The Best Public And Private Golf Courses In Connecticut: Report

CONNECTICUT — Healthy addiction? Or good walk, wasted? Whatever your opinion on the game of golf, there's no disputing that Connecticut offers some of the very finest places to play it.

But where to tee off first? For that answer, we turned to the latest course ratings from Golfweek magazine. The editors there named a Hartford golf course, envisioned in part by a links design legend, as the best public-access course in the state.

Keney Park won top honors in Connecticut among the courses "for the rest of us," those that allow public access in some manner, whether through standard daily green fees, or as part of a resort or affiliated hotel.

The first nine holes of Keney Park were designed by acclaimed course architect Devereux Emmet, and built in 1927. Emmet is better known for his design of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD and Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club in Bermuda. Locally, he laid out the Hartford Golf Club and the Country Club of Farmington.

The back nine at Keney Park were built in 1931 and designed by a Hartford city engineer, Robert "Jack" Ross, who went on to design or remodel a number of Connecticut links. The course was closed while it underwent a $6 million restoration, before reopening in 2016. Since then, Keney Park has played host to the Connecticut PGA Championship, Hartford Women's Open, and the National Boy's and Girl's Junior PGA Championships.

All that prestige remains remarkably affordable. Playing 18 holes at Keney on the weekend will set you back just $36 without a cart, and the $20 greens fee to walk a round of twilight golf any day of the week is a steal.

The ratings are tabulated from the input of hundreds of members of the Golfweek's "Best" ratings panel, who regularly evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course, according to the magazine. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings.

These are Golfweek's best public-access courses in Connecticut for 2022:

1. Keney Park, Hartford
2. Wintonbury Hills, Bloomfield
3. Great River, Milford
4. Lake of Isles (North), North Stonington
5. Fox Hopyard, East Haddam
6. Shennecossett, Groton
7. Hotchkiss, Lakeville
8. Oxford Greens, Oxford
9. Richter Park, Danbury
10. Mohegan Sun, Baltic

Of course, if you've got a couple of shekels to shake together and really, really enjoy your golf, you're likely playing on a private course. Connecticut was well-represented on the list of the elite's links as well, with five of its courses appearing on Golfweek's list of the Top 200 Private Golf Courses for 2022. Three of those five can be found in Greenwich.

At the top of Golfweek's private golf course list is the Course at Yale University. Links magazine describes it as a "New England masterpiece" and one of the best collegiate courses in the country. It's considered one of the top 10 courses designed by World Golf Hall of Fame honoree Seth Raynor.

These are Golfweek's best private courses in Connecticut for 2022:

1. Yale Golf Course, New Haven
2. Country Club of Fairfield, Fairfield
3. Stanwich Club, Greenwich
4. Tamarack Country Club, Greenwich
5. Round Hill Club, Greenwich