Leo J Martin Memorial Golf Club

I consider my self a pretty good golfer (single fidgets handicap) and I loved this course. The condition of the course is terrible. No argument there but the fairways were cut and the greens are actually pretty good. So the only areas that mattered were halfway decent. The staff was very friendly and the actual layout of the course was very good. Also you can not beat the price. They have a hole for every shot. The best part about this golf course though is that if I need to play a quick round I can be in and out with no problem. If I want to take my time and work on my game I can do that to. Since the course is always empty you can play at your own pace which I find great. But like a said earlier if you are the type of person to who complains and whines about every little thing this isn’t a course for you.

If negative star ratings could be given, this course would earn it.
I’ve gone here a few times solely because it is conveniently close to work and I can tee off within 10 minutes of leaving my desk. Today was the final straw for me. Not only is this course by FAR AND AWAY the worst course I’ve ever played, but now the employees running the course have become just unbearable. Their tee boxes are literally just 2 markers stabbed haphazardly in what they call a «fairway» but are really just patchy, somewhat grassy, areas at the beginning of a hole. The greens are atrocious, slow and actually have their own sand traps on them if you can believe it. Not only that but they are swamped with Canadian Geese and all of their droppings nearly making a normal putt impossible. If that isn’t bad enough the fairways are littered with the same droppings, mushrooms sprouting up as a result of said droppings, and small white goose feathers. Oh yeah, the mushrooms and goose feathers both look very similar to golf balls.
I could go on about the horrible course conditions, how their Pro Shop hasn’t been open in over a year, or how normal services a regular golf course offers do not exist here despite the price you pay, but I won’t. I will just finish by telling you how me and my co-​workers were asked to leave the course for «messing around» (which we weren’t) and damaging the course without even being aloud to finish the hole we were playing. This course is an embarrassment and should be avoided by anyone who would like to play a decent game of golf.

The driving range is open after a year or two closed.
Its not bad! Automated golfball dispenser, and they take credit cards. Only drawback is there are tons of Canada geese. Some things never change.
Secondly this is NOT a city owned course as I read time and again on here. The course is in two towns. The state owns it. And should do a better job.

This is a course I go to once a week or so. The rates are extremely cheap so you can’t expect a pristine and perfect course. In fact there are various dead patches of grass and different areas under construction where it is just dirt.
However at 6PM on the weekdays it is only $ 12. You get what you pay for. If you want a perfectly nice and flawless course you will have to pay $ 120 at some courses around the area. For $ 12 you can’t really complain about it. On the weekends for all 18 holes the price is $ 30.
The fairways are serviceable and and the tee boxes are fine for the most part. The most difficult part about this course is the rough which has extremely difficult grass in some areas.
I also want to say the staff is always very friendly and willing to answer any questions or accommodate you in any way possible. It is a city owned course so they can’t really do much about it.
If you want an easy and cheap game of golf just to get out for a few hours and play then check this out. If you are a more experienced player then you will probably have more success elsewhere.

Went there very recently. Driving range is all toe up and nowhere even close to opening. The snack bar was closed to… I just wanted a golf course hot dog before I hit the first tee box but I was denied… and very sad. Had a beer every two holes and finished only 7 holes cuz I had to go home for dinner with the family, greens were in rough shape as always. Fairways were ok… played the front nine. I think I can say that I will never go back… once every three years is enough… it’s a shame they’ve let the course get so bad. Maybe they’re banking on it losing so much money that they have to sell it to developers.

A cross country course build into a gold course how awesome is that

Course is in decent shape outside of the tee boxes and the greens which are in need of some work. Not sure why the driving range and pro-​shop are closed other than the vague «change of ownership» offered by the staff.
The course itself is 2-​stars, but gets a bump to 3 because of the good twilight rates.

This course is an absolute travesty run by a bunch of clowns. Donald Ross must be rolling over in his grave to see what has become of this course. Recently, the state approved $ 2.6 million to update Leo J and Ponkapoag. I have no idea where this money is going, but it’s certainly not the course. Tee boxes are absolutely bare and there are temporary greens in June!!! How hard is it to plant grass seed?
On top of everything, the driving range is still closed — in June for some bizarre reason. I’m not sure how hard it is to pay some high school /​college kid $ 10 /​hr. to pick up golf balls. Today, there were at least 5 people that must have gone to the range only to realize it was closed. Really? I guess this is where tax dollars go to die. What a shame? Current management needs to retire.

I would give this 0 stars if I could.
First off, I’m not averse to a cheap city-​owned course. But this one sets the bar lower than I’ve ever seen. We played on a Monday evening, in the rain — no less, and started at 5:30. We weren’t allowed the twilight rate of $ 12, and had to pay $ 19 for 9 holes. Still on the cheaper side, but as we soon found out, it wasn’t even worth that.
On the plus side, the fairways are nice and open with few trees or hazards of any real difficulty. It’s very easy to play, and your score should reflect that. I got one of my best scores ever despite the rain and the poor condition of the course.
The greens were the worst I’ve ever seen. Every one of them had bald patches and where there was grass, it was uneven and long in places. The 7^th green was such a disaster that they had temporarily shaved a small circle in the fairway just short of the green and put a pin in the middle. I didn’t even bother putting on it.
The driving range was closed for repairs and wasn’t scheduled to reopen for another month at least (July ’13). The clubhouse was certainly looking a tad rundown as well. However, they were in the middle of construction on the parking lot and cart paths along the clubhouse side of the parking lot. A lot of effort seemed to be going into making it nice for the cars, but no apparent effort was being made to improve the course, clubhouse, or driving range.
To whoever is in charge of Leo J Martin: your course is bad and you should feel badly about it. You are an embarrassment to golf and the local community.

