RHODE ISLAND'S POINT JUDITH GOLF CLUB- a Donald Ross classic!

 

Have you ever been to Rhode Island?  Lisa and  I never had  prior to our golfing  adventure in May  with the Donald Ross Society.  Joining that group afforded us the opportunity to play five Rhode Island classic venues. But was that enough golf for the two of us? Of course not!   Having previously  perused a copy of Michael Fay's  homage to Donald Ross entitled "Golf, The Way it Was Meant to Be Played," I was aware of  an out-of-the-way Ross design- Point Judith Golf Club. With assistance from Brookside's professional, Brad Zeiger, we scheduled a game on May 8th, the day prior to  the start of the Ross Society activities at Newport Country Club.  

 

 

 

 

All was pretty quiet when we arrived at Point Judith. Weather conditions for our 1:30 tee time were not ideal. Spring arrives late  here, and there was not much  greenery on display.  But as we eased into our tour of Point Judith, the accompanying drizzle dissipated and we enjoyed a very pleasant round.  Look at the stone wall pictured below that was just behind the first green. There were many such barriers scattered over the course.  Professional David Marcotte later told us that local law prohibits their  destruction because walls  were often used in deeds to reference  boundary  lines of   properties.  Some of the walls of the course are  covered by grass embankments which was not illegal so long as the underlying wall remained intact. Lisa and I were reminded of the omnipresent stone walls of  Scotland's North Berwick.  

 

 

 

View from the tee to the 3rd hole- clubhouse in background- Don't skull a shot into the wall!

 

 

 

Point Judith  boasted several short par 4s  that could prove  surprisingly penal  if your drive was off-line or your pitch shot to their tiny greens was not on the money.  Fortunately, this pitch to the 4th was OK.

 

 

 

 

The rambling gray shingled clubhouse is old New England at its best. 

 

 

 

 

Above is a classic Ross green-bunker complex. Green shaped like an inverted saucer rejecting shots not hit into the heart;  a false front with a foreboding bunker poised to snare fat pitch shots. This is the 11th.