Connecticut
Travelers is around the corner. What are Connecticut’s top 10 golf courses?
![Travelers is around the corner. What are Connecticut’s top 10 golf courses? Travelers is around the corner. What are Connecticut’s top 10 golf courses?](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2023/01/15/66Z46QON5JF2PPD7EW4LJYVUU4.jpg?w=1024&h=670)
With Travelers a couple weeks away, what are the best golf courses Connecticut has to offer?
Thankfully, the folks at Golf Week ranked the top ten courses you can find in the state to tee up a shot or dig yourself out of another bunker. Every course has the right blend of New England charm and top-tier amenities perfect for a day golfing with friends or a solo outing to practice up on the back nine.
Hartford’s Keney Park takes the top slot, but courses from every end of Connecticut made the list of the best of the best. Did your local course make the list?
Keney Park in Hartford
Keney Park takes the top slot for Connecticut golf courses and sits right at the center of the state.
“Keney Park Golf Course ‘s first nine holes were designed by Devereux Emmet and built in 1927. Emmet was a pioneering American Golf Course Architect who designed more than 150 courses. Locally his designs include the Hartford Golf Club and the Country Club of Farmington, and he also designed Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD and Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club in Bermuda.
“The second nine was added in 1931 and was designed by City of Hartford engineer Robert ”Jack” Ross. Ross designed or remodeled a number of courses in Connecticut, including the City of Hartford’s Goodwin Park Golf Course and Indian Hill Golf Club in Newington, CT.”
Wintonbury Hills in Bloomfield
There’s a lot to do at Wintonbury Hills in Bloomfield.
They offer membership options, lessons, tournaments, and other events like a weekly cornhole league. There’s also The Tap Inn, a restaurant serving up incredible pub food to sink your teeth into.
“Wintonbury Hills Golf Course, located in Bloomfield, Connecticut, just 15 minutes from Hartford, is a beautifully conditioned course in a peaceful and relaxing setting. The course represents Pete Dye’s first championship design in New England. The 6,711-yard, par-70 layout has a combination of open links-style and traditional tree-lined holes to provide golfers a challenging and enjoyable round of golf.”
Great River Golf Club in Milford
Along with a packed pro shop and a spread of awards, Great River Golf Club has courses for your kids, too.
There are camps and other programs with PGA professionals and local college team golf coaches and college players. There are multiple levels for every skill group. Check out the memberships and tee times and book an outing for yourself while your kids learn.
“Built along the banks of the Housatonic River, Great River Golf Club is a championship-style, Tommy Fazio-designed 18-hole golfing destination offering a first-class experience for golfers of all abilities.”
Fox Hopyard in East Haddam
Fox Hopyard has every high-class amenity you could desire, as well as a fantastic course for every sort of golfer.
“Fox Hopyard is 530 acres of rolling hills, dense forest, open pastures, running brooks, ponds, wetlands, rock outcroppings and stone walls. The golf course winds through various areas seamlessly and effortlessly affording a myriad of different looks and feels. Paired with one of the best driving ranges in the state, this masterfully crafted collection of holes is a Championship Golf Course with a history of hosting some of Connecticut’s best golfers.”
Lake of Isles (North) in North Stonington
Looking for a round of golf before a trip to Foxwoods? Lake of Isles is right around the corner.
“Since opening in 2005, Lake of Isles has consistently been ranked as one of the top golf facilities in the country. The Rees Jones designed layout gives guests the ultimate golf experience. Guests will enjoy the challenging North Course which features rolling terrain, island greens and tees and extraordinary views from every hole. Lake of Isles is in picturesque southeastern Connecticut, adjacent to Foxwoods Resort Casino.”
Shennecossett in Groton
Picturesque in every sense of the word, Shennecossett Golf Course sits right by the waterfront for everyone to enjoy.
