On a rare Rhode Island sunny day (am I right?), I had the privilege to play Rhode Island Country Club in an Amateur Golf Tour New England event. It is a par 71, Donald Ross designed course and it is an absolute gem.
From tee boxes to fairways to greens, I could not find one fault with the golf course conditions. I can only imagine what the course will be like in June when the grass has a chance to get fuller and lush.
Upon arriving, I unpacked the gear, asked the starter if we could use the range (we could), and made my way over. The range used mats and had Titleist range balls. They also have a practice chipping area with a bunker. It was a great area to warm up. Back across the road, the practice green was in perfect condition and was rolling pretty quick.
I wish I remembered to bring the speedDonmeter, but I’d estimate them rolling faster than my home course where they are a 10. Let’s go with 11, especially since I was leaving putts short the next time I played. Even though carts were included in the tournament fee, I decided to walk. The course looked flat enough (I asked the starter to be sure).
The tournament was playing from the blue tees which measure 6393 yards. On courses like this (hard), I am more of a whites player. I have read the best way to determine which tees you should play is take your average 7-iron distance (not how far you flush it) and multiply it by 42. I have seen another that uses a 5-iron and multiply by 36, but I think everyone has a better handle on 7-iron yardages.
I use an app called Golf Shot, which combined with my Apple Watch, will track my shot yardages based on knowing when I swing, walk, and swing again. It says my 7-iron average is 137 yards. I use my 7-iron a lot for various punch shots, etc. which I believe factors into my average. I’m going to go with 145 yards, which multiplied by 42 equals 6090.
That confirms what I already know: playing at almost 6400 yards makes the course a bit more uncomfortable for me.
AGTNE does offer the option of playing the whites, but you take a hit on your handicap.
Another factor is when we started there was a breeze. About the 5th or 6th hole the wind picked up and there was a constant 15-20 mph wind coming off the bay. The wind definitely helped on the par 5 eighth hole when I got there in two and birdied the hole, but it punished you on almost all the other holes.
For instance, hole 14 is a par 4 with a substantial uphill approach shot to the green and it was into the wind. I thought I hit a pretty good drive that barely hung on to the right side of the fairway. It went 209. I believe I had 164 to the pin. Given the hill and the wind, I decided to hit 5W. I flushed it. It was one of those shots that kept rising and rising and then seemingly came straight down. I managed to make the front of the green. 151 yards. I two putted for the par.
Other times, I wasn’t so lucky. Holes 12 and 15, the wind was blowing left to right. Recently for me, my miss with my driver is usually a push off my target line and it reared its head on both those holes. The wind only exacerbated it and I ended up with two lost balls. On 12 (short par 4, 357 yards), it went into a marsh where I had hope of finding it in flat dried reeds. No dice. And on the par 4 15th hole (383 yards), it found Nayatt Road. I would like to think without the wind, they would have ended up in the rough.
Which leads to my next point (you might be surmising I’m building my case for the score I shot), PCC (playing conditions calculation). Playing in the tournament, the benefit (or drawback) is Golf Genius automatically uploads your score to the GHIN system. The GHIN system will calculate the PCC if there are enough scores entered on a particular day, which on our day was +2 and thus, the course was playing harder based on expected scoring.
The 17th hole is a wind exposed par 3 with an elevated green surrounded by bunkers and trouble. Basically, hit the green. It was a front pin of 122 yards. The wind was left to right, slightly hurting. I decided to club up to a 9 iron and put it just off the fringe on the right side, pin high. I was able to get a putter on it, put it close and tapped in for par.
So you’re telling me there is a chance. I needed to par the 18th hole (par 4, 399 yards) to keep the score under 90. I hit a good drive down the left hand side of the fairway. Again, wind was left to right, slightly hurting. It went 227 yards, which left me with a longer approach than I was hoping for. I hit a 6 iron and pushed it right, into the rough with a trap between me and the green. Luckily the lie was fluffy enough to get an open 60° wedge under it. Flopped it on to the green and it settled about 12 feet from the hole. Unfortunately, I just missed my putt and ended up with a bogey. 90 it was.
Looking at the leaderboard, there were very few entrants that played to their handicap which I think attests to the difficulty of the course on that day. The average stroke difference between a player’s score and their handicap was 10.4. If I took out 2 huge outliers, it was 9.6. So while I was disappointed with my score, knowing this does give some perspective.
All in all, RICC is a great golf course. It has all the hallmarks of a Donald Ross course. Par 5’s on the shorter side with risk/reward to consider, trouble lurking everywhere and fast, undulating greens. If you ever get a chance to play it, it is worth it. Given the opportunity, I would jump at the chance to play the course again, hopefully next time from the whites.