Worcester Country Club

Worcester Country Club - Worcester, MA

A 1913 Donald Ross design which hosted the first ever Ryder Cup in 1927 and the 1925 U.S Open. Worcester has recently been  restored by Gil Hanse with consulting from Brad Klein to bring it back to the original Donald Ross roots. The restoration included tree removal, green and fairway expansion, and bunker restoration. Worcester has a lower part of the golf course which includes holes 1-8 and 17-18, which lie South of the railroad tracks, and holes 9-16 are North of the railroad tracks. After the long and tough par 3 6th, it's a long and uphill treck to the highest point of the property, 9 green, where the holes playing up to that point play a lot longer than the number on the card. The land gave Mr. Ross a prime spot to showcase his expertise with a creek that runs through the lower part of the property and plenty of rolling and hilly terrain to create a variety of dramatic holes. If you can score well on the 5 par 3's here, you will give yourself a shot at an overall good round. 

The phenomenal short par 3 10th, extremely tough and well guarded 235 yard par 3 (maybe 3.5) 4th hole, 197 yard 13th that has a punchbowl that surrounds the top tier in the back half of the green, and the visually intimidating par 3 6th with a green that falls off the back to a devilish bunker. The par 3's at Worcester are great examples that showcase the variety in Ross' par 3 designs. Every hole at Worcester is different from each other which is essential in a truly excellent course where one can remember each hole based off of its difference in character from the rest. The par 5's consist of the 563 yard 2nd where the elevated fairway sits high above the creek which creates a dramatic second shot. The 483 yard 5th is a dogleg left with a creek hugging the left side and pond in front of the green where anything short of the green is rolling down away from the green. The 15th is the only par 5 on the back, but makes its presence known with an its gradual but hard dogleg right with a rolling fairway and playing nearly 600 yards. 

An open piece of property, sharp edges, rolling fairways, deep bunkers, uphill and downhill approach shots, and unique green shapes and contours for tasteful pin positions. You get all the Ross variety one needs at Worcester with a dramatic and gradually rolling piece of land with great golf holes laid on top of it to provide a test for players of great caliber and a fair test for the higher handicaps.