The toughest course in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH combined area is Tpc Boston, at slope 152 — ahead of Eastward Ho Club at slope 149 and The Golf Club of New England at slope 149.
All 324 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH is a combined statistical area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it, crossing Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Rhode Island — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 324 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— the top 25 of 260 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 357 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 342 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | State | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nashawtuc Country Club | MA | 4,697 yds between tees |
| 2 | Hazelton Golf Club | MA | 3,595 yds between tees |
| 3 | Concord Country Club | NH | 3,397 yds between tees |
| 4 | King Rail Reserve Golf Course | MA | 2,835 yds between tees |
| 5 | Baker Hill Golf Club | NH | 2,814 yds between tees |
| 6 | The Golf Club of New England | NH | 2,633 yds between tees |
| 7 | Buckmeadow Golf Club | NH | 2,570 yds between tees |
| 8 | Crestwood Country Club | MA | 2,551 yds between tees |
| 9 | Braintree Municipal Golf Course | MA | 2,538 yds between tees |
| 10 | Eastward Ho Club | MA | 2,401 yds between tees |
| 11 | Sagamore Spring Golf Club | MA | 2,314 yds between tees |
| 12 | Highland Links Cape Cod | MA | 2,307 yds between tees |
| 13 | Walpole Country Club | MA | 2,290 yds between tees |
| 14 | Pleasant Valley Country Club | MA | 2,253 yds between tees |
| 15 | Lake Sunapee Country Club | NH | 2,252 yds between tees |
| 16 | Waverly Oaks Golf Club | MA | 2,184 yds between tees |
| 17 | Main at Brae Burn Country Club | MA | 2,180 yds between tees |
| 18 | Meadow Brook Golf Club | RI | 2,160 yds between tees |
| 19 | Ocean Edge Resort Club on Cape Cod | MA | 2,125 yds between tees |
| 20 | Manchester Country Club | NH | 2,093 yds between tees |
| 21 | Shelter Harbor Golf Club Championship Course | RI | 2,083 yds between tees |
| 22 | Cape Cod National Golf Club | MA | 2,070 yds between tees |
| 23 | Boston Golf Club | MA | 2,069 yds between tees |
| 24 | Stonebridge Country Club | NH | 2,061 yds between tees |
| 25 | Pinehills Golf Club Nicklaus Course | MA | 2,058 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— the top 25 of 349 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 375 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | State | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baker Hill Golf Club | NH | 1,355 ft |
| 2 | Gardner Municipal Golf Course | MA | 1,164 ft |
| 3 | Westminster Country Club | MA | 1,158 ft |
| 4 | Kettle Brook Golf Club | MA | 1,032 ft |
| 5 | Templewood Golf Course | MA | 1,027 ft |
| 6 | Leicester Country Club | MA | 1,026 ft |
| 7 | Oak Hill Golf Course | NH | 963 ft |
| 8 | Lake Sunapee Country Club | NH | 954 ft |
| 9 | Hillcrest Country Club | MA | 948 ft |
| 10 | Monadnock Country Club | NH | 912 ft |
| 11 | Quail Hollow Country Club | MA | 860 ft |
| 12 | Country Club of New Hampshire | NH | 853 ft |
| 13 | Ellinwood Country Club | MA | 837 ft |
| 14 | Cold Brook Golf Rv Resort | MA | 827 ft |
| 15 | Holden Hills Country Club | MA | 823 ft |
| 16 | Hemlock Ridge Golf Course | MA | 820 ft |
| 17 | Oak Hill Country Club | MA | 812 ft |
| 18 | Pine Ridge Country Club | MA | 808 ft |
| 19 | Waukewan Golf Club | NH | 774 ft |
| 20 | The Ridge Country Club | NH | 772 ft |
| 21 | Lakeview Golf Club | NH | 760 ft |
| 22 | Countryside Golf Club | NH | 759 ft |
| 23 | Tatnuck Country Club | MA | 758 ft |
| 24 | Green Hill Golf Club | MA | 730 ft |
| 24 | Green Hill Golf Course | MA | 730 ft |
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.