MUST PLAYS

Wentworth Hills Country Club

We know golfing is fun. The ownership at Wentworth Hills Country Club in Plainville, Ma. is intent on making it even more enjoyable.

The club has purchased a new fleet of “Shark” golf carts that allows players to remain in contact with the clubhouse throughout a round. They can order food and refreshments while playing the front nine and pick up orders at the turn. In addition, the carts offer yardages and golfers can even watch video tips from Greg Norman between their own shots.

The club has a unique “challenge” that gets golfers who ante up $5 or $10 on top of their greens fees a shot at a $10,000 or $20,000 prize if they make a hole-in-one on the par-three 17th hole.

And, the club has developed an app for cell phones that make the user a member of the “Wentworth Hills community” once they get the app. Individuals are notified of discounts on greens fees and other promotions and specials. A map of the course and yardages are automatically available on the user’s phone when accessing the app. ”We are trying to keep up with the younger generation that is so into technology,” said one of the club’s owners, Constant Poholek. “The hole-inone challenge is a game within the game and money we receive helps out charitable causes. We are trying to do things to make golf even more fun and keep people coming back.”

The club also continues its popular “cigar nights” where players get a round of nine holes, a cigar and dinner for a reasonable fee that changes according to the dinner provided by the club.

Wentworth Hills is a fun course to play, offering classic risk/reward holes that dare low-handicappers to “go for it,” while allowing for alternate routes to the green for less experienced golfers. The varied natural topography here features rolling, treelined fairways, large, receptive greens, ponds and lakes protecting holes, and 60 strategically-placed bunkers.

The course, while playing just over 6,200 yards from the tips, has a slope of 128 and a rating equal to its par of 71. The track places emphasis on proper club selection and accurate approach shots to the putting surfaces.

Wentworth Hills is located between Boston and Providence and only minutes from Route 495, which makes it an ideal destination for golfers from the Metro Boston area to Federal Hill in Providence.

WentworthHillsCountryClub.com

Heather Hill County Club

With 27 holes of golf, Heather Hill Country Club in Plainville, Ma., makes for a full day of golfing fun. The club offers one regulation 18-hole course and one nine-hole course.

The North Course (nine holes) has a few hills that can cause uneven lies. The fairways are narrow, and the greens are small. The South Course (18 holes) has many more hills than the North Course, but doesn’t have a lot of sand bunkers. The fairways are wide open, but most are tree lined, so you just can’t spray it around and get away with it. The greens are large, and water hazards come into play on three holes.

The 18-hole course plays around 6,000 yards from the tips and has a mix of short- and medium-length par-fours, tricky par-threes, and two par-fives that can reached in two shots by big hitters. One of those par-fives is the 478yard third that is very straightforward with few hazards complicating matters, although there are two bunkers near the putting surface. The seventh and eighth are solid back-to-back par-threes, playing almost 200 yards and 180 respectively.

The back side has three short par-fours that allow you a real chance at birdie, the 334-yard 13th, the 317-yard 14th, and the final hole, a 317-yarder. Number 12 is a good par-five that plays 516 yards from the tips, with the hole doglegging to the right, which may demand a precise layup shot to set up a wedge approach.

The nine-hole layout measures 3,368 yards from the tips. It begins with a 157-yard par-three, with the toughest stretch of holes coming at three through five. The third, a par-four, plays 400 yards, while the fourth is a challenging 500-yard par-five.

The club has a restaurant and bar for after-round enjoyment.

www.HeatherHillCountryClub.com