by John Shimer • Photos by David Colt

Hidden back along the rolling hills in Bradford, less than half a mile from the Ski Bradford Resort and Ski School and five minutes outside of the downtown, lies one of the true gems on the North Shore golf landscape, Bradford Country Club.

Tucked in just off Salem Street, the unassuming first time visitor may feel like he or she is entering a scene straight out of the movie “The Stepford Wives” as they drive up to the clubhouse and past the plush green-side dwellings that dot the picturesque front nine.

Upon closer inspection, however, the semi-private 18-hole golf course, which was rebuilt 18 years ago, is as friendly a place to play as it is confounding.

What sets Bradford apart from virtually every other course in the area is the distinct difference from the front nine to the back nine. At 3,158 yards, the back nine is only a little more than a sand wedge shot longer than the front, but it certainly does not feel that way.

“This is one of the top five most challenging courses in the state because there is a lot of trouble throughout the course,” said Bill Drohen, who set the Bradford standard last year with a 7-under-par 63 on the course which grades out with a challenging 132 slope.

“I think the course is nice though because you have to use every club in the bag – from cut shots to draw shots – it is very demanding on your game.”

However, despite the degree of difficulty Bradford represents, rarely will your golfing outing be spoiled by someone playing down your back or someone in front slowing down to a Sergio Garcia-like snail crawl. Things always seem to move right along at the sprawling course with GPS-- guided carts helping to expedite the journey.

Weaving in and out of the residences that sit along the course, the front nine is all about target golf on much flatter fairways than will be found on the back side. You will not be pulling your driver too much here, and avoiding the plethora of hazards is the key. Almost every hole on the front is either doglegs left or right, and iron play is crucial to success.

Once the first challenge is fulfilled, a rigorous trek through the woods remains. Nearly every hole features steeply inclining or dramatically declining slopes to get to the pin bordered with tight tree-lined fairways.

“The front nine is about position golf and requires accurate tee shots because the greens are well guarded with traps and hazards,” said Drohen, who grew up in Bradford playing on the old nine-hole course. “It’s not completely different on the back because there are a lot of hazards, but it plays considerably longer and many of the holes are undulated.”

For players like 42-year-old John McHardy – a member and also the Bradford CC league president – the course’s allure is all about its challenging nature.

“There are many courses in the area, where everyone can hook and slice their tee shots and still find their ball,” McHardy said. “If you do that here (Bradford) your ball is gone. Everything is very tight and it makes you a better golfer.”

With the five par 3s which are scattered throughout the course, players get a taste of a little bit of everything that Bradford is about. They offer some of the most difficult scoring opportunities. At the same time they will tantalize the dreamer in every golfer to knock it stiff with just one swing.

“I think we have some good par 3s,” said Bradford’s head professional and GM, Peter Vlahos. “They are not rinky dinks where you would be hitting sand and pitching wedges all day at other courses. Here, we extended the par 3s back, and they have a lot of carry to them.

“Everyone likes the 18th because it’s a hole-in-one hole,” said Vlahos of the 240-yard hole where golfers seem to climb an eternity to reach an elevated tee and then take dead aim at a playable, open green down below.

“If you hit the ball onto the right slope on the green, it will trickle in, so that makes it a fun way to finish.”

As he feels with so many holes on the front nine, Drohen prefers the par-3 180-yard sixth hole because of the precise nature with which players must hit their tee shots and the unforgiving surroundings around the pin.

“I always like holes with a lot of character, and there’s just not a lot of places to miss on the sixth hole,” Drohen said. “You have to be accurate with your tee shot because water follows the hole all the way up the right side and on the left side are two difficult traps from which the ball carries out downward toward the water. What makes that par 3 really great, though, is that they extended the tee box last year from 160 yards back to 180.”

Few, however, would argue that the most difficult stretch of the course is its two lengthy back-to-back par 5s on holes 12 and 13.

“I like the 12th even though I’m terrible at it,” said McHardy of the 489-yard monster that lays up at 225 yards before a vast water hazard off the tee box and is featured in this month’s magazine as one of the top water holes on the North Shore.

“If you play the hole where you’re supposed to, a 3-wood can get you to the green with a chance at an eagle. But, you’ve got to have every shot in the bag because even heavy hitters can get lost in that murky swamp.”

Major improvements in recent years

There have been several renovations and upgrades at Bradford in recent years. In the last two years all new bunkers have been built throughout the 18 holes and several of the tee boxes on holes 1, 6, 10, 13, and 18 have been improved or re-located to further enhance the Brian Silva and Geoffrey Cornish design.

By continuing to put money back into the course, Vlahos, the course’s GM for the last four years, notes that Bradford CC is directly opposed to a recent trend where many struggling surrounding golf courses are selling off land or going out of business all together.

“We’re not being sold, we’re not having houses built on the course, and we’re not taking away part of the land on the course that we could use to make further developments,” Vlahos said while noting the ongoing improvements that will include a brand- new high-tech irrigation system.

“We’ve established ourselves and members can know that we are going to be here the next year and the year after. In fact, we’re one of the only places to put money back into our course.”

In terms of memberships, Bradford CC offers several affordable packages, although the ownership very much adheres to both its private and public bases. With early bird specials for memberships and weekly specials for the public, the ability to play all seven days of the week, GPS golf carts, and an easily accessible website for booking tee-times and checking the course schedule, Vlahos says that Bradford has tripled its golfing outings in just a year’s time.