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I was pulled out of seasonal retirement earlier this week for the opportunity to play Franklin Country Club in Massachusetts. 

It was a beautiful day and I had never been too Franklin CC before so I decided to take out the sticks for an afternoon. 

Back in May, Franklin hosted the only New England qualifier for the U.S. Senior Open with Fran Quinn earning medalist honors at two-under par. 

With all that in mind, let’s get to the course. 

Playing the Course 

Franklin CC has been around since 1899 and is a par 71. 

Our group played from the white tees which measure 6,139 yards.  

Overall, Franklin was in good condition on all fronts between tees, fairways and greens, I also found the course pretty challenging. 

The greens vary in size, but all of them were pretty fast and firm – we had a tough time holding the greens on shots. 

We all had a tough time putting – but we also had no idea what we were doing as none of us had ever played there. 

As I have written before, I love courses with raised tee boxes and you hit to the fairway or green below. 

I just think it’s a cool look and makes for a great picture – which let’s be honest, is what I care about. 

And that starts on the first hole. 

The first hole is a tough dog leg left with a relatively small green that sits up on a hill. I made a mess of it.  

For a first hole, it was pretty difficult. 

The second hole is a really cool hole with another raised tee box and bunkers on the left side.  

I striped a drive, then striped my second shot to about 4 feet and missed the birdie putt – go figure. 

Not knowing the greens or being comfortable on them certainly played a role.  

The third hole is another raised tee box, but you have to be careful as there is a hazard that cuts across the fairway.  

What is funny is the carts have a super detailed GPS that shows you the hole and what is ahead and so if you are paying attention to it, you would know. 

Well, we were not paying attention to it because we were not used to having it. 

The fourth hole is a cool par 3 with water and bunkers in front. 

There was some wind and my shot ended up in the bunker. 

Not going to go through every hole, but overall my round was up and down and the course was challenging. 

There are a lot of undulations in the course, and a handful of blind shots that make the holes tricky and side hill lies. 

I guess that’s what the GPS was for. 

Arguably the biggest challenge of playing fall golf is the leaves and that was no different at Franklin. 

If we were not in the fairway, and in some cases even if we were, our group had a tough time finding golf balls. 

We used the leaf rule more than a few times. 

The closing hole is a hilly par-5 in which my tee shot was awful. 

My second shot was good and my third shot landed on the green and just rolled off to the fringe on the back left with the pin in the middle quite a ways away. 

Our match was over (I lost) so I just went up and putted, not even really even thinking, and the ball happened to roll in for a closing birdie. 

Sometimes, those are the putts that go in. 

Overall 

Franklin was an interesting place to play and would love to play it again during the summer without leaves and with my game a little more in season.  

It was a great afternoon of golf with friends at a place I had never played before.