Hyannisport, Kittansett, Sankaty Head

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Just looking for some information about the courses above.

I know a bit about Kittansett from the write up in the Coures By Country, but also looking for some info about the surrounding area.

Any information about the courses at Hyannisport and Sankaty Head and the area aournd those clubs would be greatly appreciated. (during the summer season)

thanks-
Mike

[SPDB]

Any information about the courses at Hyannisport and Sankaty Head and the area aournd those clubs would be greatly appreciated. (during the summer season)

thanks-
Mike

The courses are nice, the surrounding areas (Hyannisport and MV) are a dump. Seriously, lock the doors.

[Anthony Butler]

Seriously, lock the doors.

He's just kidding, Hyannisport is a very safe town except on "pants optional' Night at the Kennedy compound. [Insert your own joke here]

[Michael Moore]

SPBD -

I am issuing you 50 WASP demerits for placing Sankaty Head on Martha's Vineyard.

[cary lichtenstein]

Of the 3, I haven't played Hyannisport.

You will enjoy both Kittanseitt and Sankaty Head, which is on Nantucket.

Others to play if youhave access are:


Boston:

Myopia Hunt Club-wonderful
Charles River-ditto

Cape Cod:

Eastward Ho-very special

[TEPaul]

M Shea:

I played Hyannisport in the Lesley Cup for a few days last fall and I think I posted a thread on it (probably called "Hyannisport"). At the Lesley the year before which was the centennial of the Lesley Cup at GCGC they told me definitely don't miss the tournament the following year at Hyannisport and they sure were right about that.

It's an unusual little course and this fall the maintenance meld was just about dead on ideal with a ton of wind and really firm and fast conditions.

Their famous "marsh shot" is something I've never seen before in golf and it's pretty interesting. The best holes I would describe as "quirky good".

The sole recommendation I have for the course is they really do need to take down the trees on the right corner that totally blind the second shot on #16.

The sunset from that clubhouse is one of the widest I've ever seen in all my days.

Sankety Head is sort of old fashioned cool. It makes you feel like you've been thrown way back in time.

Kittansett is very different as a course---a most interesting routing when you start thinking about it and all the ways you could play it in various little "sets". It's also a great example of golf architecture that had to be "built up". The reason for that is the unusually high water table and the fact the course is basically on a lot of underlying rock.

If you can see Myopia do. It very well may've been America's first good golf course and for that reason alone it's a can't miss deal.

[SPDB]

SPBD -

I am issuing you 50 WASP demerits for placing Sankaty Head on Martha's Vineyard.

Ha! looks like I was in too much of a rush to throw out a sarcastic answer. But wait a second, I had heard that coastal erosion had caused Sankaty Light and the surrounding area to separate from Siasconset only to reattach itself to Chappaquiddick. True?

[Dave_Miller]

 season)

 -
Mike

The courses are nice, the surrounding areas (Hyannisport and MV) are a dump. Seriously, lock the doors.

Sean:
Before you say lock the doors you should find out where the courses are.
Sankaty Head is in Nantucket
Best
Dave

[Brad Tufts]

Blasphemy...all of you...

All are bastions of bluebloodedness...

Kittansett is well-known as a Flynn course and top 100 layout.  I have only played it once, and it is a very natural and old-school.  Holes 1-3, 16-18 are in view of the ocean, with #3 playing over it to an incredibly unique island green in the beach sand.  Hole 4 brings you into the coastal forest, and you do not emerge until #16.  Bunkers are natural, with fescued-edges, and approach shots are to smallish greens that alternate between flat and severely-sloped.  When the wind is up, a very tough test at about 6600-6700 yards.

I have not played Hyannisport or Sankaty, but here is what I know....

Hyannisport is well known in Mass. golf for three things, the Kennedys, the Seagulls tournament in November (I think), a fourball played in all manners of awful weather, think Bandon in Jan-March, and as an oft-host of the Cape Cod Amateur.  It plays along the ocean, much of it in tidal marsh form.

Sankaty is a very natural course located on Nantucket.  It is named for Sankaty Head, the part of the island it's on, including the lighthouse of the same name nearby.  It was designed by Skip Wogan (the architect of my home course of Tedesco, and the pro at Essex CC after D. Ross).  Apparently it plays through a very links-like landscape, with gorse (probably not the actual stuff) and long grass throughout.  The course is also wide open and VERY affected by the wind.  Apparently the course is accessible off-season (outside of June 1-Oct. 1) to non-members with a tee-time call, which is something I will have to do one of these days.  

For comparison with other courses I have played, I put Kittansett on about an equal level with Myopia and Essex, with TCC, Brae Burn, Winchester, and CR a half-step below, and Tedesco, Woodland, Plymouth, etc. a half step below those....

-Brad

[M. Shea Sweeney]

great stuff so far, exactly what I am looking for.

TEpaul and the rest-

If you could spend some time playing the courses that have been discussed above (Hyannisport, Kittansett, Sankaty Head, Myopia) which would you go for. Everything included, not just golf course, but most importantly the golf course.

ps. this has absolutley nothing to do with a membership question.

-Mike

[SPDB]

M. Shea:

I'll be serious now and will post at a more decent hour prior to indulging in a few bottles of burgundy (hence the oversight on Sankaty, which i've played a couple of times).

But are you looking at these clubs just for golf or rather for a potential summertime destination for you (and your family?). If the latter is the case than Marion, Hyannis and Nantucket are very, very different spots. The golf courses are probably in the order I have them above, but Sankaty is a pretty special spot (with a notoriously long waiting list, even with connections) and may be the equal of H-port b/c of its location up and around the bluff. I also think it might be worthwhile to play this one while you can as it surely bound to be redesigned in the future. Siasconset and the Sankaty bluff is experiencing massive coastal erosion, which will ultimately require movement of the 5th hole. As it stands now, I've heard that they've had to move the Sankaty Light off the bluff inward toward the course.

Its nice seaside golf, but I think Nantucket GC next door has a little more interest.

[Dave_Miller]

Blasphemy...all of you...

All are bastions of bluebloodedness...

 -Brad

Brad:
You must be dreaming  BlueBloods at Kittansett
Cannot be true
Best
Dave