Norfolk Country Club - 1912
Off a narrow gravel road just west of downtown Norfolk, CT lies Norfolk Country Club. First laid out in 1912, the course was re-worked to its current layout in 1928 by A.W. Tillinghast. On arrival, one sees the tiny parking lot, and the white clubhouse is stunning yet modest. Around the side of the building is the first tee, also the highest point on the property. That distance from the first tee to the dining area is so close it makes Merion East’s look like a full wedge shot away.
Besides the proximity of the first tee to the clubhouse, the first thing I noticed was the movement of the property. From this high point, only a few holes were visible but were ultimately where a bulk of the movement happened. A large swath of fairway sat at the bottom of the hill off the tee of one, parts of holes that I ultimately learned were 1, 4 and 5. Trees quietly divided these playing corridors.
I was playing in the weekly Wednesday Night Scramble at this private nine-hole course. It was only my third time golfing in well over two months as I had been guiding canoe trips in Canada for the summer. My playing partners consisted of another canoe guide named Barnes, the father of yet another guide, Joe, and Kathleen, this father’s family friend. Driving our cart to our starting hole I saw the tiny ninth green, one so small it might not be designed today.
Our group started on the second, a 170-yard par 3 that, to me, was the least interesting hole on a very interesting property. A straight-forward one-shotter guarded by a short-left bunker, we took Kathleen’s ball on the fringe and got down for 3. For our round, the Tillinghast pen stroke first appeared to me on the third.
Tillinghast is known for placing an importance on approach shots. Not necessarily the approach but positioning, and how to get one’s ball to that spot from off the tee. An uphill 235-yard par 4 over a chasm of tick-infested hay, the landing area and the green are blind from the tee. Running up the entire left side is O.B., and the green hugs this wooded hazard. The ideal tee shot, besides ripping one 235 yards on a rope to the green, is up the left side. From here, no bunkers inhibit the approach, therefore opening the angle to the green. Long of the green is a narrow, deep bunker that separates the third and fifth greens, which are incredibly close to each other.
Downhill from the tee on this 350-yard hole, the fourth fairway is draped over the rolling hills, passed a large tree that protects the right side of the fairway. This tree is at the apex of the fairway’s final descent to one of my favorite greens on the property, another that might not get built today. This tiny (back-)half punchbowl had us aiming three to four feet right of the stick from pin high. We bit our nails as the fourth player knocked in the five-foot comebacker.
After our first three holes I was nervous our team hadn’t made any birdies. I figured some other group was already -2 and knew we needed some circles on our card if we wanted to win.
The 435-yard par 5 fifth easily plays 535. Back up the hill we just descended, the fairway meanders up slopes to a green that is blind from the landing area. Off the tee we took my pull, which was really a 230-yard 3wood hit on a rope 30 yards left of my target. Our best second ended up 80 yards short under a tree, our next 30 feet above the pin, and our first putt, by Joe, in the cup for birdie. While this was not exactly a double dogleg par-5 like his famous hole at Shawnee Inn and Country Club in New Jersey, it almost felt that way.
Six, a 345-yard par 4, plays down the hill and is guarded by woods the entire left side. A second shot hole, I found the guard of the green to be the most interesting part. Tucked in a corner up against the woods, there are mounds dropped behind the green along with a slight false front ahead of the green. We all came within inches of back-to-back birds, but instead made 4.
I felt like I had been transported back to Manchester, UK on the tee of 7. I was thinking this hole could fit in on the back nine at Reddish Vale, one of my favorite Alister MacKenzie courses. 340 yards from the tree and as flat as can be, the fairway bent left around a tiny pond, between another pond, to a back to front sloped green that was split into similar tiers. Tucked back in a grove of trees in front of a creek, I kept thinking about 15 and 16 at Reddish Vale.
I began thinking we had no chance of winning this thing only -1 through 6. There was still the par 5 1st, but otherwise we had few birdie holes on the tee of the 165-yard 8th. Our best ball ended up being close to 50ft from the hole. Besides length, the defense of this par3 is the green. One of the largest on the property, it slopes back to front with wrinkles folding left to right. With the hole cut right and our ball left, we had an uphill left to right putt. After the first two hit, Kathleen gave me a higher read. I liked the line, hit the putt, heard Barnes and Joe willing it on, and watched it drop in the high door. Laughter and hugs filled the next moments as the group behind us stared.
We were feeling good at -2.
Nine was a triumphant return to the clubhouse whose layout reminded me of #11 at Buck Hill Falls. From a perched tee, this 255-yard uphill par4 is gettable. First, the fairway drops down before rising back for the last 150 yards. The tiny green is tucked behind a small bunker with an obtruding upper lip. Nestled below the clubhouse, we couldn’t have our cocktail until we played the first, still at -2.
With the tee a kick from the clubhouse, the par 5 drops down to a fairway that turns 90º left 240 yards from the tee. Staring straight into the setting sun, the only thing I knew about Barnes’s ball was that it was in position A. As we rounded the dogleg with our first, we were left with about 230 up rolling hills to the green. Another well hit ball by Barnes put us in the hollow 30 yards short of a very elevated green. We took my bump and run that got to within 20 feet, and then Kathleen waited for Barnes to get on the green so we could all watch her putt to know the read. Then she drained it. A massive birdie on the “tie-breaker” hole.
Barnes and I got dirty martinis for ourselves and a cosmo for Kathleen and went to join our friends and other groups on the open porch. We toasted to a great round as the head pro came outside with a sheet of paper. “And in first place because of the tie-breaker, the winning team is McClean, Kelley, Barnes and Vick. Our friend Kyra got this victorious moment on video, and we celebrated with another round of drinks. This experience, and format, was such fun golf. The quality and intrigue of the course is something that I will remember for a while, but not nearly as much as the championship company.
