Golf in Wrentham

A family-friendly atmosphere at the Airport Golf Fun Center lets guests of any age unwind with games of mini-golf or hone their skills with long shots on the driving range. Putt past obstacles, undulating turf, and ball-swiping seagulls on the 18-hole mini-golf course. Beautifully landscaped, the course winds past a plethora of ponds, water falls, and baffling water rises. Golfers can also refine regular-sized skills on a short game practice area outfitted with a putting green, sand trap, and purse-lipped fans. The 45-stall range lets clubsmen unsheathe drivers for full-fledged shots from tee-boxes dressed with real grass or artificial turf.

Champion over the intimidating attractions gracing all 18 holes at Monster Mini Golf. The Danvers and Norwood locations contains enough geometric challenges to make the course interesting for all ages. Navigate your illuminated golf ball past horrible goblins, disgruntled dark forest trees, impolite specters, and sleeping ogres, listen for Monster Mini Golf’s own in-house radio station, "W.I.R.D. (Weird Radio)," whose live, on-site DJ hands out prizes for random reasons on the links, or just stand in awe at the 3D spectacle.

Golfers across the handicap spectrum practice bogey-thwarting skills at Natick Golf Learning Center, where PGA- and LPGA-certified pros preside over a multifaceted outdoor practice facility. The center’s outdoor driving range offers 75 artificial and natural-grass hitting mats; two chipping greens, a putting green, and a practice bunker let players practice their finesse shots. During daily lessons, the pros enlist video analysis and other teaching aids to help pupils tackle new skills or correct recent on-course weaknesses.

With five distinct courses etched into the New England countryside, Sterling Golf Management promotes pin-hunting recreation for Boston-area golfers of all abilities. The longest and most difficult of the four, The Shattuck Golf Club's 18-hole course kicks off with a 409-yard par 4 where players hack their way toward a green that is visually wreathed by the rising red rocks of Mount Monadnock, setting the tone for a scenic, 6,764-yard round. Groves of trees ensconce the fairways and barter over carbon dioxide at Norwood Country Club's recently renovated course, a relatively flat layout characterized by smallish greens and flanked by a lighted driving range. Designed in 1921 in the Donald Ross tradition is Maynard Golf Course, a picturesque par 70, 9-hole course with a full-service clubhouse. The same sylvan makeup returns at Newton Commonwealth's course, where lush tree lines cast shadows over a creek as it snakes across the fairways of seven holes. Rounding out the grassy quartet, Chelmsford's nine-hole course takes golfers careening across 2,467 yards of narrow fairways, placing straight drives or skilled golf ball pilots at a premium.

Who said golf was a rich man's game? We didn't. It was a filthy, lying cyber-bully.

Pembroke Country Club’s green, foliage-packed 6,532-yard course is known for its well-maintained landscaping, its challenging par 5 holes, and its sensual Jacuzzi water hazards. After warming up on the straight-shot first hole, you might find yourself sucker-punched by the well-bunkered third’s undulating green, leftward water hazard, and punishing par 3. If you thrive on challenge, attempt to go where eagles dare with the sharply dog-legged 561-yard 13th hole or the pond-sloping greens on the 11th. Navigating the extensive grounds in the included golf cart will keep fatigue to a minimum. To improve their odds of overcoming the course’s steepest obstacles, perfectionists can hone their wrist action at the practice area. Stock up on a last-minute package of golf tees at Pembroke's pro shop, as well as a replica of the golf clubs that Jimi Hendrix rebelliously set on fire at the Monterey Country Club.