I have to agree with the other reviewers — the course is in terrible shape. They are apparently putting $ 200,000 into a new roof for the clubhouse and parking lot curbing, but nothing into the course itself !!
From tee to green the grass (what there is of it) is terrible. Many of the greens are poor grass, dirt, and aeration plugs. Unchippable and unputtable.
Given the course’s location, good layout with lots of interesting holes, and in the middle of such wealth (Wellesley, Weston, Newton), WHY ISN’T THIS AT LEAST DECENT.
Yes, it’s cheap, but I’ll only play here again if we get bumped off of other courses due to tournaments, as we did today.

The old saying, «you get what you pay for», couldn’t be more true for this course. The course is not in great shape. Two of the holes had make shift greens because the actual greens were under repair. Some of the other greens needed repair, ala sand in them. I first nine holes were okay, though, but when you hit the back nine, balls seeminly just dissapear, even if you hit the fairway straight on. Needless to say, I won’t be back. I’ll save up for my Groupons and play at a much better course.

This is my first review, although it was a pretty close race between hating on this place and Putterham Golf Course, (AKA Robert T Lynch)
I wish there was a 0 star option.
I guess the one star could be given for the fact that this course has potential… it is a Donald Ross course (although he’d be rolling in his grave if he saw it now).
I’m actually impressed at managements ability to keep this course in such terrible shape. There is one cut of grass across the entire property — whether it be the rough, fairway, or green. I guess you could say the green is differentiated by the dirt/​sand mix — really challenges even the easiest of putts!
The entire time I was playing this course I couldn’t help but think what it could be, and how far from that it actually is.
This place sucks. Yes it was $ 30, which in Boston is extremely cheat — but with conditions like this they should be paying me to play.

A poorly maintained course that, while perhaps considered cheap for 18 holes, is still over priced for what you get. The front 9 consists of wide open, straight ahead fairways, while the back 9 amps up the difficulty slightly and adds some woods to lose your ball in. However, crabgrass dominates the fairways and burns cover at least 50% of some greens. There is a good chance that your ball will end up on a dead spot of hardened dirt anytime you tee off. The course wrecks havoc on your score.
That said, the range is usually open and there is plenty of parking. I just can’t justify spending $ 30 when you can travel west a few more miles and pay the same amount for a much higher quality course.

CHEAP GOLF… If your looking for that and keep that in mind you’re fine.
Its 12 dollars for eighteen holes after 4 and you’re not going to get much better than that.
Being a cheap course its obviously very crowded, but moves pretty well once you get out there. Greens are pretty crappy all around (this is really where the course cheapness shows)
Back 9 is much better than the front 9

The only thing going for this gem is the price and layout. Unfortunately the tee boxes are terrible. The dirt is packed so hard that its hard to put a tee in them. The greens are routinely worse than the fairway. They need some new management to turn this course around. It is an embarrassment to Donald Ross.

There are many more meaningful things in the world that would classify as tragic, but for lack of a better word… it is tragic that the custodians of this course have let it get this bad. I have never played a course more neglected. The greens are dirt and crabgrass. Fairways are burnt, bare… dirt. Tee boxes are the same. Mostly dirt. Tough to get a tee in at all. Really really sad that one of the few places normal (not rich) people can play in the area has been so poorly maintained. The only thing we can figure out is that they are letting it go so that enough people will complain and they will get some sort of funding from the city or government or something. Incredibly disappointing. Time for new management.

I played here no less then 3 times a week for about a year after my random dot-​com blew up and told they would be laying me off. In 9 months.
So, I took up golf.
My typical schedule for almost 9 months was work 11 – 2, meet my friend at Leo at 3, and play 18.
As such, I got to know the staff, and the course really well.
The staff is a mixed bag. You have the eager kids, you have the jaded adults. Generally if you need something though they will help you out. The tee police can get a little overzealous sometimes, but the ranger means well.
The course is really 2 courses. The front 9 is an easy, wide open set of long fairways, and a couple quick par 3s. It’s really kind of forgettable.
The back 9 however. Hello there. It’s tucked into the back woods, and is a tight, new england style target golf set of holes. The greens are usually in good shape for the amount of traffic that they get. The geese are –everywhere-​, so bring a horn.
Parking is ample. Usually the people are nice, and it’s a very cheap round of golf.
If you only play 9, play the back 9.

The Leo J. Martin Resort and Spa is and always will be one of the best courses in the Massachusetts.
«A true test of medal, with greens hard and true. All the good players play a fade.» Bobby
«Leo J. Martin is the best Public golf course in Wellesley and Weston» Danny D.
The tee boxes are far from dirt patches; the staff at Leo J. Martin has taken the lead of the USGA and jumped on board their water conservation initiative. Also Leo J. Martin has been a pioneer of bring courses back to their original Donald Ross Design. So next time you tee it up at Leo J. Martin cherish the old school waste bunkers, the rustic tee boxes and embrace the way golf was meant to be played…

It gets 3 stars because it is dirt cheap. Minus a few holes, the greens were in decent shape. I think I rank this course a little better than others just because I played well that day!
It was 30 bucks walking, the lay out is a little strange so there was a good deal of walking between a few holes. Its a muni, so don’t expect a lot. Played there early (9AM ish) on a friday morning so pace was good. Extremely easy to get to (a stone’s throw off of the mass pike), I am definitely adding this course to the rotation.

The course is in really poor shape, with lots of bald patches on the greens. The tee boxes are pretty much torn up; good luck finding a patch of grass to hit off of on them.
But! I do love the driving range here. It’s quiet, and not too busy. You’re hitting off of astroturf mats. The large bucket of balls is on $ 13, which is really the cost of not having an overcrowded range.