havemeyer, a wealthy sportsman played the game of golf on a trip to the South of France in 1889 and returned to his summer home in Newport, RI with the idea of creating his own course. He partnered with a few gentlemen from the summer colony's social elite to purchase the 140-acre Rocky Farm property for $80,000 and establish the golf club in 1893. In line with his intention to host national competitions, Havemeyer invited the country's best amateurs to his new course for a championship in 1894. That December, Havemeyer held a meeting at New York City's Calumet Club with representatives from four other American clubs: St. Andrew's Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club; The Country Club and the Chicago Golf Club. These clubs agreed to form the Amateur Golf Association, the forefather of the United States Golf Association. In today’s modern times, these clubs gather on an annual basis to play “The 1894 Matches” to celebrate the origin of the USGA. In October 1895, Newport Country Club hosted both the first U.S. Amateur Championship and the first U.S. Open. In 1995, in celebration of the U.S. Amateur Championship centennial, the club hosted the 1995 U.S. Amateur Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods. To this day, the U.S. Amateur champion is awarded the Havemeyer Trophy. This iconic clubhouse is like no other clubhouse in the country due to its unique design. I always enjoy walking in the front door, taking a few steps forward and finding myself within arm’s reach of the back window. Whitney Warren designed the classic, Beaux Arts style clubhouse on a largely barren farm overlooking Brenton Point in 1895. The evolution of the current 18-hole layout is a fabled story in itself. A gathering of the members took place recently to discuss the History of Newport Country Club. The Club Historian from The Country Club was the keynote speaker and facilitated the discussion. Many photographs and maps around the club suggest that A.W. Tillinghast designed the entire layout, but the educated eye begs to differ. It’s been documented that a nine-hole course was designed in 1894 by William Davis, the club's first professional, and later expanded to 18 holes in 1915 by renowned architect Donald Ross. In 1923, A.W. Tillinghast was hired to remodel the course layout. Since 1995, Ron Forse has completed restoration on some of the layout. Having played all of the Tillinghast gems around the country, there’s something about Newport that doesn’t feel like a Tillinghast layout or a Ross course. It’s just different. This legendary history is second to none in this country, but what about the golf course itself? Historically, the course has never had a water system which takes “firm and fast” to a whole new level. Hazards which would otherwise be out of reach suddenly add to the list of nooks and crannies to avoid. For those of you who have enjoyed true links golf, you’ll know the value of playing a bump and run approach shot. Newport forces the golfer to exercise careful judgement with where to land the ball and hope that the bounce is in your favour. Some players consider this layout an examination. It’s not a terribly long course, but the challenge of hitting irons from such tight untreated lies is enough to save your blushes amongst a serious bunch of golfers. Newport offers a collection of short par 4s, reachable par 5s, back to back par 3s and a prevailing wind off the ocean that is always a factor with club selection. Sometimes it’s a catalyst for mistakes and uncertain swings. As with all of the top rated courses in this country, the green surfaces are flawless and worthy of USGA events. The course was built with such primitive means and took advantage of the natural topology creating quirky holes, pitched fairways and perched greens. The weather dictates the character of the course from day to day given its exposed location. The lack of water on the course makes it appear raw and rustic and is a welcomed change from modern technology and underground systems which seem to have left these old classics behind. What separates Newport from the rest? It’s the throwback to the golden days of American golf and an irrigation system governed by Mother Nature. But like a good Rolex, Newport doesn’t just tell time, it tells history. Article written by our US Consultant, Fergal O'Leary, who continues his mission to become the youngest person to play the Top 100 Golf Courses of the World.

