The toughest course in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area is Tpc Boston, at slope 152 — ahead of Newport National Golf Club Orchard Course at slope 139 and The New England Country Club at slope 138.
All 65 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.
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA is a metro area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it, crossing Massachusetts 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 65 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 52 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 74 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 68 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | State | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hazelton Golf Club | MA | 3,595 yds between tees |
| 2 | Crestwood Country Club | MA | 2,551 yds between tees |
| 3 | Meadow Brook Golf Club | RI | 2,160 yds between tees |
| 4 | Shelter Harbor Golf Club Championship Course | RI | 2,083 yds between tees |
| 5 | Wanumetonomy Golf Country Club | RI | 2,046 yds between tees |
| 6 | Newport National Golf Club Orchard Course | RI | 2,027 yds between tees |
| 7 | Tpc Boston | MA | 2,011 yds between tees |
| 8 | Richmond Country Club | RI | 1,892 yds between tees |
| 9 | South Shore Village Golf Club | RI | 1,858 yds between tees |
| 10 | Fall River Country Club | MA | 1,842 yds between tees |
| 11 | Olde Scotland Links at Bridgewater | MA | 1,841 yds between tees |
| 12 | Ledgemont Country Club | MA | 1,735 yds between tees |
| 13 | Cranston Country Club | RI | 1,715 yds between tees |
| 14 | Acushnet River Valley Golf Course | MA | 1,708 yds between tees |
| 15 | The Aquidneck Club | RI | 1,611 yds between tees |
| 16 | Swansea Country Club | MA | 1,586 yds between tees |
| 17 | The New England Country Club | MA | 1,556 yds between tees |
| 18 | Whaling City Golf Course at New Bedford | MA | 1,547 yds between tees |
| 19 | Fenner Hill Golf Club | RI | 1,524 yds between tees |
| 20 | Norton Country Club | MA | 1,506 yds between tees |
| 21 | Rhode Island Country Club | RI | 1,470 yds between tees |
| 22 | Country Club of New Bedford | MA | 1,410 yds between tees |
| 23 | Crystal Lake Golf Club | RI | 1,386 yds between tees |
| 24 | Green Valley Country Club | RI | 1,383 yds between tees |
| 25 | Stone E Lea Golf Course | MA | 1,337 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 71 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 78 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | State | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melody Hill Golf Course | RI | 506 ft |
| 2 | Alpine Country Club | RI | 497 ft |
| 3 | Country View Golf Club | RI | 473 ft |
| 4 | Crystal Lake Golf Club | RI | 468 ft |
| 5 | Foster Country Club | RI | 442 ft |
| 6 | Glocester Country Club | RI | 349 ft |
| 7 | Kirkbrae Country Club | RI | 303 ft |
| 8 | Cranston Country Club | RI | 289 ft |
| 8 | The New England Country Club | MA | 289 ft |
| 10 | East Greenwich Golf Country Club | RI | 270 ft |
| 11 | Bungay Brook Golf Club | MA | 224 ft |
| 12 | Louisquisset Golf Club | RI | 216 ft |
| 13 | Green Valley Country Club | RI | 215 ft |
| 14 | Newport National Golf Club Orchard Course | RI | 202 ft |
| 15 | Stone E Lea Golf Course | MA | 182 ft |
| 16 | Whaling City Golf Course at New Bedford | MA | 173 ft |
| 17 | Triggs Memorial Golf Course | RI | 171 ft |
| 18 | Fenner Hill Golf Club | RI | 162 ft |
| 19 | Beaver River Golf Club | RI | 154 ft |
| 20 | Allendale Country Club | MA | 152 ft |
| 20 | Tpc Boston | MA | 152 ft |
| 22 | Lincoln Country Club | RI | 148 ft |
| 23 | Meadow Brook Golf Club | RI | 137 ft |
| 23 | Shelter Harbor Golf Club Championship Course | RI | 137 ft |
| 25 | Fairlawn Golf Course | RI | 136 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.