New England Country Club

Address:
180 Paine St
Bellingham, MA 02019
Phone: 508-883-2300
Website: http://www.newenglandcountryclub.com/

Golf Mash Rating: 7/10
Course Quality: 8/10
Course Difficulty: 8/10
Price: High: $50-75

Full Review:

New England Country Club is a good course at a upper medium price. It has most of what you'd expect for the price, but depending on where you live you may be able to get a comparable round at a closer course. I liked the NECC overall. It has challenging holes, is well taken care of and has great practice facilities also.

The Good

• Overall great golfing experience with no big negatives about the course.
• Full driving range, putting green and short game/sand practice area.
• Rolling hills with imaginative holes that use the terrain effectively.
• Well taken care of and lush layout. At times, this may have been too much so (see below)

The Bad

• A solid hour or more drive from Boston.
• The course seems overly mature. It is time for them to start thinning out the trees along some of the fairways because there is too much shade in places for the grass to growth thick enough.
• Carts mandatory on weekends due to some long walks between holes.

Other Notes

• Some of the tee shots require some care and prior knowledge because of doglegs that bend early:
  • Number 3: the downhill will definitely extend the tee shots here. Even at over 300 yards, the green side water can catch long drives. Play an iron off the tee and keep it safe.
  • Number 5: I put my tee shot in the bunker through the corner. There is a fairly wide opening to attack the green from the top of the hill at the corner. Going with a long iron off the tee is probably the right play. Either that or try to bend a driver to catch the downslope if you have that shot.
  • There are a number of blind tee shots. I'm not an NECC expert, and knowing what tree to fire at would have definitely helped. I'd recommend talking to rangers about tee shots for numbers 2 and 13.
• If you are carrying, catch a ride down to the first tee. The walk from the clubhouse is pretty long.

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