RICHMOND – I let Richmond Country Club beat before I even stepped foot on it.
I played the course once, well over 10 years ago, but knew of its reputation. It was tight. It had length. While hitting it far isn’t my issue, hitting it straight is, so when making a choice on a South County golf course to play, I avoided Richmond like the plague.
What a mistake.
Armed with a much better mental approach, I was ready for my rematch with Richmond Country Club. The course won, but it wasn’t because of its narrow fairways or its length. It was because I let the idea of those things affect how I played it and left realizing this is one of the more fun golf courses Rhode Island has to offer.
Any take offered on Richmond was always the same. It was incredibly tight, where control and precision were paramount.
For me – a traditional long and wrong hitter who doesn’t mind playing from a fairway over – this was a nightmare. Spending four hours trying to drive a ball down a bowling alley isn’t exactly my idea of fun.
When I arrived at Richmond, paid my greens fees and started pushing my gear – I’ve dubbed my pushcart the “Dorkmobile” because of my disdain for pushcarts prior to owning one – toward the first hole, I checked the yardages to determine which tee I’d be playing from.
This is where I made a mistake.
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The large majority of golfers play the wrong tees. Most assume tee selection is a skill-based endeavor, but that’s only part of the equation. Distance should be a larger factor, which is why you constantly see stubborn old men on the course playing the “senior tees” instead of the “women’s tees” which aren’t women’s tees at all. Their forward-playing tees designed for people who hit it 150 yards with a driver.
When I saw Richmond played over 6,800 yards from the tips, my decision was made for me. That type of distance generally requires a lot of driver swings from me and while I like bearing the boomstick, I also know it can get away from me in a hurry. I went up a tee, which was listed at 6,200 yards, just a bit shorter than the 6,300-6,500 I tend to play.
My responsible decision turned out to be my downfall.
It didn’t take me long to realize hitting fairways was crucial to succeeding at Richmond. Every hole is seemingly designed to play golf the way it was intended, vs. my typical cross-country style.
By playing up, I figured I would have success. I hit a bounty of 3 and 4 hybrids off tees – leaving driver and 3-wood in the bag – but I ran into the problem of those being too far for the tee box I was playing.
Richmond rewards shot-making. If you can cut a corner or shape a shot, you can end up with short wedges and plenty of birdie looks. I had more than a few, but far too often I found my tee shots rolling too far on the lines I was taking. I needed less club than I thought to hit the shot I thought the hole demanded.
Had I dropped back a tee, I would have been able to hit the same hybrids – with selected 3-woods and driver mixed in – and could have given myself similar looks, but with mid- or scoring irons vs. wedges.
Most courses, I’d say always play up. If you have any semblance of distance, the tips will not kill you providing you’re hitting tee shots to the correct location.
There is some challenge in that.
Yes, Richmond is tighter than most golf courses. But I found the actual fairways to be more spacious than the picture I had painted in my head.
What Richmond doesn’t offer is a chance to miss one fairway over and recover (although I did on one occasion, which I still don’t know how I found the spot I did). If you’re in the woods, put the superhero stuff behind you and play the responsible punch-out. Your handicap will thank you.
Minus the mental warfare – which was more user created than anything – Richmond Country Club provided an incredible golf experience.
First, I nearly passed out when I paid. It was $39 to walk – and it’s really the only way you should play this course - although when I checked the website afterward that mirrored the “senior rate.” Can’t tell if this was an employee error, someone giving me a deal, or a shot at how old I look vs. how old I actually am.
I love solitude on the golf course and, playing on a Thursday mid-morning, I got plenty of it until I ran into a twosome on the 12th hole (and, despite being backed up, they didn’t offer up an invitation to join them. Clearly, I’m that intimidating)
From tee to green, conditions were solid – although I can’t speak for the bunkers because I was only in one of them and the one on No. 10 seemed pretty fair. The greens rolled smooth and true and the speeds were about where all the other top public courses in the state were. They were soft and held shots, but it would be wildly fun to see them firmed up a ton, with the surface turned to glass (that would also create six-hour rounds).
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My favorite holes were probably the two a golf purist would say had the least amount of life in them. After getting my brains beaten in for the first seven, Nos. 8 and 9 provided some relief. On 8, a 310-yard par 4, I hit a driver just short of the green, hit a mediocre pitch and two-putted for birdie. On 9, a 315-yard par 3, I hit a 4-hybrid and left myself with flip wedge.
The two pars jump-started my back nine and gave me a bit of confidence, something I didn’t have when I arrived on property. It’s like someone placed them there specifically to help a golfer’s pride.
After a bogey on 10 – where I misread my putt after a good sand shot – I found a solid swing and started giving myself chances to score. A double on the par-3 15th hole hurt the card, but I found two pars and headed to 18 feeling good.
If I have one gripe about Richmond, it’s that there was really no warning to the tee shot. I knew there was water – you see the pond coming in. I shot the tree in front, hit a hybrid over it and saw a splash. A small signing saying “X amount of yards to the water” would be a solid warning.
Of course, if I played the back tees, I would have been fine. Instead, I took my drop, hit the green, two putted and walked off, already excited for my next matchup with Richmond Country Club.
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