“Shennecossett is a historic 18-hole public golf course designed by Donald Ross. Located on beautiful Long Island Sound and the Thames River, the course features dramatic views and a chance to spot a tall ship or a US submarine at sail. Founded in 1898, Shennecossett remains a top New England golfing destination. Experience golf history – play Shennecossett.”
Oxford Greens in Oxford
You know you’re in Connecticut when golfing at Oxford Greens. It’s setting is quintessential New England Outdoors with 7100 yards worth of course to test your mettle.
“Founded in 2005, Oxford Greens is the newest course in Connecticut. Our course is a top-ranked public course with luxurious greens that roll true and fast. We believe in capitalizing on the fun of golf and keeping the spirit of the sport alive.”
Hotchkiss Golf Course in Lakeville
“The Hotchkiss Golf Course, designed in 1924 by prominent golf course architect Seth Raynor, circles the campus of the school, offering incredible views of Lake Wononscopomuc and the surrounding Berkshire-Taconic mountains. At just over 3,000 yards and a par of 35, the nine-hole course provides challenging play.”
Richter Park Golf Course
From outings and events to instructional courses and season passes, you have all you need at Richter Park Golf Course to take your game to the next level.
“Richter Park is the challenging Edward Ryder design 18-hole, Par 71 Golf Course located in Danbury, CT. This public course is the finest you will play in the Tri-state area.
“Water can come into play on this scenic layout on 14 out of 18 holes. The greens are a Bent/Poa mix and are well guarded by one of the 49 newly renovated bunkers surrounding the course. The undulating fairways are a mix of Blue/Rye. There are 4 sets of tees to choose from that will challenge all golfers regardless of skill.”
Mohegan Sun in Baltic
Golfing and gambling. Mohegan Sun has you covered.
“At Mohegan Sun Golf Club, players can enjoy the course as well as our practice facilities, the Mohegan Sun Golf Academy, the Pautipaug Pub and our well-stocked Pro Shop. We invite you to come see why Golfweek Magazine named us one of the 10 Best Courses in Connecticut.”
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Connecticut
In a summer of severe flooding in New England, a 1,000-year storm hit Connecticut. Here’s how. – The Boston Globe
![In a summer of severe flooding in New England, a 1,000-year storm hit Connecticut. Here’s how. – The Boston Globe In a summer of severe flooding in New England, a 1,000-year storm hit Connecticut. Here’s how. – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/sFKDlFgqGyUCudjb9tBD3B-mLco=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/D7SYZOTKNX5AZEIBYUKOIEPXV4.jpg)
What at first appeared on radar as a relatively modest line of storms moving into Connecticut, was suddenly supercharged into a deadly flash flood — the same weather pattern responsible for Vermont’s two rounds of devastating flooding in July.
Stagnant, ‘training’ storms
Like trains on a track, Sunday’s thunderstorms kept multiplying over the same region, inundating parts of Fairfield and New Haven counties with flooding rains. A region that normally sees 3.5 inches of rain on average for the entire month of August was pounded with 13 to 16 inches of flooding rains, most of which fell within six to seven hours, state officials said.
Meteorologists said the deadly confluence of a very slow-moving system, an already extremely moist summer weather pattern and these “training” rainstorms wreaked havoc on the region, stretching from Fairfield to the Lower Naugatuck Valley, including Oxford and Monroe. Training storms develop when thunderstorms repeatedly move over the same area, generating from the outflow of previous storms, over and over again. Each storm is following along a path, lining up over the same region one after another like train cars on a track, except the track is not moving.
“Deep tropical moisture was in place, and there was no shortage of water vapor to work with,” said Ryan Hanrahan, chief meteorologist for NBC Connecticut. “A very narrow band of convergence developed, and thunderstorms kept redeveloping over this convergence zone.” Examples of convergence zones are fronts and boundaries like sea and land breezes. They act as a trigger for thunderstorms and in the Connecticut and Vermont flooding events, that zone of convergence barely moved.
