Woodway Country Club

Overview: Woodway's private Park Jr. routing in Darien is set across distinctive terrain. The current directory records par 71 and 6,906 yards. Park used a central hill, a ridge line and the winding Noroton River to create a routing in which the landscape dictates the strategy. Tabletop-style greens, changing elevations and the river crossings produce a course that can look open from the tee and still demand exact placement into the green.

History: Woodway was founded in 1916 by former Wee Burn golfers who wanted a full 18-hole course, and the club purchased the Woodway Farm property in Darien. Willie Park Jr.'s design was approved in 1917, and the course opened on June 30, 1918. The routing changed in places over the decades, including the relocation of the 18th green after a 1936 clubhouse expansion and a new ninth hole in 1999. Beginning in 2019, Bruce Hepner and superintendent Anthony Garzia led a restoration focused on recovering Park's original green sizes, mowing lines and bunker strategy.

Did You Know? Woodway's official history says that 17 of Park's original greens remain, with 16 still in play. That unusually high level of survival gives the modern course a direct physical link to its 1918 design.