Golfers Best Gamble in The Northeast
Are you planning that long weekend getaway? Looking for someplace within driving distance that will tantalize your senses day and night with championship golf, pampering spa treatments, exquisite dining, world-class gaming and Vegas-style entertainment? Look no further. The New England area offers the best gaming and golf facilities on the east coast.
Need sun? Mohegan Sun, located in Uncasville Connecticut, has evolved into another east coast’s premier gaming and golf destination. Mohegan Sun Country Club at Pautipaug is considered the best kept secret. Originally the Pautipaug Country Club, designed by Geoffrey Cornish, was purchased by Mohegan Sun in 2007. The private 18-hole championship course, complete with it’s retro-style 60’s clubhouse, pro-shop, driving range and swimming pool is about 15 minutes from their gaming establishment, nestled in the scenic hills of Baltic, Connecticut. Open to its members and Mohegan Sun guests, it’s “off the beaten path” location, is easy to miss, as it has no grand entrance. It’s serene location among pastures and farmland, lavish and gently rolling fairways and impeccable greens make it a player-friendly course. Fewer hazards and elevation changes make it less intimidating than Foxwoods’ Lake of Isles North Course, but it is a longer and more challenging course for ladies with a yardage of 5476 and rating/slope of 73.1/130. I found the prettiest and most challenging holes to be #13, a 502 yard, par-5, that defines risk/reward with a long downhill fairway and small putting surface tucked behind a pond. Signature Hole #18, a 538 yard, par-5 features an hour-glass design…starts out wide, narrows with water hazards on both sides before opening up to a well-guarded green with bunkers on three sides. Future course renovation plans have been put on hold for now; they include adding water on both sides of fairway #12 and rebuilding the clubhouse.
Mohegan Sun, one of the largest gaming complexes in the world, offers three themed gaming casinos, each with distinctive venues. Their newest gaming space features a 42-table poker room and full-service Race Book, a one-of-a-kind facility offering state-of-the-art viewing of horse and greyhound racing events. Nightlife at the facility features “Mohegan After Dark”, an immense complex featuring three individually-themed lounges and nightclubs…Lucky’s Lounge, The Dubliner and Ultra 88 Night Club. Just steps from the action, Mohegan Sun offers more than 60 dining and retail outlets. When you’re ready for a more serene environment, retreat to their Elemis Spa.
Foxwoods Resort Casino, located in North Stonington Connecticut has grown into an entertainment Mecca beyond their original expectations. Lake of Isles, their 36-hole Rees Jones-designed golf club with state-of-the-art Golf Academy, elegant clubhouse with an award-winning Pro-Shop is conveniently located across the street from the resort casino. The private South Course is only opened to members and accompanied guests. The North Course continues to rake in distinguished awards: voted in 2008 the “#1 Public Course in Connecticut” by Golfweek; and Golf Magazine ranked it 85th among the Top 100 Courses You Can Play in the USA. It offers daily-fee golfers and Foxwoods guests 18 holes of rolling fairways meandering through woodlands and environmentally protected areas. Due to the extreme elevation changes, many elevated greens and the wind factor make distance deceiving and club selection tricky. The course is a tease, starts out wide with few lateral obstructions, but quickly becomes more challenging by its narrow fairways, strategically placed bunkers, forced carries, water hazards, and sloped, hard-to-read greens. Ladies, thank god for the female distance advantage and thoughtful consideration by Rees Jones in giving us less forced carries to get over!
Besides world-class golf, Foxwoods, the largest resort casino in North America, now features seven distinctive casinos, four hotels, over 30 dining options, two luxurious spas, several upscale boutiques and entertainment venues attracting some of the most coveted entertainment in the New England area. Their multi-million dollar expansion project showcases the MGM Grand, which houses four new restaurants, casino, high-end retail concourse and 21,000-square-foot G Spa by Gretta Monahan. The centerpiece of MGM Grand, its 4,000-seat, state-of-the-art Theater, accommodates the biggest names in the entertainment industry. The hub of nightlight at MGM Grand is the “Shrine”, a nightclub that offers Las Vegas-style nightlife experience within an Asian-designed flair.
Last, but not least, Turning Stone Resort and Casino, nestled in upstate New York’s Mohawk Valley, is ranked the #2 golf resort in the U.S. by readers of Golf World Readers’ Choice Awards. Although they rate a bit short on gaming and entertainment options compared to their competitors, Turning Stone exceeds them in the golf arena. Their three award-winning 18-hole championship courses -- Atunyote, Kaluhyat, and Shenendoah Golf Clubs-- created by Tom Fazio, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and Rick Smith offer a mixture of parkland, wooded and open links-style settings. Kaluhyat Golf Club, the most challenging, has one of the highest slope ratings in New York featuring dramatic elevation changes, narrow, tree-lined fairways and many forced carries over environmentally protected native grasses. Combined with their two nine-hole courses –Sandstone Hollow and Pleasant Knolls, Turning Stone has evolved into a premier golf destination in the Northeast.
Besides the many golf choices, Turning Stone offers a variety of award-winning accommodations, 21 dining options, two spas, tennis, golf training facility, world-class casino, dazzling nightclub, and celebrity entertainment.
So if you’re planning a “buddy” or “honey” trip, there’s no need to fly to Vegas when the best gaming and golf facilities are right on your doorstep!
Pam Borges is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America and International Network of Golf. She is a regular contributor for New England Golf Monthly (formally Bay State Golf) and a freelance writer for the Golf Reporter and Golf Insider.
