It's not easy to find, but the golf experience Louisquisset provides makes up for it

NORTH PROVIDENCE — Driving through the backroads of what Waze was telling me was North Providence, it was really hard to believe I was just going to happen upon a golf course I had only heard of.

When I pulled into the parking lot at Louisquisset Golf Club, there wasn’t a fairway in sight. I was convinced my technology had failed me, because there was no way I was going to find a golf course.

Instead, I found one that is the must-play nine-hole course for 2024.

I knew of Louisquisset from reading scores on the agate page of the Journal back in the day, but I’d have a better chance of making a hole-in-one than telling you what town it was in. Finding the course wasn’t easy, but the nine-hole experience that followed turned into one of the more fun and enjoyable rounds and left me desperate to give Louisquisset another go.

The plans to play came together very last minute. Sitting in my car cooling off after my nine holes at Goddard Park, I got a text from ABC6 Sports Director Nick Coit asking if I wanted to meet him at Louisquisset.

After the fastest yes in recorded history, he asked what time and I had no idea what to tell him because I didn’t know where the course was, never mind was it was in relation to where I was currently at. Waze gave me the answer, so Coit and I agreed to meet at 4.

The drive through the surrounding neighborhoods were surreal. I was in a part of the state I had, to the best of my knowledge, never been remotely close to. I had a very hard time believing a golf course could exist where I was and when Waze directed me to a lot with no green in sight, I was convinced this course no longer existed.

After getting out of the car, I listened for the familiar sounds of golf carts or club smacking a ball. Nothing. I looked up the road, and – about a knockdown wedge away – saw some people dropping clubs off. My investigative journalism senses kicked in and I figured this was, in fact, where Louisquisset was.

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The walk around the clubhouse confirmed it. The second you see the uphill par 4 that’s framed by houses up and down both sides of the fairway, you’re immediately excited to play and terrified about what might happen.  That feeling becomes a theme because, with houses everywhere, it provides a sense of dread on just about every shot. The panic of avoiding damaging homes is a real thing. Knowing you have no liability if you snap hook a drive through someone’s window doesn’t make it go away.

Louisquisset is semi-private and you can find public tee times on their website. The rates vary depending on when and what time you play, but 18 holes with a cart run $49-67 (walking is $35-$42) and nine holes with a cart is $37-$43, with a walk costing you $25-$31.

Normally I walk, but after playing an earlier nine and seeing the hill on No. 1, I decided to jump in a cart for the jaunt with Coit. There isn’t a range at Louisquisset – the nine holes are jammed neatly within an entire neighborhood, after all – but there are hitting mats and that was good enough.

The first hole is a good opener. You can land an airplane on the fairway, but OB left and right (don’t hit out of people’s backyards, heathens) makes it seems a little tighter. The elevated approach shot is fun and it was clear that some course knowledge is key to understand how much extra distance you need to hit the green.

No. 2 was the confidence builder I didn’t know I’d need. It’s a short par 4, but a good 220-yard swing leaves a baby wedge into the green.

Confidence was key for No. 3 because the short par 5 wasn’t your typical three-shot hole. It wasn’t easy as stepping up and ripping driver. You miss left, you’re OB and in someone’s yard; miss right, completely dead. If you can hit something 230 yards with a nice left-to-right shape, you’re gold.

For some reason, the tee shot fit my eye. I pulled driver and hit maybe the best cut I’ll hit all season. Left me with a flush nine iron in and while I didn’t quite flush it – it may or may not have been chunked – I did end up with a smooth 2-putt par.

What Louisquisset lacks in length in more than makes up for in creativity. The course offers three par threes that are three completely different shots – No. 4 is a mid-length shot, No. 5 requires a little more length and No. 8 puts a scoring iron in your hand on a green that’s deceptively small.

The remaining par 4s – Nos. 6, 7 and 9 – are all tough doglegs, or at least they were if you had no clue what you were doing out there. With zero experience on Louisquisset between the two of us, we had no idea what the lines were off the tee or where the shortcuts were at. We were both very mindful of being overaggressive and putting a ball through someone’s back-porch window.

Watching others on the course – who I’m assuming were members – it’s clear there are angles of approach we hadn’t eve though of.

While playing courses that are a bombers’ paradise is fun – especially for someone like me who is long but tends to be wrong off the tee – having to shape shots (or at least attempt to) made for a great afternoon of golf.

The second Coit and I were finished, we both immediately said we had to come back. For players of our caliber – I’m a 12 handicap and Coit is an expert at what he calls “old man golf” – it provided enough of a challenge without leaving either of us feeling like we had to quit the game forever.

But if there was one thing that was going to bring us back, it was the post-round meal at the course’s restaurant, the Pub On One. I ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and when debating over a side, our waitress said the French fries were incredible.

She was not wrong. Maybe it was the hunger pangs after a full day of golf, but these fries – cooked to perfection with just the right about of salt – were the best I’ve ever had. Coit – who was more than pleased with his buffalo wings – and I ate our meal and enjoyed a post-round cocktail, talked golf and work and then tried to come up with an elaborate plan for our next round at the club.

And now that I’ve discovered where in Rhode Island Louisquisset actually is, I’ll be a little more confident when I pull into the lot.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Louisquisset Golf Course is one of Rhode Island's best nine-hole golf courses