Marlborough Country Club
4991-6505 Yd Par 71/72 18 Holes - Architect: Wayne Stiles (back 9), Geoff Cornish (front 9)
Lesser known than many of the great golden age architects, Wayne Stiles was a disciple and acquaintance of Donald Ross and quickly found a niche designing quality courses on a tighter budget and more local scale than the well-known and very busy Ross. Likely the case at Marlborough, a 1921 newspaper article mentions that Ross cast his critical eye over the landscape and agreed that the land was naturally adept for a golf course before determining that the project would not work for one party or the other. The resultant 9 holes designed by Stiles, today’s back 9, are among his best and most preserved work.
Starting with a short, downhill par 4 and ending with a long, uphill par 3 both wedged into the clubhouse side of the road, the back 9 has no weakness across the road. Playing across a valley with a small meandering brook that plays a crucial role on every hole in the stretch, the routing partially climbs up the nearby mountain before tumbling back down to the low point a few more times. The well balanced and varied holes are highlighted by unique greens and near-constant elevation change.
The front 9, designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Will Robinson in 1970, features two corridors of parallel holes with abrupt elevation change on the 4 holes closest to the clubhouse and gentle, mostly flat land for the remaining five. While none are poorly designed, outside of the 6th (a course highlight), the holes on this difficult section of property fail to work with the land in an advantageous manner and ultimately lead to forgettable golf and a grueling walk. Capitalizing on the startup years of the senior tour, Marlborough hosted three annual tournaments from 1981-1983 won by Bob Goalby, Arnold Palmer, and Don January before moving to Nashawtuc due to tour demands that MCC could not uphold. Member owned for over 70 years, Marlborough’s new superintendent has the course playing better than ever.