The five RI private golf courses you should play if you get the chance

Editor’s note: Last summer, Journal sports writer Eric Rueb, a longtime golfer and caddie, visited and wrote about several golf courses in Rhode Island, as well as some he has not played but are on his bucket list. The plan is the same this summer, but before we get too far into this golf season, we thought it was worth a look back at some of the top courses he visited, and places you might plan to play this year.

When it comes to golf, I have a Titleist taste and a TopFlite budget.

Working in the golf industry has helped me work around this. Whether it was clubs, clothes or balls, I’ve managed to put together a strong bag with a sharp wardrobe and unafraid to play with “slightly used” ProV1s.

Course access has been the same. I’m not a country club — or any club, for that matter — member, but I’ve managed to play some great courses. Employee privileges at a couple of clubs allowed me access there and, in some cases, at other locations in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has some truly terrific golf courses and I’m fortunate to say I’ve managed to play a fair number of them — but not all.

Over the years I’ve kept a bucket list of courses and, this spring, was able to cross one off thanks to the media day at Newport Country Club for the U.S. Senior Open.

The now updated list includes courses I’ve wanted to play but just haven’t been able to quite figure out how. Most I’ve seen live in the flesh — by either caddying or covering an RIGA event — which has only made me want to play them more.

If you don’t see some of the usual names on this list, it’s because I’ve been lucky enough to play them. Wannamoissett Country Club is a favorite, even though it beats me up every year at the Northeast Amateur Media Day. I haven’t played it in over a decade, but I knocked Rhode Island Country Club off the list when it was host to the CVS Charity Classic. My favorite course in the state might be Wanumetonomy Golf and Country Club, even though I got beat by a 12-year old girl there.

Here’s my list of places I still need to play:

The Misquamicut Club, Watch Hill

This is one of the few courses in Rhode Island I haven’t stepped on. I don’t know much about it, other than it’s a Donald Ross design and has major “Rhode Island’s version of Augusta National vibes.” Reading a story from Golf.com only made me want to play it more. It’s probably a terrific walk and, despite my rotund figure, walking golf courses remains my favorite thing to do. Even mentioning Misquamicut may eliminate me from ever playing it, but I won the Masters ticket lottery last week and really just wanted to make the Augusta National comparison so I could squeeze that line in there.

ONLY WAY I SAY NO: My wife says she’ll divorce me and I can’t find a lawyer to draw up the papers fast enough.

Shelter Harbor Golf Club, Westerly

This is one of those places I’ve heard about more than I’ve seen. My lone experience at Shelter was over a decade ago, covering a high school match that I only went to so I could check out part of the course.

What I remember is the clubhouse was insane. The holes I did see looked tough.

The course tour on Shelter Harbor’s website is basically golf pornography. Everything is impressively designed and, despite being a new course, it has an old New England feel. The bunkering is perfection, the native grass brings life and the water features are jaw-dropping.

A few caddie colleagues who left TPC for Shelter have shared stories about the course and it’s as good as advertised. With the combination of what it provides — course quality, location, amenities — Shelter should probably be higher, but the other three have been on my list longer and have a different type of emotional attachment.

ONLY WAY I SAY NO: I’m floating on the Saco River, deep into my cooler of High Noons, and my 13-year old refuses to drive me back home.

Warwick Country Club, Warwick

I haven’t played Warwick yet, haven’t been to a wedding there either. Not very Rhode Island of me.

Honestly, I don’t even know if I need to play the entire course. Give me a bucket of balls on the tee box at No. 9 — the oceanside par-3 — and that experience alone would bring a smile to my face.

I’ve covered a decent number of events at Warwick and it’s a visual masterpiece. For my money, No. 8 and No. 9 are two of the prettiest holes in the state, but Warwick CC is more than just a looker.

Covering RIGA and the girls high school championships there, I’ve seen how tough this course can be. The wind was screaming when Bay View’s Brooke Brennan used her course knowledge as a member to navigate No. 18 brilliantly on her way to the 2021 title.

