Let's Review: Brattleboro Country Club

The Skinny

A half-step below a thoroughly enjoyable round of golf where you’ll spend 80% of the time admiring the beautiful views and 20% contemplating where you’re supposed to hit your next shot.

The Course

Brattleboro Country Club has thoughtfully designed holes and takes advantage of the mountainous Vermont region. Playing at 6500 yards from the tips, length is not necessary.

The greens have some serious undulation and roll extremely true. They are mostly well protected by bunkers or woods, but the greens themselves are big enough and provide a pretty wide landing area.

Dog legs, fairways that pinch closer the further your drive goes, elevation changes, and drivable par 4s force decisions on nearly every hole. While less club is almost always advisable, the course does a good job of rewarding you for the once every four round properly executed mega-drive.

Normally this would be a footnote below, but I feel compelled to mention the cart situation up top. I almost never think twice when given a gas cart that has no GPS functionality - old school, fine, round has never been impacted because I’ve had to use a rangefinder, etc.

At Brattleboro, however, if you are not playing with someone who has played the course before, I do not believe it’s an exaggeration to say you legitimately have 0 idea where at least five of the holes go unless you drive your cart 175-200 yards in the fairway before your tee shot due to the elevation changes.

There was too much truly blind guessing, and it was the first round of golf I’ve played where my experience was negatively impacted because there was no GPS in the cart.

The Price

$99 including a cart on the weekends, $85 if you play Monday - Thursday. I probably spent $15 more than I would have wanted to given the course. That $15 won’t keep me away next time I’m in town, but it is not a triple digit round of golf.

Signature Hole

The seventh hole is a relatively short par 5 that has a 30 yard drop-off approximately 230 yards in the middle of the fairway. The drop-off is comprised of bushes, and your best, most straight drive has maybe a 15% chance of clearing the bushes and landing on the lower level. Even harder - when you are standing on the tee box, you have no idea the hole drops off! It just looks like a standard downhill par 5 where straight is good. I was lucky enough to have sliced one to the right enough that my ball couldn’t reach the downhill.

I was so caught off guard by the surprise elevation that I didn’t even notice that the right side of the lower portion is lined with a pond. A hole that tests your patience, but could also be a six iron → pitching wedge → lob wedge away from a decent look at birdie.

Grabbing a Bite 

Going to say N/A here. There was no food on the premises and I did not spend enough time in the area after to scope out the food scene. Trusty Dunkin is just a three minute drive away.

Nice to Know

One remedy to the cart situation that I did not consider until after the round - download a GPS app beforehand. Should be a suitable replacement for what the cart is lacking.

Grass range! I’m not entirely sure this is on purpose, but the deep part of the range pinches similarly to some of the more narrow fairways, so it’s a nice simulation as to what you should expect visually.

For what appears to be a modest little pro shop on the outside, it is packed to the brim on the inside. Definitely budget time to do a walkthrough as they had great clothes on sale and shockingly good merch.

How many sleeves: 2.5.

Classic Vermont golf - trees that eat golf balls and leaves that look like your golf ball. There’s a lake or two out there as well, just be smart and back the extra sleeve.