NEFA DISCussion

The 9-hole Tully Lake Dam course will soon be an 18-hole course. The younger brother of the first Boy Scout who put 9-holes, is putting in the second 9. The tees and basket locations have been laid out, but work has not begun yet. All 9 original holes remain with the relocation of the present #6's tee being the only change.
The course adds 2 holes between existing 3 & 4, 1 between 4 & 5, and 6 between 5 & 6. The 6 between 5 & 6 are 1 up the side of the spillway to out near the road, 4 on the other side of the street, and 1 back on the near side of the street that leads you back near the beginning of the spillway near old #6's Tee.
My understanding is that work will be over the next couple months. I'll update as I get more info.

John,
This is good news! I always thought Tully was "under-rated", certainly under used (probably due to it's "way out there-ness", and another 9 could be put onto it to make a good course. Wished I lived closer.
Karl

Cutting began today on new holes 4 & 5 by the ACOE Rangers. Cutting and clearing for all the new holes is to be done over the next week & a half. I believe they will have work days next Thursday & Friday. I will update if anyone is interested. Their plan is to then place baskets some weekend after the course is cleared.

They will be installing baskets etc. coming up on May 6th & 7th. These workdays start at 9 AM at the Gate House, if anyone is interested. If need be, they will have additional work days on May 13th & 14th. Thanks.

Just curious John, how did they get the funding for 9 more baskets?

Played the NEW Tulley Dam course yesterday; awesome job by the scouts! A good mix of righty/lefty holes, open and tight slots through the woods. Absolutely loved holes 9 (real tough against the wind pushing down the spillway), and 10 (across the street follows a cart path down hill with a murderous drop off to the left). One hole as I approached it gave the impression that I was in an air conditioner with the breeze coming off the rocks. Needed that one! Some real killer holes across the street made me feel as if I were in a pinball machine.
All in all a great job and a great course; congrats John Hart.

Jim, Is it a full 18 now? If so, easy to follow?
Thanks

Yes, it's a full 18 holes. It wasn't too hard to follow; my partner helped me clean my glasses off a few times to find the next tee sign. There are scorecards with a map near the first tee, but if they get used up, I'd recommend having someone there who's played before.

Go army corp courses! I'll look to play to course either en route or on the way back from NH States in September - the additional holes make it much more of a destination!

There is an updated Map & Map w/ photos at:

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/tul/tulrec12.htm

The ACOE and the Boy Scouts did a great job here, all I did was furnish some advise a few times.

There is some work to be done still, including defining the Tee Boxes, so hopefully I can take some credit for that in the future.

I was thinking of organizing a doubles round the morning after Rindge for those that are interested. It's fairly easy to get from one to the other.

Nice presentation! I can't wait to play. I like some of your evil, dam holes with OB seemingly everywhere. Well I like the pictures anyway. Also the tee signs are tasteful.

played tully yesterday. Pretty sweet course. A little rough thru some of the wooded holes; maybe a few trees could come down to make for more clearly defined fairways, but all in all, a solid course. Challenging, even disheartening at times, but sweet nonetheless

Played the "new" Tully Sunday (only other time was 2 yrs. ago as a 9-holer) and had a blast.

As with many newer courses, some of the woods holes need to be thinned out a bit, but it was a lot of fun with lots of variety.

One hole I really didn't like was #10. Awfully long for a blind hole, and with either side of the road so rough, I can picture many more 5's and 6's than 3's and 4's.

It seems like the ACOE is proactive on thinning the woods, and if they keep it up, should be a first rate course.

Thanks to John and whoever else put in the recent effort.

I played with Bear, and I would have to echo his sentiments. Also, the first hole is absolutely breathtaking. Thought the course was very challenging, and only a few places where there seemed to be no rewards for a good shot. All in all, this course is a must play if you are ever out that way. (why would you be though)

andyga999 wrote: All in all, this course is a must play if you are ever out that way. (why would you be though)

En route or returning from NH States

I played Tully yesterday and thought it was a great course. Nice mix of short/long holes and open/wooded holes. Many holes are blind, requiring you to "scout" them out. There are tons of trees. Almost as if there is no fairway at all. Hole 10 does have some serious danger to the left.

All in all, beautiful course, worth the drive.

Wow. I just saw the picture of Hole#1 at Tully Lake Dam in the recent Nefa News and it looks like it is one of the most scenic holes in all of New England! 8)

That hoel is even better to play than it is to look at. When you are driving there you pass by a ton of elevation change, its no surprise that the first hole is so extreme. Tully Barre, and Devens are pretty close to each other, maybe play em all.?

I'm thinking I'll head up there tomorrow to check out the new layout finally.
it crossed my mind...
does anyone know if they hunt out there? I know the orange should be worn at the Barre Falls, so I thought I'd just ask and see if I might be able to get an answer.
I just don't feel like getting shot in the face tomorrow you know?

any help/much obliged.
thanks,
dave

Dave, based on this I would have to say yes they do hunt at Tully. http://www.recreation.gov/detail.jsp?ID=225

Nice course by the way. I think you'll enjoy it. I've still haven't played it since its been expanded to 18. Let me know if you would how the back 9 plays out.

