EDITOR’S NOTE: On Course is a weekly blog by staff writer Cameron Kittle, who has been turning grass into divots since he was 5 years old. The reviews will feature golf courses in Greater Nashua through the summer and into the fall and give readers an idea of the course’s history, layout and conditions.

Many driving ranges have a tall, rickety machine that burps out a few dozen golf balls. They’re just for practice, so players often look the other way when the balls are inevitably cracked or beaten to the core.

But at Sky Meadow Country Club, a private course in Nashua, members are pampered with a different driving range experience. The club’s cleaned and washed practice balls are perfectly stacked in pyramids, just as they are at professional tournaments.

The luxury proved to be the first of many impressive features at Sky Meadow.

The course itself is a gem. Sky Meadow was mapped out by William Amick, a golf architect who has designed about a dozen courses around the world, and it was once ranked by Golf Digest as the state’s No. 1 golf course.

Despite steady rain throughout the week, the holes were still in great condition Saturday afternoon.

The greens were damp and slow but rolled smooth. The rough is light and rarely challenges you to make a full connection, but the bent grass can create odd lies and send the ball spinning off in the wrong direction.

Many of the par-4s and par-3s are reasonably difficult. The course relies on tight fairways to challenge players, more so than distance – just two of the 10 par-4s are longer than 365 yards.

But doglegs left and right or well-placed trees usually prevent a long hitter from capitalizing on the short holes. The same is not true on the course’s four par-5s, though. I made birdies on three of the four and twice reached the green in two shots from the white tees.

The course demands accuracy throughout the round, however, which is how I ended up with six lost balls and a pair of consecutive triple-bogeys on the back nine’s 13th and 14th holes. I finished with a solid 86, 14-over-par, which wasn’t a bad score in wet, muggy conditions.

My playing partners fared much worse, but even during a bad round, there’s plenty to appreciate about Sky Meadow.

The tee at the par-3 second hole sits well above the green and overlooks an impressive New Hampshire landscape. The par-3 11th hole feels a little bit like the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, with an island green and a wooden bridge connecting it to land.

The course has added a few nice touches to certain holes, like the huge boulder sitting by the side of the green at No. 6 or the rock wall right of the fairway on No. 14.

There’s also no rush to drive back to the clubhouse for a bite to eat at the turn because the club has a snack shack built right at the 10th tee. The genius idea speeds up play and keeps hungry golfers happy.

The service provided by the club’s staff members was impressive, too; they were accommodating, friendly and professional.

Obviously, a private golf membership requires significant investment. Sky Meadow wouldn’t disclose how much, but anyone who loves golf and has the money to spend would find it well used at Nashua’s private club along Spit Brook Road.

The pristine pyramids of practice balls alone might be worth a quick look.

Cameron Kittle can be reached at 594-6523 or ckittle@nashuatelegraph.com. Also check out Kittle (@Telegraph_CamK) on Twitter.