The Loop
Deal of the Week: Break the ice at Foxwoods in Connecticut
Temperatures are starting to creep into the 60s in the Northeast, which means golf season can finally start--even if it's a month late.
One "advantage" to the brutal winter was that the cold and snow cover kept most courses off limits the last five months. Mild winters mean wintertime play, and divots taken on dormant grass don't heal until well into the spring.
You can roll the dice literally and figuratively at the giant Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Southeastern Connecticut with the attractively priced Golf and Spa Package. For $249 per night, you get a room at the Fox Tower, 18 holes at the adjacent Lake of Isles Golf Club, a $50 spa credit, access for two to the sauna-steam-fitness center, $15 food and beverage credit and a $10 casino match credit.
The Rees Jones design fits its name, with plenty of forced carries over water and marsh. Play it from the back tees and the shortest par-3 is a robust 196 yards, and that one, the 11th, requires 175 yards of lake flyover before you can land safely. You get a free sleeve of balls as a part of the package, but you're going to need more.
Foxwoods sits just of the I-95 corridor, 140 miles from New York City and 100 from Boston. Hartford and Providence are each less than an hour away. Driving by, you can't miss it. It's the second largest casino in North America, covering almost 5 million square feet. Along with every slot machine and table game known to man, it also has a dozen restaurants (including a Hard Rock Cafe and David Burke Prime) and two theaters.