One of the advantages of the Tiger Woods era is that golfers are now athletes. Having cleverly booked to play George Wright on the Patriots Day holiday, I’d have the place to myself. Local golfers would surely be occupied for a few hours running the Boston Marathon dressed as Paul Revere or his horse? Well, it turns out not all Golfers in Boston are distance runners & the course was rammed. But no worries, for the efficient starter kindly offered that I whizz round the back 9 first and then join an existing 2-ball for the front 9.

The first tee shot (the 10th) is inviting, a gently rising fairway with hints of glaucoma. Weighing up risk & reward, I played to the right where I could see the fairway landing area. However, I accidentally hit it left & too far, which fortunately gave me an ideal look at the green way down below. Odd to have no bunker protection here short right - could slightly understand if it was a genuine opening hole. It’s an attractive hole and encapsulated many course characteristics (good & less so) that were to come on subsequent holes.

I liked the second (the 11th) which hits up to a ridge and then doglegs around to a benched green. It just perhaps requires the green-side bunker to be pushed left so it threatens the green more. So far it was dogleg left, dogleg right, downhill, uphill. Variety box ticked.

The third (the 12th) is a cataract straight drive where I did my best to fire a shot across the bows of a dawdling 2-ball up ahead. In truth my tee shot went much further than expected as, after an initial rise, the hole tumbled back down a sharp hill that I’d not expected. It could perhaps do with a traffic light system like Hunstanton, although it’s possible they don’t care for borrowing English traditions in these parts. The second shot here, despite crossing a burn, was not very interesting. The next 6 holes were painfully slow.

The fourth (the 13th) had a pretty enough tee shot but I didn’t like the character so much with water on both sides. The fifth (the 14th) was the next decent hole, an elevated par 3 that’s well protected and has a good green complex. The sixth (the 15th) had a nice drive, fairly nondescript second shot, and the third into the green was okay.

The seventh (the 16th) & eighth (the 17th) were my favourite holes on the opening (back) 9. My second into the former, to a sucker pin, rolled around 50 yards back off the false front after landing almost pin high. It was the most thrilling element of the round and ultimately a bogey to cherish. The shot into the latter, with plenty of trouble, was probably the prettiest one of the day. The ninth (the 18th) was a largely forgettable way to finish the loop.