Round 34: Country Club of Billerica

The Country Club Billerica was the 34th new course I have played in my quest to play every course in the state.

After a pounding rainstorm last night, it was an absolute gift to wake up to 60 degree weather and walk 18 holes in under three hours.

By far the most interesting thing about the golf course is the bunkering. There are some huge, deep ones on many holes. I’d love to see them built up and restored, because they could be really beautiful and interesting. The green, which were shaggy, were large and had some decent slope to them. They’d be a really solid set of 18 greens at their peak.

The front nine is the better nine by far at CCoB. It’s only a par 34, with four par 3s. The opener is a good par five with a solid green complex. The second hole, a nice looking, albeit flat, par 3, has some cool humps and bumps that hide the green from the tee. It’s a solid start, and leads you into a good nine holes of golf that are flatter than you’d assume following the opening holes.

The back nine is very strange and I wonder if there’s been some tweaks to the routing. My GPS had some very different yardages on the 14th and 18th holes. The 14th literally plays through a new housing development and then you have to walk through the neighborhood to reach the 15th tee. The back nine holes are short, with a handful of blind tee shots and sharp doglegs. The 12th is probably the best hole on the back nine. A little dogleg left, but the green sits back in the corner of the property, surrounded by trees that would have driven me crazy if they weren’t bare. The 16th is a butt-kicker of a par 3, 195 over wetland to a rather small green.

CCoB will have you hitting every club in the bag.

THE FACTS

Date: December 2020

Playing Partners: Solo

Tees: Tips

Game: None

Score: 77

Birdie Count: 1 (42 total)