Wintonbury Hills Golf Course Overview

Just north of Hartford, Connecticut in Bloomfield lies one of southern New England’s best municipal tests of golf: Wintonbury Hills Golf Course.

In collaboration with Tim Liddy, Pete Dye’s first full design in the New England region opened in 2005. The course features so many diverse and incredible elements. During the round, the player encounters everything from inland links style play, enormous rolling changes in elevation, firm and fast greens, and bunkering that could truly come from the mind of no other architect.

The first hole of this fantastic routing puts many of these design aspects on full display. While playing relatively short at 377 yards, the hole makes the player consider strategy off the tee. The left side of the hole is guarded by rough and a significant shelf up to the fairway but can yield a flat approach shot if taken on. Room is available to the right, but the slopes of the hole on this side make for a longer and trickier approach with the ball above the player’s feet.

At the highest point of the hole are three small circular bunkers, and this type of bunker is encountered throughout the golf course. Think of TPC Sawgrass, and you will instantly realize these are a Pete Dye specialty. So many of them are embedded into these raised mounds as they are here, and near the greens they are often cut into some significant slopes and arranged in many patterns.

The course wastes no time introducing some of the dramatic elevation changes the player will encounter throughout the day with the wonderful par 4 second. The tee shot here can be visually intimidating, as missing left is sure to yield trouble getting up to the green from the thick grass and drastic slopes. As with the first, a shot out to the right can easily find the fairway, but results in a long uphill approach to a two-tier green. The back tier on this green is very small, and if the flag is placed there as it was on this day, even a two putt from the center of the green is a significant task, and getting it up and down from off the green may be one of the toughest short-game tests on the golf course.

The first par 3 on the course is the third hole. This is an engaging short hole that features a large two-tiered green, with the bottom tier forming a small bowl with a slope on the left side. The pin on this day was placed in the middle of the bottom tier, and if a shot lands on the front left of the green, the ball has a good chance of going up the slope and rolling down to the flag. Missing on the wrong level of this green can yield an easy three putt, and the right side is guarded by a cluster of the circular bunkers.

The first par 5 on the course is Hole #4. The fairway here is generous, but left and right misses brings different and tough obstacles into play, from a bunker and rows of trees on the left to thick rough and steep slopes on the right. Getting on in two from the fairway here can certainly be possible, but it is critical to favor the right side of the green as it drops off sharply on the left and there is trouble behind the green as well. Anything coming in low runs the risk of going long, as the green is extremely firm.

The next three holes provide one of the most exciting stretches on the course. The short par 4 fifth is beautiful to look at from the elevated tee boxes. A fade down the hill is called for here, but if you are a big hitter, be sure not to push it too far, as a perfectly placed volcano bunker is potentially in play. More circular bunkers are placed into slopes near the green, and with the ball likely to be slightly below the player’s feet, they are just waiting to consume a push off the downhill lie.

Up to this point, the par 4 holes at Wintonbury Hills have been relatively short. The sixth hole flips that script for the rest of the round. This 430-yard brute features a massively sloped fairway from left to right. Hitting the tee shot up the left and having the ball take the slope down is the preferred play but be sure to keep it high or the rough on the right can easily be found. The enormous centerline bunker may not be in play from the tee, but miss in the rough to the right, and clearing this bunker and two additional bunkers to find a flat pitching area or the green becomes a real challenge. The green is massive and firm, and the right side of this hole drops off quite significantly.

Following the difficult sixth hole is the extraordinary par 3 seventh hole. From the top tee box, this hole can push 260 yards to the center of the green, and the entirety of the left side of the hole is rife with danger, including thick brush, water, rough, and a string of the classic Wintonbury saucer bunkers. The lateral hazard cuts well in front of the hole as well, and there is a reasonably large pitching area to find if needed. A par here is extremely well earned, but a four is certainly satisfying as well.

The longest hole on the course is the par 5 eighth hole, and it returns the player back to the more flat and open land of the property. This hole is wonderfully designed and commands the player’s attention right from the beginning. The entire left side of the hole simply must be avoided at all costs from the tee. A fairway bunker with surrounding thick grass pinches in from that side, and the entirety of the left side is guarded by rough, lateral hazard, and woods. However, fading it too far could result in finding one of Dye’s perfectly placed bunkers, and at worst a layup from the rough. If needing to play a third shot to the green, it is best played slightly from the left as the green is most accessible from there. Stay patient, and a five is well within reach.