David / Arty / et al,

I played the "whole 18" about a month ago and have to say (you can kill me now or kill me later...either is OK) that I was a little disappointed with the new holes. This is based on a couple of things. 1) is that the old, existing holes were each a) very good and b) very different from each other, that in adding additional holes it would be hard to replicate the "individuality" of each hole and 2) the new holes need some thinning out to make them actually have a defined fairway.

1 Is the "picture hole". A 2 or a 3 (if calm). If not, a 3 is lovely.
2 Hard 2, pretty easy 3.
3 Grab the birdie here!
4 First of the new holes. Hit early trunkage and you're staring at a 4. And early wood is REALLY easy.
5 Again, an easy 3 IFF you miss early wood...and deucable.
6 The old dirt road hole. RHBH hyzer friendly.
7 One of the better new holes. LHBH hyzer friendly (or RHFH) with an actual seeable lane.
8 The old "tar" road hole.
9 An uphill, open (deceptively long-carry) good use of the open dam area.
10 Funky RHBH friendly 150' out, take a 45-degree left turn and go deep! Par is all about the 2nd shot.
11 I think the intent is to flick between 2 REALLY tight, close trees and then fade right toward the basket, but for a RHBH to anhy one thru that gap would be suicide. Maybe the pinball hyzer route?!?
12 Could be a GREAT hole if one was to open it up JUST a bit! Tight is OK, but this hole (as is) while it has somewhat of a fairway, the penalty for being off it by 4' is equal or worse than being off it by 40'. First time I played it, I drove to the top of the hill, placed my upshot 50' from the basket dead in front, missed the putt and dropped in for the 4. The 3rd time I played it, I hit a tree ~120' off the tee and went WAY right, discovered "an alternate fairway" and played up toward 13 tee, cut back and dropped in for another 4. After that 1st deflection, I should have 5'd or worse. The 2nd time I played the hole, I drove a little too far (about 6' too far) left and was dead. Lucky to get the 5.
13 Just too random...although a roller got me a par the 3rd time around.
14 Again, a bit too random (regarding a mess of trees pretty equally dispersed all over the place and while there might be somewhat of a driving lane, once you hit a tree (not IF you hit, ONCE you hit...), it's hit-or-miss as to if you'll have a 2nd shot or not).
15 Slight move of the tee (from the old 6) but basically the same hole.
16-18 The old 7-9.

I think once someone CAREFULLY decides which trees need to go (and makes them go), this will be a nice course...it has some already good holes and other potential good ones.

Karl

Just took a couple buddies to play Tully on sunday. It was an awesome day and their first time playing that course. They really liked it and I can't say enough good things about it. It is fun, tough, long and a great overall challenge.Some fairways may seem tight, I think it's a nice change. Try to get out there while the weather is still good and see if you can break 60.

Okay got up to Tully Dam yesterday to finally play the new layout (well new to me anyway). I have to say I think it is a significant improvement over the old 9. With the old 9 it was fairly easy to break par. Not so now that the layout has 18 holes. Karl’s description of the course is dead on. It is tight and there are some holes that could probably use a couple of trees removed, but like Dave J. said it is a nice change. Its not all grip and rip. Although there are plenty of holes where you can do just that. This course demands that you make strategic/finesse type shots to set up the next shot if you want to shoot a low score. Okay that's kind of cliche, but true nonetheless. I was playing fairly well through nine holes… and well... let’s just leave it at that. Great, challenging course that is shamefully underused. I know I’ll be back up there soon.

Great, challenging course that is shamefully underused

crazy looking back at these old Tully threads for years us locals felt lonely out there..the entire time people were noticing...funny....crazy how things boooooom in just 4 short years..now its tough to get parking up there.

Tully is proof that if you build it they come..if you take care and improve they will KEEP coming....

This thread should motivate anyone!

Titan Bariloni wrote:

Great, challenging course that is shamefully underused

crazy looking back at these old Tully threads for years us locals felt lonely out there..the entire time people were noticing...funny....crazy how things boooooom in just 4 short years..now its tough to get parking up there.

Tully is proof that if you build it they come..if you take care and improve they will KEEP coming....

This thread should motivate anyone!

Finally played the new course,,,wow. All the work really shows. Especially hole 2 and 8, 9. what a huge improvement. Nice job all. Nice to play off something other than rubber or dirt. Hope to get out more often.

Back to work today....

Its great when the punch list has shrunk

Rec Tee on hole 1 will be going in start of next week..

WorkDay Oct 10th 10ish

workday Mon,Tues,Weds of next week

Lots of fun little task to bang out....

Lets wrap the course up before Fall Tourney season!

Titan Bariloni wrote:Back to work today....

Its great when the punch list has shrunk

Rec Tee on hole 1 will be going in start of next week..

WorkDay Oct 10th 10ish

workday Mon,Tues,Weds of next week

Lots of fun little task to bang out....

Lets wrap the course up before Fall Tourney season!

rec tee on hole 1?

A question for the locals.

I played there today and used the distances on the tee signs. I over threw a couple of the short holes. After the round, I noticed that the information board, tee signs, and scorecard all had different distances listed for the holes. Does anyone know which are the real distances?

I know you all have done a ton of work to the course. Everything looks awesome, especially the brick tee boxes with benches and bag stands. Fairways are pretty perfect too. Wish I lived closer.

Use the distances on the scorecards as the correct ones. Total Yardage 6,873

check out the scene for info on the Tully Ice Bowl!!!