Public Golf Course Review

Golf Course Review: The Meadow at Peabody

The first time in my life I started talking golf somewhat seriously was probably around 13 or 14 years old. A lot of my family played golf and I was always exposed to the game as a kid but until my early teenage years it was never more than a passing interest. That’s when I got a junior membership to the Gannon Golf Course in Lynn. I think it was $100 for the summer which, looking back, was an absolute steal, and you could play just about every single weekday after 11:00. I loved it. My Mom or Dad would drop me off there in the morning, usually with my buddy John, and we’d chip and putt until they let us out, play 18, and then chip and putt until it was time to go home.

The great part of having that junior membership was the feeling that I belonged there. Hey I can chip and putt and practice all I like. I “belong” here. This is my club. At least that’s the way I saw it. And though I’ve never officially belonged at any club, even to this day, Gannon became the first in a series of places that I would call my home club through the years. The course where I worked as a bag room attendant? The home course of my college golf team? In lieu of any real memberships these were the places I considered home.

These days there’s a different reason to call someplace home. Namely, I need a place where I can keep a legit handicap. This is in case someone like my friend Tino gives me the invite to a two-man member-guest at a course like Winchester where he shoots 72 on his own ball and we win $50 pro shop credit for 3rd gross because I can’t help him a single shot. You need a cap for stuff like that. This is where The Meadow at Peabody comes in for me.

The Meadow opened about three years ago and, being only 15 minutes or so from my house, became my place of choice to post my scores and keep a cap. And so, in a sense, The Meadow is now my home club. I’ve only played about 4 times at my “home club” in the last two years (including zero times in ’05) but still, as a “member,” I feel as though I’m qualified to review the course for you now.

To begin with, some general information about The Meadow…The rates are $30 for Peabody residents on weekdays and $32 on the weekend. It’s $36 and $38 for non-residents. You can call three days in advance for tee times or book them online. Weekend tee times require a minimum of three players before 12:00 but they might be able to squeeze you out as a single or twosome before that if you get lucky. Carts are $14 and are not included. You can walk the Meadow (I’ve done it) but it’s definitely not a great walking course. Plenty of hills and, worse, some borderline hikes between some of the greens and the next tee.

And here, then, is a hole-by-hole look at the course:

1-Kind of a mediocre short par-5 to open the round. Trouble up the left off the tee but otherwise a pretty wide opening fairway. The green’s reachable in two if you hit a big tee shot but the approach is an awkward semi-blind shot over a hill. You’ve got a couple of choices if you decide to lay-up. The fairway ends at the top of the flat so you can hit something like a 7-iron to the edge of that upper fairway and leave yourself a full short iron to the green. Or you can hit a long iron down the right side to a sliver of lower fairway and leave yourself a little punch up the hill. Not my favorite hole. The first few times you play it you really don’t know where you’re going.

2-Tough little dogleg left par-4 for even a good player. Maybe a little too tough considering the average player. Definitely one of the most demanding tee shots on the course. Left is totally dead and right, while you can probably find it, isn’t much better. Bottom line…if you miss the fairway you’ve got almost no chance of finding the green. The green is perched on a little hill with a big bunker protecting the front left and trees guarding the entrance on either side. Just a tight, tough hole from tee to green. Anytime you could walk away with a par here you’d be happy.

3-Pretty simple short par-4. It’s a semi-blind tee shot but the only trouble you really need to avoid is a giant rock up the right side. If you knock something up there behind the rock there’s a good chance you’ll be stymied. Otherwise there’s no discernible danger I can see. Definite birdie opportunity.

4-Easily one of the worst holes I’ve ever played and maybe one of the worst holes in all of New England. I honestly think it’s that bad. Long dogleg right par-4. If you don’t hit an exceptional drive you have absolutely zero chance of getting on the green in two. Even if you hit an exceptional tee shot you’re probably going to be left with a long-iron off a hanging lie to an extremely elevated green. For some reason there’s a rock in the middle of the fairway as if the hole wasn’t hard enough to begin with. How a high handicapper is supposed to play the hole is beyond me. I really can’t say enough bad things about it. A very poorly designed hole in my opinion. Very poor.

