Opened in 1936, the George Wright Golf Course is a Donald Ross design. It's reputed that 60,000 pounds of dynamite, 72,000 cubic yards of top soil and 57,000 linear feet of drainage pipe was used for its construction.
George Wright Golf Course
Opened in 1936, the George Wright Golf Course is a Donald Ross design. It's reputed that 60,000 pounds of dynamite, 72,000 cubic yards of top soil and 57,000 linear feet of drainage pipe was used for its construction.
4
George Wright GC is a municipal course operated by the City of Boston, who are in the midst of an annual programme to upgrade and improve the course. During the Winter of 22/23 new tees have been added on a few holes and the 10th hole remodelled, with fairway bunkers removed and the hole opened up more. I understand that this improvement will continue over the coming off seasons.
And I'm delighted that this is the case, because George Wright deserves a chance to shine in the way the initial course was designed and envisaged and as Donald Ross renovated it.
It has a clubhouse fitting of an upscale country club, although the interior does reflect years of underspend and a council ran course.
The course has all the typical Ross trademarks; tabletop greens, punchbowl greens, huge contouring on the greens, blind tee shots, great use of the land (although I understand a significant amount of granite was blasted to help shape the course). Our playing partners felt that George Wright is the best course they can access in the Boston area. Having only just played Red Tail GC a few days before a case could be made either way. Red Tail conditioning was far superior but George Wright offered a golden age design, that wouldn't be out of keeping in an English parkland setting, and one which is definitely better for having played it before. The blind shots and knowing where to land the ball on the narrow fairways make George Wright more of a challenge and on that basis, I'd give it the nod over Red Tail.
Blow by blow accounts of each hole have already been delivered by previous reviewers, so are not needed here, but as an overall summary;
1. The opening 2 holes offer hope! Wide fairways and relatively flat land (apart from the approach to the 2nd green) gently lead you to believe that you're going to be in for an easy ride.
2. This is far from the truth and all of this changes on hole 3 onwards, as the fairways narrow.
3. Blind shots a plenty, so was helpful to have local knowledge with us. Holes 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 offer blind tee shots where the outcome of your drive is not known until you wander up the hill/over the brow/around the bend.
4. The course gets a little packed around the 4th and 6th green and 5th and 7th tee boxes. With so many people about you realise how busy and popular this course is.
5. The course could do with bells on a number of holes - it was only the local players who were able to advise that I wasn't safe to tee off. I'd have had no idea otherwise.
6. The best holes in a way were the crazy, blind par 4 down hillers - 7 and 12. The latter was the most challenging - blind off the tee, the downhill reveal shows a zig zag fairway, playing over a stream to a large sloping green. So you could make a great drive, but depending on how the ball runs out, you could end up in the fairway or the rough, the surprise is on the reveal!
7. The best of the par 3's is the 17th. Played from an elevated tee, this 167 yard one shotter is a superb visual so late in the round.
8. With only 2 par 5s (507 yards and 527 yards) and 4 par 3s (all between 159 and 189 yards) it is left to the par 4's to provide the variety. And with exception of the 1st 2 holes and the rather tame 18th, they do deliver in abundance, keeping the players interest and focus (and your guessing game too) throughout the round.
Overall this is a very good course at great value too - only $50 - hard to find as good a course around Boston for this amount, and beats the likes of Granite Links which charges 3x as much, hands down.
The only negative comment is really around pace of play, which has been picked up on previous reviews. Despite a friendly starter, there is no course marshall and the course could do with one. Infact the starter could act as a 'speed up' marshall as players come down the 8th. The 3 ball.of old men innfront of us looked like they were playing for the Ryder Cup despite spraying the ball short and wide on every shot, and as such the round took 4 hours and 40 mins, which wasn't acceptable in my view.
Overall rating
4.0
Overall rating
4.0
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
