Bretwood Golf Course, North Course

Detailed description of Bretwood Golf Course, North Course

Bretwood Golf Course is a Public, 36 hole golf facility located in Keene, New Hampshire. The facility has two 18-hole golf courses, The North Course and The South Course.

Geoffrey Cornish designed the original 18 holes, nine of which opened in 1968 and the remaining nine open in July 1969. These nines haave been combined with two other nines designed by Hugh Barret. Barret's first nine opened in 1989 pairs with the original course's back nine to make what is now the North Course at Brentwent. The South Course at Brentwent pair's Barret's 1995 nine hole design with the original front nine.

The facility expanded to 27 holes in 1989, with the new holes designed by Hugh Barrett, who had worked with Cornish. Barrett blended the new holes in with the original back nine, to create what is now the North Course.

A 4th nine was completed in 1995. This 4th nine was also designed by Hugh Barrett. The South course as we know it today was completed in 1995, with the new nine, designed by Hugh Barrett, again blended with the original Cornish front nine.

Two 18 hole courses here routed along the Ashuelot River. The North course is around 7,000 yards, 73.7/136 from the gold tees. The South is 6,950, 73.2/133. Lots of water, tree lined fairways, elevation change, a very challenging course no matter while course you play.

These are old-style courses that go out and back, neither ninth hole finishes by the clubhouse.

Bretwood's North Course is generally considered the more interesting and challenging of its two routes. One of its attractions is the par-3 13th island green (OK, more accurately a peninsula and isthmus affair), not a long shot even from the back tees (145 yards), but if the ball doesn't land on the green, it's destined to land on (and then spectacularly off) the rocks. There is a huge double green shared by holes three and 11, and short but tough par-5s at five and seven, which calls for pinpoint placement on every shot. The second hole, if played from the championship tees, is a long whole measuring 612 yards.

The South opens with consecutive par-5s, and then sends golfers up a steep hill for an exciting downhill par-3. A series of short but tight holes follows. The course opens back up before the turn.

After a short par-5 10th, the inward bound nine on the South is particularly demanding. The 536-yard 13th seems like it will never end, and that's just a warm-up for holes that play around bends of the Ashuelot River or wetland ponds.