Mulligan's Island Return to Rhode Island page

100 New London Ave
Cranston, RI 02920-5635

Cost: $9 Other Activities: Driving Range, Batting Cages, Par 3 Golf, Pitch and Putt

Par: Red Course- 40, Blue Course- 42

Red Course (2002)

Difficulty: 8

Creativity: 6

Atmosphere: 6

The Red Course at Mulligan's Island, constructed by Cost of Wisconsin, is being used as the site for the Mini Rhode Island Open. Packed with lots of hills, ridges and some subtle breaks, the greens resemble those found on the most difficult U.S. Open courses. If you can make some of the putts on the Red Course,

you could do quite well at Winged Foot or Pinehurst. Moisture on the course can influence the breaks quite a bit. If you play in the morning, there is often some dew, which minimizes the breaks somewhat. But play during the afternoon, and you'll see the ball moving sideways in some cases.

Because the holes are surrounded by metal rims, you absolutely have to hit your shots flush. Some of the rims are slightly raised, which makes putts from certain angles nearly impossible to hole out on.

While most of the holes play the way they were constructed, a few have significant defects. For example, the two-tiered 7th hole does not allow any reasonable way to get to the bottom tier on the tee shot. And then, if you choose to hit your second shot into the right hole, you run the risk of having the

ball empty the pipe, carom off a rock, and land out of bounds. Also, watch out on the 17th hole -- if you're not careful, you can permanently lose your ball in the stream! Make sure your playing partner is positioned near the second water trap, ready to scoop up your ball before it jumps the wall.

There are absolutely no gimmes on this course. A three-footer anywhere else will definitely feel like a ten-footer on the Red Course! You have to toe the line between being overly aggressive and too cute with your putts. There are about five holes that can be aced, but hole-in-ones require tremendous precision and a little bit of luck. You definitely have to putt well to score well.

The par is set at 40, which is at least ten strokes lower than where it should be. Even then, the average player will probably be shooting in the mid-60's. My personal best is 41, and I'm not sure it's possible to do much better than that. I highly suggest avoiding the Blue Course entirely. You might

very well give up after trying the first hole.

Finally, the greens fee is definitely excessive. However, Mulligan's Island is always busy with people who are happy to plunk down their money. If you decide to visit the course, go as early as possible during the day. By the afternoon, you might be waiting as much as 45 minutes to get on the course and another 90-120 minutes to actually play.

Reviewed by Chris Rantz

Reviewed in 2006

Original Review (see original review for course pictures)

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