US New England Division Best in State Rankings 2018 Finally, the ninth and last divisional update of our biennial Best in State listings for the United States of America is upon us. In this article, we revise the ranking charts for the six states located in the northeast corner of the nation, namely Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. We embarked on this biennial exercise back in April on the west coast of the USA when we reappraised the courses situated within our Pacific division. Now, four months later, we’ve arrived on the opposite side of the country, having assessed and evaluated nearly two thousand courses along the way. A total of 145 courses are featured across this division, with ten of the layouts also listed inside our US Top 100. New England might be one of the smaller geographical areas in the United States – with less than 5% of the overall population – but there are plenty of great golf courses to be found within the region. Connecticut In the Nutmeg State, The Course at Yale in New Haven retains its place at the top of the listings, a position it’s held since we introduced Best in State charts in 2012. The course was one of a dozen “Gourmet Choice” selections made by Tom Doak in volume 3 of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses when the author had this to say about it: “Upon its opening in 1926, the Ray Tompkins Memorial Course at Yale was reputedly the most expensive course ever built, at a cost of $400,000. What’s most impressive about the course is the huge scale of it all… no education in golf architecture can be complete if you haven’t played it.” Two courses make significant leaps into the Top 10. The first of these is TPC River Highlands in Cromwell (up five to number 6), host venue for the well-attended Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour, where Pete Dye redesigned the course in the 1980s and Bobby Weed subsequently remodelled it. The second big mover is A.W. Tillinghast’s late-1920s redesign of the 18-hole layout at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield (up thirteen to number 10) which held the US Women’s Open in 1979, followed by the US Senior Open eight years later. The highest of three newcomers enters the state chart at number 9 and it’s the Geoff Cornish-designed course at Connecticut Golf Club in Easton, a track that first opened for play in the mid-1960s. Described by the club as “a golf retreat in the middle of a stunning new England landscape, far removed from the busyness of daily life,” the course was built by real estate developer and philanthropist Lawrence Arthur Wien, with Brian Silva carrying out renovation work on the layout at the start of the new millennium. Rank/ Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest Connecticut Best in State rankings Maine There’s quite a bit of movement within the Top 15 chart that we maintain for the Pine Tree State. Indeed, the only non-mover is Maine’s number 1 course which Donald Ross designed for Portland Country Club in Falmouth when the club moved to its current location at the start of the 1920s. Tom Doak certainly thinks it’s positioned in a nice spot next to Waites Landing: “With the clubhouse commanding a fine view across the golf course to the Atlantic shore, Portland is a magnificent setting for golf.” Half an hour’s drive south of Portland, the 18-hole layout at Prouts Neck Country Club in Scarborough is another coastal course that now careers into the state standings at number 2. The course was originally laid out with nine holes in 1907 then extended to an 18-hole track by Wayne Stiles in 1924. In recent years, former Renaissance Golf Design associate Bruce Hepner has been improving sight lines and course conditioning to return the property to the look and feel of nearly a century ago. Two Donald Ross-designed courses at opposite ends of the state both climb five places to enter the Top 10: the William Wilson course at York Golf & Tennis Club (at number 7) lies close to the border with New Hampshire whilst 179 miles further north – less than a hundred miles from the International Boundary with Canada – sits Penobscot Valley Country Club (at number 10). The former has been termed “quite difficult for the lesser player” with the latter called “a classic Ross routing that puts a lot of beautiful undulation to good use” Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest Maine Best in State rankings Massachusetts Courses occupying the top eight positions in the Bay State chart are also ranked within the US Top 100 so that gives quite a good idea of the quality to be found in the top tier of our Massachusetts listings. The Clyde and Squirrel nines at The Country Club in Brookline hold onto the number 1 slot in the state’s Top 50, where the original Willie Campbell course from 1894 has been revised down the years by a number of architects, including Geoff Cornish, Rees Jones and Gil Hanse. The venue for three previous US Opens, the club will again host this prestigious event when it returns in 2022. The course making the biggest upward move is the 18-hole layout at Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown (up eleven to number 8) which Tom Mackenzie laid out during his time with Donald Steel’s design company in 2002. It’s just been completely remodelled, emerging as “a magnificent Gil Hanse masterpiece” according to our US Consultant Fergal O’Leary, who also thinks it is “one of the best courses in New England that people have never heard of.” It might not be that well known just now, but Fergal is of the opinion that “once people get exposed to the results of Gil’s work, this course will receive endless accolades”. The best placed of six new entries at number 30 is Brian Silva’s multi-million dollar renovation of the former Al Zikorus course at Hampden Country Club, which has now become a completely reworked design for the Antonacci racehorse family at GreatHorse. A substantial amount of soil was shifted when fashioning the fairways on the new track, especially on the hillier parts of the course like the opening and closing holes on the back nine, but the overall transformation of the old layout is nothing short of sensational. Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest Massachusetts Best in State rankings New Hampshire The Granite State of New Hampshire has a new number 1 and it’s the Mount Washington course at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, which rises three places to the top spot. It’s a Donald Ross design from 1915 that was upgraded by Brian Silva a few years ago and our regular contributor M. James Ward posted a review for it last year, saying: “the restored layout is a fun course allowing freedom off the tee but only at the expense in having a much more demanding approach to green sites that provide a range of vexing puzzles for the player to figure out… fun golf is alive and well at Mount Washington.” The Donald Ross-designed course at Bald Peak Colony Club in Moultonborough soars a remarkable fifteen places to number 3 in our revised state listings. Set inside a large, 850-acre wooded property next to Lake Winnipesaukee, the 18-hole layout dates back to 1922, when it was inaugurated by a 4-man International Exhibition match between USA and Great Britain. Francis Ouimet and Jessie Giuldford tied against J.H. Taylor and Sandy Herd in the morning foursomes but the visitors suffered a 3 &1 defeat to the home team in the afternoon. The first of three new chart entries, the course at Hooper Golf Club in Walpole swoops in at number 4. A Wayne Stiles design from the late 1920s, it features in Anthony Pioppi’s book The Finest Nines , where it’s listed as one of twenty-five highly-regarded 9-hole layouts located in North America. As the author states, “Hooper presents a challenge to the highly skilled while remaining eminently enjoyable for the less adept… (with) an array of challenging holes that along the way test all facets of the golfer’s game”. Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest New Hampshire Best in State rankings Rhode Island The Top 15 for the Ocean State is now led by a new number 1 as the course at Shelter Harbor in Charlestown eases up one place to top the chart. It’s no real surprise to see this Hurdzan and Fry design head the Rhode Island standings as it also broke into the US Top 100 at the end of last year, squeezing into the national rankings at number 98. The course is a regional favourite of our New England correspondent Steve MacQuarrie who says: “among the many outstanding features at Shelter Harbor, two stand out: bunkers and rocks. The bunker locations add interesting challenges (and) stone walls also abound, most constructed from the rocks pulled from the New England soil that drove so many farmers to the more fertile Midwest.” Another five courses make small positional gains within the new state chart, four of which are Donald Ross designs. The other (non-Ross) track moving up the table is the course at Wanumetonomy Golf & Country Club in Middleton (up one to number 8), a Seth Raynor layout built in 1923 that has been under the restorative care of Ron Pritchard for some time now. Our man Fergal O’Leary likes it a lot as his comments from a his visit last year might indicate: “it’s certainly a thrill to see the square greens, iconic bunkers and a routing that takes advantage of the splendid views over Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. There are many beautiful trees mostly in all the right places, and with 16 of the original 18 Raynor greens still in play today, it’s a pleasant walk you won’t forget anytime soon.” Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest Rhode Island Best in State rankings Vermont There are four non movers in the Great Mountain State listings and the foremost of these is the 18-hole layout at Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester, which retains its number 1 billing in Vermont. Set out by Walter Travis and John Duncan Dunn at the start of the last century, the course has been tweaked by a number of architects – most notably by Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones and Geoff Cornish – though it still retains most of its old school charm. More recently, Bruce Hepner upgraded the layout when he was with Renaissance Golf Design, removing trees, reworking fairway bunkers and expanding greens to their original size. Four courses move up the table and the most eye-catching of these climbers is the semi-private 18-hole track at Rutland Country Club, progressing eight spots to the number 3 position. George Low designed the club’s original 9-hole course when it moved to its present location on the old 382-acre Baxter Farm in 1902 and this layout was doubled in size twenty-five years later by the renowned design partnership of Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek. Today, the course extends to a modest 6,134 yards from the back tees, with par set at 70. The only new entry at number 7 is one of the least known historical courses in the country and it’s the 18-hole layout at Dorset Field Club, “the oldest continuously operating golf club in America” according to its website. The club celebrated its 130th Anniversary in 2016 as it can trace its origins back to 12 September 1886, when a 9-hole course was first established under the name of Dorset Golf Links. Unfortunately, the club wasn’t formally incorporated for another decade, by which time fully accredited clubs like Foxburg Country Club (1887), St Andrews (1888) and Shinnecock Hills (1891) had been formed, leaving the club from the backwaters of Bennington County largely in the shade. Click the link to see full details of all courses in our latest Vermont Best in State rankings We’ve never claimed to produce “definitive” rankings but we think that we publish the “most informed” listings that you’ll find in print or on the internet. Your opinion is of great value to us so if you feel we could have done a better job with any of the six reappraised US Best in State charts above then please click the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page to let us know your thoughts. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses