Ranch Golf Club

Damian Pascuzzo is an architect who doesn’t appear too often on the east coast, having completed only two original designs to go with lots of work on the Pacific coast. In fact, even The Ranch Golf Club is fairly far west in Massachusetts, a state that tends to gravitate towards the coast.

Knowing he had to make the most of this orient opportunity, Pascuzzo threw everything but the kitchen sink at the opening hole, a reachable, split fairway par five that dares players to take the risky left-hand path right out of the gate, throwing the concept of a “gentle handshake” right out the window. Although the public-access course was developed as part of a wider real estate plan, much of the course remains free from housing, switching from open fields to forest-lined corridors throughout the round.

It’s tough to say that any hole really goes for the gusto like the opener, but the par five that closes the front nine is also an interesting concept. This reachable long features absolutely no bunkers, but players will need to hit up a native-covered hill during the last stretch to reach the green.

The course is a modest drive for those living on the northside of Hartford, just across the Connecticut border.