NORTHAMPTON — With golf being one of the most popular summer activities, the Gazette’s sports team brainstormed ideas for how to engage the golf community in a fun and unique way.

Throughout the summer, we will be visiting local courses across the county to talk to head golf professionals about their course’s most difficult hole, as well as the premier hole and best overall aspect of their golf course. In addition, we’ll offer relevant facts and information about the course itself.

Each feature will have three sections, addressing the three topics above, and they will run once per week, appearing in the Gazette’s weekend edition. 

First up on the Gazette’s list is Northampton Country Club, followed by the Ledges Golf Club. Come the end of the summer, the plan is to have hit each course in the area – including Amherst Golf Club, Cherry Hill Golf Course, Cold Spring Country Club, Orchards Golf Club, Southampton Country Club, Westover Municipal Golf Course and The Links at Worthington.

Northampton Country Club

When you grab a cart at Northampton Country Club and wheel it over to your car to put your golf bag in it, you can leave your driver in your trunk.

While there are a couple of holes that can be characterized as “driver holes,” the big stick certainly isn’t required when playing at this nine-hole course tucked away in Leeds. The first hole (503-yard par 5 from the blue tees) and ninth hole (422-yard par 4 from the blue tees) are the most common holes head golf professional Jim Casagrande sees folks use driver on, otherwise irons are encouraged off the tee.

In order to score well on the par-35, 6,156-yard (from the tips) course, real shot-making is a necessity. Casagrande has grown out fescue and added several bunkers during his time as the course pro – which now spans over 20 years – to make it a bit more difficult.

Golfers used to be able to walk up to any tee and let loose with the big stick. That isn’t the case in 2024.

“Since I’ve been here I’ve toughened it up a little bit,” Casagrande said. “Initially, it was just have at it and blast away. There wasn’t really too much trouble to get into. But I make you think out there now with the fescue, some changing of the bunkers and stuff like that. You can’t just grip it and rip it here.”

Northampton Country Club’s course record is a 63 from the blue/white tees and a 64 from the black/blue tees in its 126-year history. It may be a short course depending on what tee you play from, but short isn’t to be confused with easy.

Tricky No. 4 and the key to scoring low

Casagrande didn’t hesitate when asked what the hardest hole on the course is.

“It’s gotta be hole No. 4,” he said of the 348-yard (from the tips) par 4.

The 90-degree dog-leg turn is one of the most unique features on a golf course in the area. A straight, 200-yard shot off the tee is ideal to start off the fourth hole. Go right and you’re out-of-bounds, go left and you’re leaving a longer shot home.

Straight should put you in a position to split the two narrow tree lines as you turn right and go up the hill for the approach shot.

A little knee shaking is common when standing over your ball to hit shot No. 2, as a trio of condos – and a large bunker off to the right – surround the green. One of those condos even has a broken window from a shot gone awry, something Casagrande said happens “two or three times a year.”

And even when you finally do get up to the green, your work has only begun. The undulation is severe, with the green sloping hard off the front. Any shot less than about 15 feet on the green will run back to the fringe/fairway, but long is out of bounds (OB). Elite precision is essential.

All aspects considered, Casagrande sees the highest numbers on No. 4.

“It’s not an overly long hole, but it forces you to hit an iron off the tee and an iron into the green,” Casagrande said. “For the second shot, there’s OB left, right and long and the green is extremely undulating and well-bunkered. Most people slice the ball off the tee, so it drifts off to the right if you’re a right-handed player. That’s dead on No. 4. It’s two difficult shots to a difficult green.”

As for how to beat the hole?

“You aren’t going to cut the corner, it’s too tight up there,” Casagrande said. “I’d say tee shot down the middle, and don’t go right. That makes the hole a little more manageable.”

Simple enough, right?

The scoreable sixth is high-risk, high-reward

Only 260 yards (from the tips) separate the tee from the green on the par-4 sixth hole. The temptation to drive the green is high, especially after likely not hitting driver since the first hole, but the result can either be a birdie or a double bogey – depending on if you keep it in play.

Hazard and OB fill the left side, and a quartet of towering pine trees down the right may affect a second shot in. The tee shot is straightforward, but it must stay straight. Four bunkers protect a two-tiered green that can be tough to read depending on the pin placement.

After a few consecutive holes that prefer accurate irons, the sixth can be reached with one good swing, which is why it’s typically a favorite, according to Casagrande.

“Probably the hole that most people would say they really like playing is No. 6,” Casagrande said. “It’s a risk-reward par four. It’s relatively short and can be reached by the longer hitters off the tee. It’s well-bunkered around the green and there is some fescue around, but if you hit a good tee shot, you might give yourself an eagle opportunity. It’s a fun risk-reward hole.”

Come for the layout, stay for the greens

The course layout at Northampton Country Club is a little quirky, which makes it special and unique. The 260-yard sixth is immediately followed by a 239-yard par 3, a drastic difference. Holes four and five are hard dog-legs right, and after the first hole of your round, there are no more par 5s the rest of the way.

Yet despite that, the main takeaway from most people’s rounds, Casagrande said, is the condition of the fairways and greens.

The course plays the ball down at all times, even in the fairways, because of the pristine conditions. The greens are quick and roll true, but they’re also receptive to long approach shots, and the tee boxes are in great shape.

So long as Mother Nature cooperates, Northampton Country Club is an enjoyable experience.

“I think for a public access golf course, I’ll put our greens up against anybody’s,” Casagrande said. “They’re real receptive, good speed. Our fairways are in great shape. We play the ball down here. Our grounds crew really has the place in, I would call it, impeccable shape. You come here, it’s going to be a fun round. It’s a short golf course, but it’s difficult. There’s plenty of trouble to get into.”

Garrett Cote is a Gazette sports reporter. He can be reached at gcote@gazettenet.com