There’s no pretense to Petersham Country Club, just a down home quaintness that has kept locals coming back for nearly 90 years. Named for the town in which it resides, the course is firmly rooted in the quiet hills of central Massachusetts and abuts the Quabbin Reservoir. It is located just south of Rte. 2, a 50-minute drive from Worcester along Rte. 122, and about an hour-and-a-half from Boston.
The course was designed by Scottish legend Donald Ross in the 1920s and six of the nine holes still feature the original green design first implemented faraway from the urban din of the Roaring 20s. True to Ross form, the greens are characteristically small and fast. In the words of Tim Bishop, the course’s general manager, “if you can putt here, you can putt anywhere.”
The land has not lost any of its knotty and sylvan allure in the intervening decades. Petersham Country Club is nearly entombed by more than 800 acres of Harvard University conservation land. Thickets of evergreens and hardwood line nearly every hole. Autumn is the right time to see New England’s true colors, a kaleidoscope of autumn oranges and reds make the course worth playing well into the fall.
Like so many others since the club’s opening on July 4, 1924, Bishop has grown to know this golf course, which is a corporation owned by its 200-plus members. And to know the course is to love the course. Ross carved the nine holes out of dense timber, thick underbrush and farmland, knocking down a barn and removing the quintessential New England demarcation line: stone walls. Originally, the course was supposed to straddle Rte. 32, but today the nine holes are located on the east side of the thoroughfare.
Try not to get too transfixed on the rural attractions. There is golf to play, and the course offers a fair share of interesting stretches that will present a trial for golfers of all ages and skill levels. The 2nd hole, a downhill Par-3 that ranges from 195 yards to 220 yards depending on the tee box, is a prototypical Rossian archetype. Bunkers guard both sides of the undulating and nuanced green. If you make par, says Bishop, depart this hole happy. At 438 yards, the Par-4 No. 4 is lengthy and features another elevated tee box overlooking the majestic forest. The green is, once again, a central key to the hole. Like three others on the course, it is double-tiered and features subtle swales that can foil all but the most patient of players.
The Par-5 5th stretches 480 yards and features a dogleg left that often triggers a divergence of strategy, depending on the skill set and experience of the player. Some elect to go big over the trees, which oftentimes does not end well. Others grab the driver and try to hit a big hook off the tee with the hopes of getting to the green in two. That too can be fruitless because a shot that doesn’t hook will lead you to searching in the pinecones for your ball as the thick forest swallows stray, and in this case, straight, shots. Others play a little more conservatively and elect to hit a hybrid off the tee and play it as a three-shots-to-the-green hole. No. 7 has a slanted fairway that often throws course newcomers for a loop. The fairway slopes 40 feet from left to right. Some elect to hit their first shot far left to try to keep the ball on the fairway on this 385-yard Par-4. The Par-3 No. 8 is a 124-yard uphill battle. From the tee box, you can barely see the top of the flag. The green slopes back to front. Like on the other Par-3s the course has to offer, club selection is key. Bishop says its not unusual for a golfer to reach for a hybrid three wood on No. 2 and by the time No. 8 rolls around they’re reaching for a 9-iron.
The course as a whole is not long, with its nine holes stretching just over 3,000 yards. However, Petersham Country Club still serves up a challenge. Bishop says the course is an ideal challenge for children, beginners and seniors, and it plays host to two junior camps during the second and third weeks of July. Golfers have been known to enjoy the clubhouse’s deck, and its accompanying snack bar, perched 20 yards away from the 9th green.
Current rates include a weekday, Monday through Thursday, deal that features a cart and up to 18 holes of golf for $25.