The storms were “able to back build at times” and the hardest-hit town of Oxford, where two people died, swept away by floodwaters, was “in the bull’s-eye,” said James Tomasini, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New York.
Research by climate scientists Jennifer Francis, Stephen Vavrus and Michael Mann has found that climate change has resulted in these stagnant patterns that allow storm systems to stall out, increasing the likelihood of flooding events both on a small scale (like in Connecticut) and on a larger scale (like with Hurricane Harvey in Houston in 2017).
Meteorologists said the Connecticut flooding was unrelated to Hurricane Ernesto, which on Monday was over the open Atlantic Ocean.
![Damage from flood waters is shown on Cottage Street in Monroe, Conn., Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media)](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/W5X2FP6ISH7YXE7RG5UXFVG4TA.jpg?auth=29d7b97dd74f7e1f39da864dd670251c885becdc5625988d103b08a78b915bca&width=1440)
Forecast models missed the mark
The intensity of last weekend’s storms caught forecasters by surprise. Even the morning of massive flooding, models predicted only 6 inches of rain.
“These events fly under the radar. We need to do a better job at looking at these localized, very high impact events,” Hanrahan said.
Today’s forecast models, although sophisticated, still lack the finer resolution to accurately capture and pinpoint small-scale variations in terrain, weather patterns, and local atmospheric conditions.
![One forecast model from Sunday morning showed around 6 inches of rain for southwestern Connecticut.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/TUPNTY23X5D65GTIHITUCEMKQI.jpeg?auth=4e6f7fb22b97b73db318a29ba615ed6fabab90986816a1b441a537025190cb35&width=1440)
But despite the models miscalculating the dire nature of the approaching storms, warnings from the National Weather Service were issued well ahead of time, meteorologists said. The first flash flood warning of the day was issued at 9:26 a.m. on Sunday, according to James Tomasini, a meteorologist with the NWS in New York. The urgency of the alerts increased throughout the day and eventually a Flash Flood Emergency was issued by mid-afternoon, warning residents to take swift action to protect themselves from rapidly rising floodwaters.
1-in-100 years now every 20 years
A warming climate, scientists say, has increased the frequency and intensity of flooding in the Northeast due to heavier bursts of rain.
The traditional “1-in-100-year” rainfall event — or, a storm with a 1 percent chance of happening each year — now occurs about every 20 years in Connecticut, according to an analysis conducted by Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research for First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that quantifies financial climate risk.
In other words, the same type of extreme rainstorm that was once a rare occurrence in Connecticut is five times more likely now.
Extreme precipitation has increased by about 60 percent in the Northeast since the 1950s, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Flooding events are expected to become “flashier” across the US as the climate warms, according to a 2023 federal meteorological assessment of extreme weather trends.
![Extreme flooding events in the Northeast have increased by 60 percent between the 1950s and now.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/6G4AJK4LE5GVNAB3QVMIHPGY4I.jpg?auth=f607c431973e54cbcce5a2a8c18ff065e3e29ddbc4a0a6e575c8e7a9fb2a2a1a&width=1440)
The driving force behind this shift in weather patterns has been our warming planet, say meteorologists and other scientists. According to Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, when the atmosphere warms by just 1 degree Fahrenheit, there is 4 percent more water vapor in the atmosphere, meaning more water is now available during these heavy rain events.
High ocean temperatures don’t help, as they add further moisture into the atmosphere. That abundant moisture is often injected into storm systems such as the one Connecticut experienced Sunday. Warming ocean currents off Connecticut are 10 times more likely due to climate change, according to the Climate Central Climate Shift Index.
University of Connecticut researchers project that annual precipitation in the state could increase by as much as 8.5 percent by the middle of the century compared to the 1970s if there is no action to reduce emissions.