The front nine closes with an intimidating par 3 of nearly 200 yards from the back tee. The green is large and well sloped, and a trio of bunkers guard the entirety of the right front portion, and they are diabolically designed. Depending on the hole location, a shot out of the center or furthest bunker to the right could very well be sideways from an uphill lie. Having to pitch over these bunkers to the green from well short is also a brutal task, so a miss short and left here is heavily favored. A three here is as good as any.

Wintonbury Hills is occasionally criticized for having the first four holes of the back nine being too similar to those on the front. While the sequence of two par 4 holes, a par 3, and a par 5 is the same, the holes, in my opinion, still offer up different tests and are just as thrilling. Hole #10 may seem straightforward, but if the wind is not properly factored in, a miss to the right into a thick lateral hazard is well within play, and it is quite a bit longer than the first.

Like Hole #2, Hole #11 plays up the hill, but is much longer and presents an entirely new set of hazards into the equation. The carry to the fairway, especially into the wind, can be a tough task from the back tee, and a dual bunker complex in the middle of the fairway is certainly a factor for long hitters. The two-tiered green here is quite sloped, and anything short and right will be repelled by significant slopes as well.

Hole #12 is a par 3 like the third, but with a much different set of bunkers. Hole #13 is also an uphill par 5 sharing the same hillside as the fourth, but the dangers here are arguably much more penalizing. While a miss left on the fourth could be lessened by finishing in a bunker, no such relief is offered on the left on the 13th. The hole drops off sharply into rough and trees down the left side. The right side is clearly more favorable, but the ball could be well above the player’s feet here. Coming in from the right side of the green is ideal and left brings in more considerable slopes and three tiny bunkers.

The most unique hole on the golf course is the tremendous par 4 14th. Playing 455 from the back tee, the entirety of the right side of this hole is guarded by a massive water hazard. Making matters more interesting, the left side features dramatic ridges and slopes that rise and dip the entire length of the hole. The fairway does expand out to the right decently at about the 260 yard point but does not yield a great look at the green for the approach and should by no means be the starting target. If in any doubt, take a bit more out to the left, and the slopes will help the ball come back to the fairway.

Hole #15 is another strong par 4, with the fairway sloping greatly from left to right. Like hole #14, care should be taken not to over-fade the tee shot as the right side of the hole drops off into a lateral hazard and thick rough. The right side of the hole continues to present challenges up at the green, with slopes and bunkers making a miss to this side quite penal.

The tee shot on Hole #16 presents an interesting visual of a single volcano style bunker on the right and a large slope on the left. The right side of the hole continues to be the most dangerous, but leaving the ball up on the hill on the left presents a difficult shot to judge, as it is all downhill to sloped green, with long and right being a disastrous miss. Coming up just short and in front here is not a bad result.

To get to the par 3 17th hole, the player moves through an area of dense vegetation back out to the course’s most open land. Care must be taken at this hole not to miss to the left due to the various hazards, so missing just short and right is highly preferred. The wind can certainly play a factor here, and the green is quite large from back to front.

The closing hole at Wintonbury Hills provides one final opportunity to hit a strong tee shot, with the preferred play being a power fade from the left side bunkers back to the fairway. Be sure to consider any wind properly, as the right side of this hole presents many challenges, from thick rough, a large bunker, and a hazard beyond those two elements. Being more on the right side of the hole presents quite a difficult approach shot as well. The right side of the green features the last few of Wintonbury’s classic small bunkers, rough, and slopes, and the green is oriented right to left from back to front. Overall, it is a strong finisher and is rated as the 5th hardest hole on the course.

Wintonbury Hills Golf Course is truly a gem of the southern New England golf landscape. It can be easy at times to forget that it is a municipal course. The thrilling, challenging design and strong conditions make the course an exceptional value and experience, and as Pete Dye’s key stamp on the New England scene, it is simply a must-play.