5-Now this is much better. Downhill dogleg right par-4. Elevated tee with great panorama views of Peabody, Salem and Danvers. Classic risk/reward tee shot. Depending on how much of the junk you want to carry up the right side you hit anything from a 4-iron out to the 150 marker to a driver up in front of the green. Probably my favorite hole on the front.

6-First par-3 on the course, the 6th plays downhill to a pretty wide green. Not an overly difficult shot but there is some trouble long and left if you miss the target.

7-Another bad hole in my opinion. Short par-5 that plays a little longer than the yardage because of its strange design. Severe dogleg left off the tee basically forces you to hit an iron into a shelf of fairway that kicks the ball down into a hollow. It’s not a real long way in from there but it’s tight all the way with a big hill running up the right side and marsh up the left. I’m not a big fan.

8-Tough uphill par-3. My biggest problem with the 8th is that, much like the 4th, it’s way too penal for the average player. I’m all for creating difficult shots for a really good player but I think any hole should give at least some kind of option for the higher handicapper too. The 8th gives no such option. It’s all carry to the green and there’s no place to bail. Left, right, short and long are all dead. It’s a good looking hole with the surrounding marsh. Fun to play if you can carry it up on the green. I just think it’s little harder than it needs to be.

9-Very similar to the 3rd hole. Short par-4 that plays almost dead straight from tee to green. A bit of a non-descript end to the outward nine.

10-Solid par-4 to begin the back side. There’s trouble up the right side off the tee but the fairway is plenty generous. A good tee shot sets up the approach to a slightly uphill green.

11-The last of a weak group of par-5’s on the course. The tee shot plays uphill to a fairway that bends sharply to the right just beyond the landing area. The lay-up ends up being an awkward blind shot most of the time. Pretty straight-forward if you can lay it up where the fairway flattens out though. Like the two par-5s on the front, one of my least favorite holes of the side.

12-Good little par-3. Not a long shot but a small target with a tree overhanging the right side and a bunker protecting the front-left. My favorite short hole on the course.

13-We go from my favorite par-3 on the course to a good par-4. It’s not long but very tight off the tee with a hill up the left and dense woods to the right. Accuracy is much more important than length. A good tee shot sets up the slightly uphill approach to a well-protected green. It takes two good straight shots to give yourself a birdie chance here.

14-Another solid par-4. Again, like the 13th, not an overly long hole. Slight dogleg right off the tee. The green sits on a little plateau. Nothing too spectacular but one of my favorite holes on the course.

15-Tough dogleg left par-4 that plays straight downhill on the 2nd shot after a tee ball to the top of the hill. If you can hit in the fairway it’s one of the prettier approach shots on the course. It can play a little tricky though from the uneven lies you’ll tend to get on top of the hill and you need to hit a good shot with trouble short and right.

16-The last par-3 on the course plays downhill to a tilted green that falls off on the right. Pretty good hole. The thing that always stands out in my mind on 16 though is the wild turkey I saw milling around the tee there the first time I played the course. Every time I’ve played it since I’ve searched for that wild turkey and every time the search has proved futile. I’m sure my playing partners all thought I was on drugs wandering around looking for a damned turkey but, I’m telling you, he’s out there.

17-Downhill par-4. Somewhat similar to 15 but it’s a flatter landing area off the tee and the hole bends right as it slopes downhill instead of left. A flatter lie for your second shot, as I said, but it’s a tougher target with a big hill along the right side of the green and a dropoff to the left. You might get a bounce onto the green if you throw it out to the right but anything that stays on the hill is basically screwed. Tough hole.

18-Generally straight par-4 plays downhill of the tee and then slightly uphill to the green. Not a lot of trouble off the tee unless you hit it through the fairway. Driver might be a little too much club for longer hitters or if the wind is helping. Good-size green for the second shot but missing anywhere but short leaves a tough up and down to finish the round.

So there you have it. For better or worse, The Meadow at Peabody. All things considered I think it’s one of the better values north of Boston. Yes, it gets crowded. Yes, there are some quirky blind shots and a few downright bad holes. But for under $40 you’d be heard-pressed to find many places that are in better shape and offer more a challenge than The Meadow. Come join me there sometime. I’d love to have you at my home club.

Questions? Comments? Send responses to Michael James at feedback@barstoolsports.com