![This Climate Shift Index for oceans shows warm weather in Long Island Sound is up to 10 times more likely due to climate change.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/AARB442XOJCFDBD2MBXVXVORSE.png?auth=6bd5ebfcf42fad1cda31cd5f71ae1d2008c7c851c418ff510a602e903d609604&width=1440)
James O’Donnell, executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation, said limited state data on precipitation and global climate models that are difficult to scale down make it challenging to predict where extreme flash flooding could occur.
But even if scientists can’t pinpoint exactly where intense flooding will worsen in a warmer climate “It’s likely that extreme precipitation events will increase in frequency,” O’Donnell said.
“These events — 10 inches in a day, or 12 inches in a day — we should plan for that everywhere in Connecticut,” he said.
![For every 1 degree Fahrenheit of warming, the atmosphere holds 4 percent more moisture.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/U5E46JNUUBE57N3T4W6O62U44A.jpg?auth=afab982e1207a429c710648b33a57a298e53d0c4dc3af5fb7f65a87c6214bd7b&width=1440)
‘No infrastructure can sustain it’
State officials and climate experts say Connecticut’s roads, bridges, and stormwater drainage system, much of it aging and built for a climate that no longer exists, like that of Vermont, cannot withstand such extreme rainstorms.
Rain totaling 13 to 16 inches, roughly 6 inches an hour, quickly swelled into dangerous rushing floodwaters that coursed through the town of Oxford, about 25 miles northwest of New Haven.
“It was a catastrophic amount of rain — no infrastructure could sustain it,” said state Senator Tony Hwang, who represents Newtown and Bethel, two towns also hard hit by the severe flooding.
Much of Connecticut’s climate adaptation efforts have been focused on protecting communities from storm surges as sea levels rise, particularly after devastating flooding from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
“It’s not just sea level rise and coastal storms, but also the potential for inland flooding that we need to think about,” said Christine Kirchhoff, who worked on Connecticut’s climate resilience planning efforts.
![Flash flood damage on the grounds of The Waterview reception hall in Monroe, Conn., is shown Monday.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/FY4SIPRNFST2CLL6UE6LPCAEXM.jpg?auth=da6d222715d704d1fe1a0c56b2983d7584c7543c0e5c05e8e1bc5d0d30a6a884&width=1440)
The challenge, she said, is that adapting to a changing climate is “a moving target” so long as fossil fuel emissions are added to the earth’s atmosphere. “What we adapt to today will be different from what we need to adapt to tomorrow,” Kirchhoff said.
Michael Jastremski, watershed conservation director for the Housatonic Valley Association in western Connecticut, said that there are thousands of culverts in the state that carry stormwater and streams beneath roads, yet many of them are too small.
The association surveys culverts and advocates for larger storm infrastructure. In an initial assessment of culverts in the Housatonic River watershed, he said, about 18 percent of the culverts they’ve surveyed would fail in a flood that occurs on average once every 25 years, meaning that water would overtop the road that the culvert is intended to protect.
“This could’ve been a regional event, and that’s what keeps me up at night,” Jastremski said. “When this is happening in 20 towns or 30 towns instead of eight or 10.”
Meteorologist Chris Gloninger is a senior scientist in climate and risk communication at the Woods Hole Group. Follow him at @ChrisGloninger.
Erin Douglas can be reached at erin.douglas@globe.com. Follow her @erinmdouglas23.
Connecticut
Connecticut home collapses, tossed into river by deadly storm in horrifying video: Watch
![Connecticut home collapses, tossed into river by deadly storm in horrifying video: Watch Connecticut home collapses, tossed into river by deadly storm in horrifying video: Watch](https://images.hindustantimes.com/img/2024/08/21/1600x900/Untitled_1724220754523_1724220754696.jpg)
A horrifying video shows the moment a single mother’s home collapsed and was tossed into a river during a deadly storm in Connecticut. The two-story house was seen crumbling to pieces after hours of heavy rainfall and flooding.
The video shows tables and chairs spilling out from the structure moments before the roof collapses, sliding down the embankment below it and onto the rocky bank of the brook, which had swelled up during the storm. Homeowner Randi Marcucio and her son, 3, managed to escape the tragedy.
