Wampanoag Country Club
Wampanoag Country Club
60 Wampanoag Dr
West Hartford, CT 06117-1296
United States
Overview
Wampanoag has always possessed a gracefully gliding property in the now wooded suburbs of West Hartford, but it had long ago lost the finer points of its 1926 Donald Ross design. Modifications through the decades, including a poorly-received renovation in the 1980s that added the era’s popular mounds and moguls, pushed the design increasingly out of time and place. In 2022, architects Tyler Rae and Kyle Franz, working with historian-consultant Brad Klein (a former Wampanoag member), commenced a comprehensive restoration of the course that included several new and newly enlarged greens and tees and significant tree removal. Back are Ross’s cops and chiseled bunkers rotated at angles into the avenues of play setting up set-piece strategies. Rae and Franz restored lost bunkers and doubled their overall square footage, twisting them suggestively across fairways as Ross had them, and also re-introduced short top-shot bunkers that rarely come into play but create depth and directional confusion. Wampanoag finished fourth in the 2023 Best Renovation awards (out of 30 courses), and after nearly 100 years feels once again like the golf course it was meant to be.
About
Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“total hidden gem!"
Read More2026
Review
“A tremendous property with the clubhouse overlooking the property. With tons of undulation across the property, golfers are presented with an outstanding mix of shot options. To score well, a player best be able to control their trajectory - taking advantage of chances to run the ball onto the green - or move it, meandering across well placed bunkers, streams, and hills. The challenge at WCC isn't off the tee as there the fairways are generous and rough not terribly penal. Rather, iron shots must be precise for direction and distance as each green is protected by bunkers, mounds or fast greens that make scoring a challenge if you're off. Layout variety is good with the greens flowing into the next tee. However, my scores would have been better had there been greater diversity. With 12 holes playing straight and six moving to the right, I felt the course lacked in this category. From the first tee as you scan out across the course to the finish at the nearby 18th green, the aesthetics are awesome. I played as the colors of Fall were taking hold and the property was a gem to be walking through. Conditioning was great. Firm and fast on the fairways, accepting and rolling true on the greens. Though there are other amenities for the membership at WCC, golf is king and the course its crown jewel. With such a great piece of property and a design which leverages its best attributes in the architecture featured on the course, characters seeps out of the place. I'd welcome the chance to play WCC again and consistently."
Read More2025
Review
“A well maintained fun course with movement in the greens and elevation changes that I would like to play again. The clubhouse burned down in April 2024 as the club was getting ready for its 100 year celebrations - very unfortunate."
Read More2024
Review
“A beautiful restoration by Franz, Klein and Rae in 2022-2023 have brought back the original workings of this Donald Ross course which opened in 1924. An extremely challenging course from the tips, this course offers a great test for even the best of golfers. The restoration has expanded bunkering throughout the course and a comprehensive tree removal project has expanded fairway corridors. A charming course with a lot of teeth - very fun to play which offers a plethora of shot options."
Read More2023
Review
“Overshadowed by neighbors"
Read More2018
