About 16 or 17 years back, and close to 600 golf courses ago, I was first exposed to a wonderland called Crumpin-Fox Golf Club. This is a delightfully hilly and serene walk through the woods in the northern Massachusetts town of Bernardston, adjacent to the Vermont border, and just a couple miles off of Route 91.
When I first spied the terrain, still something of a golf neophyte in terms of my previous exposure to great courses, I was taken aback at the dazzling challenges the course presented—so unlike the standard parkland fare I was accustomed to. Sharp doglegs, thick forests, steep drop-offs surrounding exposed greens, and virtually no parallel fairways, I was both amazed and intimidated. Who knew golf could be so daunting, so terrifying and invigorating concurrently? I was instantly transfixed, and made it my business to return as often as possible from my home an hour south.
In the ensuing years since that initial exposure, I’ve moved a thousand miles away, and managed to visit and play hundreds upon hundreds of golf courses around the world, including nearly half of the worldwide Top 100. But I still pay an annual visit to Crumpin-Fox whenever I return to western Massachusetts, and this bucolic nature walk, full of challenge and intrigue, never, ever disappoints.
With apologies to novelist Thomas Wolfe, you can go home again.
Joel Zuckerman, a.k.a. the Vagabond Golfer , has been called "one of the most respected and sought-after golf writers in the Southeast" by Golfer's Guide Magazine. His golf stories have appeared in more than 100 publications and his books include "Golf in the Lowcountry," "Golf Charms of Charleston," "Misfits on the Links," "A Hacker's Humiliations" and his latest, "Pete Dye Golf Courses - 50 Years of Visionary Design." The Dye family selected Joel to write the book and it was honored as the 2008 Book of the Year by the International Network of Golf. Visit www.vagabondgolfer.com for more information.
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