An endangered gem: Carriage Pines moving forward despite closure rumors

ROWLEY — Talk of the demise of Carriage Pines Golf Club — formerly the Rowley Country Club — has been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, for the past three years running regulars, members and staff have been on uneasy ground wondering from year to year whether or not their beloved club would stay open. But, with a steady flow business and a weak housing market, the 37-year-old course has managed to stay open, and will continue to do so at least through the 2009 season.

Taking a fresh approach, the course was renamed this year after both the historic carriage factory that used be just down Dodge Road from the course long ago, and from the scenic pine trees that line the course. Other than the new name-sake and the elimination of crabgrass throughout the fairways, not much has changed as far as the layout at perhaps the toughest nine-hole course on the North Shore.

Carriage Pines will challenge your game and at times your sanity, even without A.C. Newton (the original owner) firing off cannon shots on the course. Opening with three troublesome holes that each have their own peculiarities, the start requires a conservative approach.

On the beautifully covered bridge hole one, the water comes into play 50 yards from the elevated green, creating a difficult second shot to the pin, especially for golfers that miss the fairway. Hole two, one of the course's two long par-3s, also has an elevated green 195 yards from the tee box with little room for error around the green. Hole three offers a wicked 90-degree dog-leg right, in which the tree line virtually takes away any chance at a cut-shot drive, and the water takes away all of the fairway on the right leading up to the green on the approach shot.

"I find playing conservative is the best way to go because you really have to keep the ball in the middle, out of trouble," said manager Scott MacDonald. "If you get through the first three holes you have a chance to score well, but those first three are tough."

Twelve-time club champ Mike Fecteau, whose son Andrew will be Triton's No. 1 golfer in the fall, said Carriage Pines is one of those courses in which you need your A-game right from your first shot of the day on.

"Some courses you don't have to start fast, but at Rowley you do in order to play well," Mike Fecteau said. "If you go through the first three even or 1-over you've done really well. But if you're not hitting it good, you are going to be at least three or four over to start."

With a middle set of holes that are as straight forward as Rowley comes, first timers can get lulled into the trap of becoming overconfident before the final push, a deceivingly difficult stretch of three holes.

After the 205-yard par-3 seventh, golfers are treated to the longest hole on the course, the 473-yard par-5 eighth, which plays longer due to the water hazard coming into play at approximately 215 yards from the tee box. Finally, the manageable hole nine possesses easily the most difficult green with a large mound creating a ridge where the pin is guaranteed to be tucked behind. Hit your approach long and you're on the beach with virtually no chance to chip close to the pin, hit it short and two-putting is no gimme.

"I've been playing Rowley since I was real young, and it's my favorite course around here because no matter how many times I play it I never get bored by it," Andrew Fecteau said. "There's always some new way to play it. Take hole eight for example, laying up from the tee box is probably the way to go, but then you have the option to lay up again or try to go for the green from 260 yards out. Depending where I land and depending on whether I need a birdie or not on that hole, I have a different decision to make each time."

If nine holes at Carriage Pines doesn't sufficiently satisfy your appetite, then a Farmer's Daughter (lightly-breaded chicken sandwich) or a Captain's Daughter (lightly battered deep fried haddock sandwich) at Rowley's hidden gem, the Back Nine Tavern, sure will do the trick. Open seven days a week, the menu features 25-year-old recipes that can compete with anything the Agawam Diner or the Pancake House, Rowley's two more famous dining spots, have to offer.

"People like to sit outside under the tent with a full menu and watch the golfers come in, but they can also come inside where it's not stuffy, and the restaurant has a Vermont Inn like feel," said Back Nine manager Mitch Mitchell. "This is not a traditional golf club. We're upscale casual and very much family oriented. We also take our menu very seriously, which has four or five items that we have carried over for 25 years."

And if your game is need of a little tuning up, in addition to the two practice putting and chipping greens, Carriage Pines is the only golf course in the River Rival Region that features a driving range. There, golfers can hit from either the iron's only area next to the parking lot or in the back where you can hit any club.

"Rowley is a very versatile place for a nine-hole golf course," praised Mike Fecteau. "The driving range is great, the putting green next to the pro shop is good for chipping, and the putting green next to the clubhouse is especially fast. It's a really good area for practicing and it would be a shame to see it go."

Par/Slope/rating/Distance: 36/125/71.3/3,325 (9 holes) from back of tee boxes

Specials: A wide variety from early bird to late afternoon with the most popular being the $44 minimum two-person lunch special in which nine holes of golf, a cart, and a $5 lunch coupon for each person at the Back Nine Tavern are included.

Signature Hole: Hole-3, a vicious 90-degree dog-leg right in which golfers almost have to lay up off the tee box or risk hitting a cut shot into the woods. The second shot offers no gimmes either as a murky moat takes away virtually all the fairway on the right side leading up to the green.

Photos

The third hole at Carriage Pines Country Club, one of the hardest water holes on the North Shore. Staff photo