Once you get past what has become known as the Cromwell Triangle on the Tournament Players Course at River Highlands, you get to finish on a 373 yards par 4 number 18. A welcome break from circumventing a four-acre lake on holes 15, 16 and 17 and while you may be away from the water there is plenty of beach remaining. Fairway bunkers and a green protected by sand greet you on the finish.

Originally built in 1928 with a Robert Ross design with the then Edgewood Country Club getting a little uplift from Orrin Smith in 1951. In 1984 Pete Dye put his fingerprints on the course in preparation for the PGA’s Greater Hartford Open but he left behind some of the old blind shots and small-sized greens.

The course received more rearranging in 1991 when Bobby Weed designed 11 new holes using the natural environment to allow for the panoramic views offered at the course. Being 90 minutes from Boston and about two hours from New York the course draws over 300,000 each year to the Buick Championship.

Hole number 8 is a short 167 yards par 3, but if you hit it long, you are almost guaranteed to need three putts to hole it. If you come up short your ball is going swimming and hitting left or right puts you in the sand.

Hole number 9 is another short par 4, only 357 yards, but those are some tough dogleg right yards. Blue spruce trees rise on the right side to hide your view of the green off the tee and hitting short to make the bend will give you a view of all the bunkers lining the rest of the fairway.