This year’s RIGA State Amateur provided a seemingly different course condition every day. There was heat, extreme heat, some wind and torrential rain before things cleared during the championship match between Bobby Leopold and Michael Hamilton. As the sun set, the skies burst into a colorful display, with dimming sunlight making the native grass sparkle. It was hard to think of a better place to be in the moment.

Warwick also holds a special place in my heart because it was the last place I was before my oldest daughter was born. I was there to write a story about baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt — who was playing in an RIGA event — when I got a call from my wife informing me our baby was coming the next day.

I don’t remember my interview with Schmidt or really even anything I wrote, but hearing news like that is something you don’t forget.

ONLY WAY I DECLINE A CHANCE TO PLAY: The ninth hole is closed.

Point Judith Country Club, Narragansett

My one chance to play PJCC came in 2003 when an assistant pro at Metacomet got me hooked up late in the season, only to have rain wash out my chance.

Since then, I’ve been around the course more than a few times as a reporter. For years it served as the home to the RIIL Girls Golf Championship as well as home for the Narragansett High School golf team.

Point Judith is everything I love about Donald Ross courses. The ocean breeze turns ordinary shots into the type that can ruin a round in a hurry. Every green at PJCC looks smaller than the last and if you’re out of position on or around the green, you don’t realize you’re in trouble until it’s too late.

But the biggest reason is the location. Narragansett in the summer? It doesn’t get better than that. A little golf, a little Pancho’s wings after, sitting on the Coast Guard deck as the sun sets? That’s a perfect day.

ONLY WAY I SAY NO: It’s with a PC fan who tries to tell me the “college experience” in Providence is better than URI’s.

Sakonnet Golf Club, Little Compton

I’ve been on this course once and that was all it took to know that I wanted to play here.

My trip to Sakonnet was for work, caddying for a Metacomet member in an RIGA event. Can’t remember which tourney it was, but I do remember it was late in the season and it was not remotely sunny. It did not matter.

Sakonnet didn’t have a bruise, an absurd notion for a golf course late in the summer. I’ve never seen fairways this perfect or greens without a spot of damage from unrepaired pitch marks. While it was near the water, we didn’t see much of it but the native grass and whipping winds made the feeling of ocean golf unmistakable.

My memories of the holes have faded, but I remember one uphill par-4 where we — when you’re caddie, it’s always “we” until your player makes a mistake — hit a driver into the teeth of the wind that seemingly stopped in midair.

From what I remember, Sakonnet didn’t have overbearing length — which happens with old Donald Ross courses — but the conditions teamed with the wind and lightning-fast greens made for a ridiculous challenge. I’m glad I wasn’t the one swinging the clubs that day — but the second it was over I knew someday I wanted experience it myself.

Donald Ross courses are my favorite thing in golf. I’m not a golf historian by any means, but having learned the game at Metacomet Country Club, old Ross courses always have a friendly feel. My heart tells me I could attack and score well at Sakonnet, but my brain knows otherwise. It’s a course unlike any other in the state.

ONLY WAY I DECLINE A CHANCE TO PLAY: My heart has stopped pumping and I’m literally dead.

Two Courses That Should Have Been Included

Pawtucket Country Club, Pawtucket

I wrote about Pawtucket battling with COVID regulations in 2020, the owner was nice enough to invite me to play and, because I’m generally terrible at these things, I never took him up on it. The course fits my eye and playing that 18^th hole with a patio filled with people having lunch/dinner seems equally fun as it is intimidating.

Quidnessett Country Club, North Kingstown

Probably should have been on the list. I’ve caddied there and have some pretty impressive memories there attending weddings, but haven’t created any golf ones. Non-golfers won’t understand this, but sometimes a course doesn’t suit your eye and Quidnessett was one of those. Every hole looked like a nightmare for me, so I was glad I was caddying and not playing it.

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