Blackstone National Golf Club — Local services in Sutton

Update: 05/29/2024: not sure why the 1st cut of rough is 4 inches high. If you want folks to play in 4 hour 20, Mr. Starter, then how about cutting the grass so we can find our ball quickly and advance it further? THE ROUGH IS TOO LONG FOR A 4 HOUR 20 MINUTE ROUND. The rest of the review stands. CUT THE GRASS!!!

This is one of the most interesting and challenging courses in central Mass. None of the holes are like the others, and the greens are typically firm and fast. (If we all fixed our ball marks it would be better, but there's always a few who get so charged about landing one on the green they forget the ball mark. Act like you been there. Do your job.) So your approach shots better have some altitude coming in. Conversely, a lot of greens are receptive to running it up if you aren't feeling it.

There's also an emphasis on position. Play these holes backwards and figure out where you want to be to approach the green. The fairways are typically ample, but missing them usually involves deep and sever penalties. Think: Waist area 10 feet below the fairway, or bunkers with a 10 foot wall. If you miss the fairway, it's going to cost you.

The traps were quite firm, not fluffy at all. I took relief from gravel in one of them. But they are not called hazards for nothing. If you don't like hard pan traps, don't hit them there. A LW would have been magic in those situations.

And you'll be swinging every club in your bag at some point. A lot of hole variety, both in look and length. The greens don't really have any kind of theme, but most are large-ish and relatively flat, with some notable exceptions, namely 18. And club selection is important because leaving yourself 40 feet from the hole is not how you're going to score on this course.

The tees you play from also matter. Pick the tees based on your handicap and you can't go wrong. This place especially, the further back your tees, the harder it's going to be. Some courses the back tees are just over your shoulder on every hole. Not here. It's a much longer course from back there.

The course isn't particularly tight, and you get a nice, secluded feeling. There aren't any houses on the course, and you meander across some wetlands a couple of times. Which leads to walking... there are several spots where it's a haul to the next tee. And you'll be scaling some hills on the back. It's not impossible, nor is it a ski resort course, but there are some inclines.

Also, free range balls.

One downside, as mentioned by others, is the dual starts off 1 and 10. Don't care what anyone says, that means someone is put in front of you as you make the turn. If you're all about rhythm and can't play without it, then this course isn't for you on busy weekends. (But perhaps some therapy is.) There are plenty of places where you can play a beautiful weekend round without waiting, (snicker), where ALL the players are thoughtful and fix their divots and ball marks, and never spend more than 2 minutes looking for the club they just chucked into the shrubbery. (True story.) Please send me the number to that pro shop.

Also, the rangers won't give you any guff if you're keeping up. One commenter thought they were "only 10 minutes" over... How's that math work out? The only thing that matters is keeping up with the group in front of you. If you're an hour over but keeping up you're doing your job. So...

Overall, a disappointing experience, and I'm embarrassed to have paid $90 to play here.

First, the starter gave us 3 requests: stay hydrated, maintain pace of play, and take care of the course. That's hard to do when there are no water coolers, the cart can only be used on some holes and even then not for the final 100+yds, and there is no divot mix on the par 3s. Makes it tough to handle those 3 requests.

90+ degrees, and no water coolers on the course. You can buy water at the turn or from two locations where the cart girl parks. For the money, it's ridiculous to not include even water coolers.

Pace of play was about 40 minutes slow. Definitely need more enforcement on that, but a major factor was the ridiculous cart path rules.

I guess the course conditions are still "in the works" from a couple years back? At any rate, the greens were still showing aeration marks which made putting unpredictable. Many fairways and tee boxes are in VERY rough shape, and a lot of the cart paths are "makeshift" and extremely bumpy, driving over huge roots and rocks. I never waste my time to write reviews but hole after hole it eventually got to the tipping point and I took a few photos and decided I would write a review. Trust me, there were many more examples of as bad or worse conditions than those I took pictures of.

For $50/60 with cart, this would be excusable, and I wouldn't have spent my time writing this review. But for $90!? For that rate, at a "national" course, the expectation is near perfection. This is totally unacceptable and we won't be returning. Several other nearby cheaper courses in pristine condition with really...

This course went from private to public a number of years ago (maybe 10?) and I thought that was great - it made golfing there more egalitarian and, since it is a nice course, allowed the lowly likes of me the chance to golf there where normally I'd probably rarely have a chance.

While that first paragraph may seem like a setup to trash the place, au contraire... I think it is well maintained and is fun, yet a challenge. It is some of the best of New England golf courses - it is located in a quiet little pocket of the town, is not unfamiliar to wildlife showing up on a hole or two, has picturesque views (especially in the fall foliage) and normally is just well kept. Overall, I very much enjoy when I've golfed there.

Also, the club house has a solid variety at the bar and good food as well. Events held there that Ive attended have always been really well done with no complaints... My only cons are that it can be a bit on the higher end for courses in the area and I believe there were a couple of times that I went there the greens were in rough shape as they were working to improve them... Which is hard to fault any course for, though there should be an element of compensation as it does negatively affect the quality of gameplay (especially when you are paying top dollar), in my humble opinion.

Ultimately, I'd recommend if you wanted a nice round for something like Father's Day, or you just wanted to golf somewhere that is of the higher echelons of courses in Southern Worcester County both in quality...