Course 127: Ledges GC
South Hadley, Mass.
Played: July 30, 2024
Yardage: 6,507/5,001
Tier: Regional Chain
Rating: 3
The Ledges offers a solid blend of holes. Driveable par 4s are mixed in among long holes with blind tee shots, and the par 3s are a strong bunch that requires shot-making throughout the bag. I hit 4-iron, 6-iron, 9-iron, lob wedge on the four short holes.
The routing has 12 holes centrally located, weaving in and out of tight, tree-lined areas with stretches that provide more space and lovely vistas.
Hole Nos. 5-8 and 14 and 15 are a little off the beaten path and require some long walks.
The back-to-back drivable par 4s - 15 and 16 - come at a very interesting part of the round and probably make for a lot of fun matches.
15 is the tighter of the two holes, with little room to bail out. The 16th is a bit more open, especially after seeing it from the green.
The fourth is the third reachable par 4, but it’s kind of a travesty of a hole, with a forced carry to reach the green. The other option is to hit the ball into the sliver of fairway with a mid-iron.
I preferred the back nine to the front nine. It was a little more interesting.
Hole 13 was probably my favorite. Emerging from the trees after the tough par-3 12th, the tee on 13 is excellent and so is the second shot, to a diagonal green that gets harder to hit the farther away the tee shot gets from the corner of the fairway.
The thing I appreciated the most about Ledges was that there seemed to be multiple ways to unlock holes, which made me want to play it again and try some different shots off tee boxes and pick a few different lines on tee shots.
I thought the green complexes were great—some were in the ground and allowed for low shots, while others had bunkers or water while others were perched up. They rolled nicely and the entire course was in great condition for the Mass Public Links.
If I lived in W. Mass., Ledges would be in the rotation. It’s a great value at $39 to walk during the week and $48 on the weekend (non-resident pricing). It’s or probably beautiful in the fall. A double dip at Westover or Chicopee wouldn’t be a bad 36 hole day.
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