I can chime in here as I grew up in Scituate (even though I now live in New Zealand) and know all about the history of this project. The site of the course is the old Boston Sand & Gravel Company's quarry which sat there for years and years doing nothing but serving as a public eyesore.
From their website:
Built on the site of an abandoned 100-acre gravel quarry formerly owned and operated by the Boston Sand & Gravel Company, the landscape had been altered and scared by many years of gravel mining—which provided among its many destinations the gravel used in the construction of both the Southeast Expressway and the runway expansion at Logan International Airport.
The excavation of sand and gravel here over the years was so great, in fact, that Scituate, Massachusetts, was once ranked as the #1 port of export in the world, based on tonage.
The "pits" as it was known, presented the Town of Scituate with a unique opportunity to transform this ecologically impoverished eyesore and public nuisance into an aesthetically pleasing, 18-hold public golf course, while maintaining and protecting its uncommon habitat and wildlife.
From the outset, the design and construction of "America’s first environmental demonstration project" represented a significant challenge to the Town fathers and Ohio-based architect Mike Hurdzan. A links-type course built adjacent to the scenic and historic North River Basin, and within view of the Atlantic Ocean, Widow’s Walk Golf Course is laid out to fit among the site’s natural resources, special plant and animal communities, a town drinking water well, steep slopes and abutting neighborhoods, all of which considered in its design.
As you can see from the pic the course is very constrained. I could go on and on about the politics involved in getting this course built but suffice it so say that it is a miracle that it exists considering the vehement opposition from the town's greenies. What's the old saying "a camel is a horse designed by committee". Well this golf course is the result of the town fathers having to deal with the maze of local town politics. One has to remember that this site sat as an open sand pit for 40 odd years before the political will finally arrived to get something done.
Immediately to the south of the course sits some 50-odd acres of prime land that could have been used to make this course truly world class. Alas it was controlled by the town's Conservation Commission and getting them to give up the land was always going to be a huge hurdle. That combined with the cost of tunnelling under the dividing road was just too much to deal with.
To the southeast of the course you can see the private 9-hole Scituate Country Club and just 3 miles to the north lies the private 18-hole Hatherly Country Club so you can just imagine the ammunition the greenies had in saying what do we need another golf course for?
Immediately to the west of the golf course is a capped landfill.
All in all I would have to say that this course is a success in that it exists at all. It provides the town with revenue, tourist dollars, and a public course where the locals can have a hit without having to pay the private fees. Architecturally the only thing you could call it is crammed because that is what it is. There are however some very fun and interesting holes. The whole "environmental" label the course earned was really just a lever to keep the bird-watching greenies at bay.
If Mike Keiser had owned all this land then no question there would sit a great, great golf course on this site as there are some incredible vistas but it is a town municipal golf course and I can't think of too many other munies that could compete with it.