The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fairways take center stage online at CTRiverGolf.com
The great golf courses of the Connecticut River Valley have found a place on the web, where players can learn a lot about them before they decide where to venture for their next round of golf.
The region is rich with layouts available for public play, and www.CTRiverGolf.com continually adds commentary and pictures to pages set up to spotlight each course in the region.
It took two years to play these courses — often multiple times — and arrange the dates around favorable weather forecasts to optimize the photography of courses spanning the Connecticut River Valley and Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. And like those days, the site has a mostly sunny disposition, but doesn’t hesitate to cast a shadow where warranted.
Viewers can expect holeby-hole tours rich with commentary that is both chatty and analytical, thorough information packages of hard data about each course, a map to locate the course, and even some wellresearched suggestions on how to spend your preor post-round time in the community around you. These range from dining and local brewery options to spots within a comfortable driving distance to jump into some bracing fresh water to cool off following a day in the hot sun.
But it is the prose style which gives the CTRiverGolf.com its distinctive personality. Consider this passage about the fourth hole at Tunxis Plantation’s White Course, which makes a 148-yarder, sound, well ... sexy: Like a film noir spitfire, this par 3 is gorgeous, short and dangerous. It plays slightly uphill, but strongly downwind, which you might not feel at the sheltered tee box. If you’re left, you’re either teeing it up again, in the sand, or trying to chip over the bunker to a narrow green. Right allows you to bail out a bit, but only, as a road presses up hard against the course there. Not surprisingly, the postage stamp green doesn’t have a lot of ball marks on it.
The sole author of the site, Robert Ballot, formerly wrote about sports for the Long Island newspaper Newsday before becoming an advertising account executive with the popular Hamptons resort magazine Dan’s Papers. He has travelled extensively throughout the U.S., almost always with his golf clubs.
“There is no region in the country with the variety of quality golf layouts that are found throughout the Connecticut River Valley,” says Mr. Ballot. “The rolling, green terrain provides a scenic background to virtually every shot you hit. I walk every course which permits it. This allows me to get a great feel for the design of each hole and affords me some wonderful photographic angles not available to players restricted to “drive-by” views of holes.”
Mr. Ballot noticed there were no web sites which tied the courses of the Connecticut River and Pioneer Valleys into a well-researched presentation. And so he went to work. Two years later CTRiverGolf.com reflects his ambition to provide such a guide for the region’s golfers – as well as those visiting from out of town, those checking online reviews, or players who have newly moved to the area. His site provides not only a pleasing introduction to the wealth of golf options here, it leaves you feeling like you just played the courses after reading his careful examinations.
Knowing that the internet experience is best when enjoyed interactively, he has provided many opportunities for players to share their own opinions. Every course features a forum for readers to contribute their ideas and trade tips, comparisons, and lessons learned.
But perhaps the most intriguing of these options involves a contest he always has running called, “Where the Hole Are You.”
The site awards cash prizes based on the viewer’s knowledge of the region’s layouts. Each day he puts up a different photo from his personal collection, with no information to identify it. For the knowledgeable reader who guesses correctly, instant cash is awarded. If nobody provides the right answer, the prize money rolls over each day with a new course presented.
Take a rip at this challenging contest if you’re looking for a golf game to play without teeing off, for instant hole-in-one gratification.
You can reach Mr. Ballot directly at 413-505-4520. He hopes to see you out on the course. Or, at the very least, fielding your questions, mediating discussions, or comparing courses at www. CTRiverGolf.com.