Featured Connecticut Casino Corridor Golf Course

Value: $$$

Rees Jones lent his genius to the design of Blackstone National Golf Club, a wonderful layout that is as close as you will come to playing golf in a nature preserve. Blackstone has five sets of tees, stretching out to a brawny 6,909 yards, and plays to a par of 72.

Jones designed the course to blend in perfectly with the surrounding natural environment. There are only a few forced carries and the fairways are wide. There is ample bunkering that protects the medium-sized greens. Each hole at Blackstone was built so as to give the impression that the player is alone on the course.

The are several spectacular par-threes, perhaps the best being the 173-yard 11th, which plays over a small pond. The monstrous 486-yard dogleg left par-four 15th dares the player to cut the corner in order to catch a steep hill that flows toward the putting surface. It's a drop of almost 80 feet from tee to green, and more than 200 yards in distance from a "safe" landing area atop the hill. Number 18 is a classic finishing hole, a 485-yard par-five. A booming tee shot hit just short of a wetland area that faces the tee box will leave the player with a delicious opportunity to go for the green in two, and win applause from the those who lounge about in chairs just above the green.