WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  -- For the sixth consecutive year, the Taconic Golf Club, home to both the Ephs' men's and women's golf teams, has been ranked No. 2 nationally by Golfweek magazine.

 

The Taconic Golf Club has been ranked behind top-ranked The Course at Yale University in each of the last six years.

Taconic Golf Club was last ranked first among the nation's top college courses in 2010 when The course at Yale was ranked No. 2

 

The top four ranked courses by Golfweek in 2016 remain the same as in 2015: The Course at Yale, Taconic, University Ridge Golf Club in Veriona, Wis., and the Rawls Course at Texas Tech.

 

The layout at Taconic is picturesque and challenging and plays at 6,808 yards from the back black tees and 6,410 from the gold tees with par being 71.

 

Designed in 1927 the Taconic Golf Club underwent a substantial renovation in 2009.

 

In July of 2016 Taconic hosted the 108th Massachusetts State Amateur Championship and in 1999 Taconic hosted the NCAA Men's Division III Championship.

 

Entering his fifth season as the head coach of the Williams men's golf team and head pro at Taconic, Josh Hillman, fully appreciates where he gets to teach and coach golf.

 

"As just the fourth head Williams men's golf coach and head golf professional here at Taconic you get the feeling that tradition is very deep," Hillman said. "Having just hosted the Massachusetts State Amateur this past July you can see how important major tournaments are here. However, one of the best events of the year is our Williams College Men's Fall Invitational. We have 25 teams come in from all over the Northeast and they all love playing Taconic. Every one of those students remembers playing at the Taconic Golf Club. It truly is a special place."

 

Tomas Adalsteinsson enters his first year as the head coach of the Ephs' women's team and he shared his first reaction to seeing and playing Taconic.

 

"My first impression of Taconic is the course's mature design in the beautiful rolling hills of the Purple Valley," Adalsteinsson said. "Each hole offers a unique challenge and players need to know where on the green to aim their approach shot. The challenges are not always so obvious, so course knowledge is a huge advantage. The third hole is a good example as a driver off the tee can easily get you in trouble on both sides of the fairway, and stopping the ball on the wrong side of the hole can really test your speed control with the putter.

 

"The reason players need to think about where to place every shot makes Taconic a fantastic practice course, and it helps us prepare for competition. When I played my first round the course was in pristine condition, so a shout out to Jim Easton and his staff for their work on helping maintain Taconic as one of the best campus courses in the U.S."

 

Hillman echoed Adalsteinsson's assessment of the condition of Taconic today noting, "Taconic is in the best condition it has ever been in. Jim Easton and his staff have done a fantastic job in grooming the course and every one who plays a round notices.

 

"Taconic Golf Club is probably my best recruiting tool outside of the college itself. Ranked  No. 2 annually speaks to a lot of students' interest. It is also only a 10-minute walk from anywhere on campus, not many college courses of this caliber can say that. Not only are we ranked No. 2 in best college courses but we are consistently ranked top 100 in the country."

 

The Taconic Golf Club is ranked highly among college courses and it has also been ranked highly by Golf Magazine, which has Taconic rated the No. 1 public course in Massachusetts and No. 39 on its list of the Top 100 courses you can play across the nation. Additionally, the Boston Globe has Taconic at the top of its list of courses in the state for scenic beauty.