‘The river started to take the massive, tall, tall, tall deck pillars’
“You just fall to the ground. There goes everything,” Marcucio told New York Post.
Marcucio is a single mom and ER nurse. She had lived in the Oxford home for two-and-a-half years. She bought the house on Mother’s Day in 2022. The beautiful narrow Fivemile Brook running along the property enchanted her.
Marcucio was preparing to cook dinner last week when the storm caused the brook to surge. The flooding became monstrous, turning the street into a river and washing away chunks of the dirt hill where the home rested. “The river started to take the massive, tall, tall, tall deck pillars,” Marcucio said.
“The deck started to go. The deck went. The oil tank detached from the house. Over hours, slowly but surely, everything just started to go. The basement started to go. The basement went. A lot of the basement went. And then the second story was just kind of hanging,” she added.
On Monday, August 19, the home collapsed. However, Marcucio was away at the time, helping neighbours find shelter during the storm. She later slept at her parent’s home.
It was a neighbour who heard cracking and ran to Marcucio’s house, only to discover that it was gone. Marcucio said she would not be able to recuperate her losses. The damage is not covered as she did not have flood insurance.
Marcucio, however, is maintaining a positive attitude, and finds strength in the love of her son. “He’s incredible. He’s such a smart, happy kid, and he knows something’s wrong, but he’s happy to see mommy,” Marcucio said.
“He doesn’t even really know what’s happening. He just knows that people keep showing up for him … He’s seen me at different homes, he’s seen me soaking wet. He’s seen me crying in the last day so he’s happy that mommy’s here, and now he gets to show mommy the things his ‘friends’ — strangers — have come to him with,” she added, referring to donations made by her neighbours and the money raised in a GoFundMe.
“Oh, my God. It’s incredible. You want to die in one breath and then the next breath you’re like, ‘This is everything. This is life,” Marcuico said.
She added, “I didn’t lose my life. My son didn’t lose his life. We lost our stuff. Two women lost their lives. How can I even begin to complain about anything?”
The storm was so destructive that two women were killed about five miles north of Marcucio’s property. One of them was swept away while walking down the street.
Connecticut
Connecticut Sun top LA Sparks 69-61 in first WNBA game at TD Garden
![Connecticut Sun top LA Sparks 69-61 in first WNBA game at TD Garden Connecticut Sun top LA Sparks 69-61 in first WNBA game at TD Garden](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/21/f1ddeb6a-f789-445b-aab9-42bc8477a7dd/thumbnail/1200x630/2cb57fe2ccf23d07a0ee1efbec8bcd0f/sun.jpg?v=fd6e213336f58b575c9e836e95546d26)
BOSTON – DiJonai Carrington scored 19 points, and the Connecticut Sun used a late 14-0 run to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks 69-61 on Tuesday night in the first WNBA game to played at the Boston Celtics’ TD Garden.
A franchise record sellout crowd of 19,125 saw the Sun storm back after they trailed 59-55 with less than four minutes to play.
Carrington scored twice in the lane sandwiched around a three-point play by Alyssa Thomas and in less than a minute Connecticut was up 62-59 with the crowd roaring.
Tyasha Harris converted a three-point play that made it 69-56 with 1:40 to go. In just over two minutes the Storm had missed two shots and two free throws and had four turnovers.
Brionna Jones had 15 points and Harris 14 for the Sun (20-7), who overcame an 8 of 17 performance at the foul line. Thomas had nine points, eight assists and 16 rebounds.
Rookie Rickea Jackson and Azura Stevens both had 14 points for the Sparks (6-22).
Carrington, Harris and Jones were all in double figures as the Sun erased an early deficit to take a 41-35 lead at the half.
Connecticut led by 11 in the third quarter but LA cut it to 53-46 entering the fourth. The Sparks scored the first seven points to tie in and turned that into a 13-2 run.
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