Golf in New Haven

Along with providing classy urbanites with a pastoral setting of forested hills, treacherous water traps, and the scenic Moosup River, the Foster Country Club offers a full 18-hole, par 72 course for your golf-cart-rampaging pleasure. Players of all skill levels can get in on the action, but every golfer should beware of the approach to the elevated green on hole 6, the double dogleg on hole 12, and the resident troll beneath the covered bridge.

When Arnold Palmer’s architectural firm set out to design the 18-hole course at Gillette Ridge Golf Club, it incorporated a long, wooded layout that would showcase the 19th-century politician and reformer Francis Gillette’s original homestead. Today, the course continues to showcase its beautifully crafted layout that has maintained the elegance of a bygone era while opting to share its charming characteristics with the public. Gillette Ridge welcomes all golfers to take on the blistering 7,191-yard tract that integrates groves of mature trees, placid water hazards, and white-sand bunkers that surround contoured greens.

Much of the course's difficulty comes from its length, as demonstrated on the par 5 seventh and 12th holes, which stretch 612 yards and 607 yards from the tips, respectively. Both holes make it nearly impossible to reach the green in two, though for different reasons: the seventh green prevents run-ups with a front side stream, whereas the 12th hole has an early dogleg right that demands more conservative tee shots and golf carts that are pro-environment. The course's premium on distance continues right through the finishing hole, a par 4, 478-yard straightaway that splits two fairway bunkers and forces players to carry the green's front side pond on their approach shot or hope that a friendly frog will lend a lily pad for safe passage. Three practice putting greens, two practice bunkers, and an all-grass driving range provide ample space for golfers to stretch their swings before rounds.

After rounds, players can unwind in Gillette Ridge’s 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, where the course restaurant serves up sandwiches such as the philly cheesesteak and chicken-salad sliders, and starters such as Maryland crab cakes and quesadillas—the late Mrs. Gillette’s specialty that has carried on since the 19th century.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 7,191 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 74.8 from the back tees

• Course slope of 135 from the back tees

• Four sets of tees per hole

• Scorecard

The nine-hole course at Copper Hill Golf Club is designed to welcome beginners while still challenging advanced golfers, an egalitarian approach that earned it the 2012 Walter Lowell Award for Public Service from the Connecticut Section PGA. Having founded the Golf Academy in 1994 and taken full control of the club in 2010, two-decade PGA pro Paul Banks runs the outfit as a welcoming environment where golfers can both enjoy the game and improve. In line with its emphasis on introducing the game to new players, Copper Hill hosts an extensive youth program, training up duffers as young as 5. Its extensive practice area comprises a 3,500-square-foot pitching and chipping green along with a four-tier driving range, where up to 32 club swingers can hone drives, approaches, and putter-juggling acts on grass tees.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 36 course
• Total length of 3,039 yards from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

A featured instructor for ESPN Radio and Long Island Golfing Magazine, teaching professional Peter Stern assists students with game improvement through lessons held at Indian Head Golf Park. Peter instills the fundamentals of a proper golf swing, which hold up from tee to green with a focus on helping pupils replicate perfected mechanics long after the lesson ends. While the body learns to become one with the club, a video camera records the session so that students can see weak points for themselves rather than trading bodies with a misunderstood sibling. All lessons evade the elements either in Peter’s indoor studio or outdoor covered teaching booth.

Twin Lakes Golf Course is set on grounds that have been walked by golfers for more than 50 years, but enjoy the modern touches of a recent revamping. New tee boxes reside atop the professionally manicured greens that carpet the 10-acre course. Its renovated clubhouse offers guests the supplies they need for gameplay, including clubs and pull carts. After a round, players can return to the clubhouse where pizza bubbles in a wood-burning oven and cool beverages flow freely from taps.

Practice is the foundation of golf. Without it, the game can be frustrating, eventually sending golfers' into a fragile state of agitation. Knowing how important practice is, Indian Head Golf Park's instructors and staff focus their efforts on helping golfers improve their game. At the park's well-lit driving range, staff members keep golfers well stocked with buckets of range balls to blow off steam as they aim for the ball-retriever cart. Instructor Bob Greenstein works with students during private lessons to fine-tune their swings, and he hosts junior golf camps during summer to introduce youngsters to the game.