Yeah - I had seen your previous post about Sassamon and maybe one other on here and it is what caused me to look into it in the first place, so thank you for that! Growing up in the area in 80s and 90s but then being away for about 10 years for college and law school, I completely missed out on this development when it came into being. I played high school golf in the Bay State League and Natick was the only school in the conference without a team back then - Sassamon must be great for them in particular.
I had planned to play with a friend who is a relative beginner, but only single times were available by the time I got around to booking for Sunday morning. It turns out we had an extra spot and played as a threesome, so I wish we had just showed up, but I was not sure about suggesting that sight unseen. I did enjoy the pushcart mafia out in full force, I felt right at home. I also will look forward to it as a place to play with my kids when they are ready for the course, maybe even my wife if she ever decides to give it another shot.
Agreed as well. I think it gets overlooked as a decent option for cheap and within 30 minutes of downtown Boston. 5 - 9 is a demanding stretch, and the greens are fast and challenging. Iâve never played well at Sandy which eats at me. âShit conditionsâ is too harsh for when I was there last in August, but absolutely do not go within 72 hours of rain.
right, this is what i was referring to, itâs a pretty damning statement for a golf course.
5-9 is a bad stretch, IMO. 5 is an unprotected long downhill par 3 with nothing at all interesting about it, 6 is a straightforward forced layup (that gets hard if you make poor choices), 7 is a bad hole (soggy/tight/stupid landing area, youâre hitting like a 160 and a 160 shot), 8 is also a bad hole (hitting a 220 shot that always embeds so you can never find it, followed by a wedge), 9 is silly (200y shot, wedge).
Yeah, at the end of the day I agree. Itâs a bad stretch. But I think these holes deserve a little more credit. 5 is a classic Ross green that punishes you for being above the hole. 7 is a dumb hole, but you have easily 200 yards to work with off the tee if you go up the right side of the fairway (I checked with Google Earth). And 6, 8, and 9 give you the option of hitting driver or 3 wood around the corner, leaving a flip wedge, in addition to the conservative plays that you describe.
while i agree with you about 6/8/9 having those options, thereâs no risk-reward associated with them, you know? like youâre not punished for laying back with a much harder shot, and youâre not rewarded for pulling it off with a much easier shot. its like kinda meh each way.
Ah, man. Probably the last 5 rounds Iâve been there have been waterlogged, so I have a sour taste in my mouth, and Iâve walked off a few times due to conditions and picked up a few rain checks for the back 9, so those are foggier memories.
I think hole 4 is really, really great. Itâs got a great drive into a contoured landing area, and a classic Ross uphill green with some amazing tilt to it. Honestly, one of the better holes in the area.
(Iâve almost driven 7 green a few timesâŚ)
11 is a lot of fun, though not perhaps very interesting. If you nuke it, it just carries foorrrreeeevveerrrrrr. (Itâs got like 80 feet of elevation drop, for the unfamiliar).
Thought the closing stretch of 3 was also pretty good, but honestly canât recall too much in between those.
For those closer to downtown Boston: I played Franklin Park this morning. Itâs in the best shape that I have ever seen it, and the greens were running pretty quick as well. Even areas that I usually expect to be really soggy (example: fairway on 11) were running today, it was nice. Now, the caveat is that itâs a public course so donât expect to be private course conditioning, but itâs in really good shape.
Also cool: Had another single catch me on the 3rd tee. We got to talking and he had just come over from Beth Israel, he had a pre-op appointment to remove a cancerous nodule from his lung next week. Heâs been in and out of there over the past year to get his cancer treated. When he gets the claerance to play golf, he goes full steam ahead and plays frequently. I thought I was playing well, and I knew that he wasnât missing many shots. We get to 18 and he says âthis putt is for 71.â He ended up missing that birdie, but seeing a 72 shot out there was pretty impressive. Even more impressive is that heâs been battling cancer for over a year.
Dude! Franklin was in absolutely fantastic condition this weekend, youâre completely right. Literally not a thing bad to say about anywhere on the property at the moment. Greens are running fast (for FP) and true.
Hit a 20 footer and said within a half second of hitting it, âI made itâ and I did, best feeling ever. (From top right corner on 12).
It looked like they had verti-cut the green on 8, but none of the other greens were like that. It was the only weird thing I saw all day long. I am dreading if they have to punch the greens again this year out there because itâs so good right now.
I heard they were punching the greens in October / late-season. GW greens are also getting to be really, really good. It rained a lot, so, next weekend they should be stellar.
I think all 4 par 3âs are fantastic. You have two short ones over water, one plays draw the other plays a fade. You have a long downhill par 3 (if it wasnât always underwater it would play like intended and you can run it up) and a long uphill par 3 that demands an aerial shot.
Holes 4, 6, 16 and 18 are all classic Ross par 4âs that would be celebrated if they were in prime conditioning.
The greens on 2, 4, 6, 8-10, 14-16 are all absolutely fantastic.
What I dislike about Sandy Burr:
Half the course is mailed in, uninspiring architecturally and meh to play today. (Holes 1-2, 7, 11-12, 14-15, 17)
Holes 8 and 9 are easily the most controversial. 8 is due to poor maintenance practices, I could almost guarantee those trees on the corner arenât supposed to be there. If those were removed and the course was firm youâd have an awkward tee shot where the aggressive drive would funnel off the hill and towards the river, a lay up to the corner takes the hill out of play. 9 is interesting because it seems like there should be some reason to lay up short of the hill but I canât think of one. As far back as the 1950âs (Earliest aerial I can find) there was no way to run the ball up onto that green. Seems like itâs a no-brainer to hit it up top but itâs such a weird contrived shot I canât imagine Ross designed it like that.
The real shame of Sandy Burr is that when it was designed with absolutely no trees on the property. Absolutely none. I can only dream of how nice the vistas of the river and how the rolling land would shine without any trees on the course. Weâll probably never see that again. Câest la vie.
I think #10 at Sandy Burr is one of the harder par 3s around. Long, elevated tee shot to a two-tiered green, not a lot of room to miss on either side. Not sure Iâve ever made par there, to be honest.
RIP to one of the great restaurants of Boston. Doyleâs in JP. Spent countless little league banquets, dinners with family, and drinks with friends at this place. It holds a huge part of Boston political history both good and bad. The connection with Sam Adams helped keep it thriving in the 90s and 00s but rent grew and the family is saying time to close up shop. Sold its liquor license to Davios which is opening in Seaport for $450K. Looks like it only has a month or 2 left open.
If you are at GW or FP in the next month, swing by its a 5-10 min drive from both. Enjoy some history that is going away.
Yea, his uncle owns the property and he leases from him. Add in that his uncle is probably in his 70s-80s, I have a feeling a large sale for property was around the corner and they knew it was time to get out.
Still stinks to see an iconic restaurant that isnât in downtown Boston closing after being the go to place for Irish politicians for the last 100+ years.
