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[Ran Morrissett]

Ever since Sand Hills opened, the golfing community has been in love with shaggy bunkers. Yet, the real star of Sand Hills, at least for me, is the topography and the variety of ways that the holes fall across the landforms. Take away the bunkers and the course would look a lot more different than it would play. Here too at Eastward Ho!, its one-of-a-kind topography is the show stealer and there isn't a let-up on the roller-coaster ride that starts right out of the gate at the first. All my favorite courses have central hazards and its the topo rather than bunkers that create these playing dilemmas at Eastward Ho!

The infamous Tom MacWood is the one who brought this course to my attention eight years ago. Of course, he shouldn't have had to as there is a double page honker of an aerial photo of it in Whitten and Cornish's The Golf Course (pages 34-35 in my edition). How I had looked at that spread for many years and never focused in on what a great course it must be is beyond me. In part, it shows how low Eastward Ho! flew under the radar for too many years.

However, it also wasn't the course then that it is now either. Thanks to Keith Foster and Frank Hancock's work here for the past five years, much has been improved. There are a couple of before and after photos comparing the course as it was presented in 2003 vs. how it looked this fall. The one of the fourteenth hole  is a poster for tree removal.

The only knock I can say about the course is that it doesn't always produce the true champion, though Brad Faxon may disagree. Still, there is no better place to lose a match 9 & 8  than Eastward Ho!, provided that you don't stop at the eleventh, which we didn't.

Just look at some of these photographs and see if it doesn't represent one of the grandest settings for a game in all the world. Also, too, I contend its set of one shotters is in the top dozen in the game, a bold claim for sure but can you refute it?!

Cheers,

[JC Urbina]

Ran

Just stopped in yesterday to take a look.  Both Frank and Peter were gracious hosts. Some very interesting greens with very undulating fairways especially 5/6.  I think my favorite holes were 4 and 11. 

Nice place overall.  Glad I stopped in to take a look.

[Mike Sweeney]

Two summers ago I thought it was the best conditioned course that I had played that season. From the pictures it looks like it is even a notch higher.

Spectacular place, great course, perfect conditioning in a low key New England atmosphere. Mayday, what say you!!

[Kyle Krahenbuhl]

Jaw dropping...great write up Ran.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Is this the negative review?
 

Nice work fellas.
What fairways.

What is the right bunker on #10 for?

[Donnie Beck]

Looks like Frank is doing a great job! 
How is this course not ranked higher?

[cary lichtenstein]

I played Eastward Ho once and was so taken by its topography and beauty, much thanks to Ran for his profile, it brought back great memories.

[Sean Arble]

Thank you much for the update.  Fowler has long been one of the archies I most admire and your review outlines why very well.  Do you or anybody know what the story with the bunkering is?  This is the one aspect which jumps out to me as being VERY un-Fowler-like. 

Anyway Ran, thanks.  This review ranks right up there with Myopia as my favourite of yours.

Ciao

[Adam_Messix]

I loved Eastward Ho! when I played there last year.  It's fabulous and does a great job of flying under the radar,.  I can't add too much more to what the others have said about the topography of the property, it's incredible.  I disagree with those who say the finish is weak, as I thought the course had one excellent hole after another. 

[Ronald Montesano]

Ran,
In the tee deck photo you provided, I cannot see the grove of trees left of 18 tee/fairway that you describe as being a key to the extra roll down 18 fairway.  An excellent piece on a marvelously-named and kept club.

[George Freeman]

I was enamored with the original course profile for Eastward Ho!, mostly due to the massive undulations.  This updated profile has me absolutely drooling...What a spectacular and FUN looking golf course!

Thanks for another awesome write-up Ran.

[Sean Leary]

If this course was on Long Island, would it be more highly regarded, maybe like a Maidstone?

I loved it. Can't think of a more ideal summer club.

[Rob Rigg]

Wow - that looks like a really fun course to take on - great to see those classic courses where you have to feel your way around and risk/reward options are available many holes.

Yeah - what is that bunker doing off to the right on 10?

[Kirk Gill]

The colors and textures and shapes - the contours of the playing surface - the lushness of the grass and the beauty of the clubhouse......what a spectacular place.

Thanks, Ran.

[Ronald Montesano]

Quote from Donald Ross from page two of this (http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/columnists/2009/02/gw20090209whitten?currentPage=2) article:

"When Herbert Fowler, the would-be architect, came over to America, the club was better able to build a real course, and instead of giving me a chance they hired him and it was published in all the Boston papers that Fowler was the world's greatest expert. His work proved to be an absolute failure, not only at Dedham but also on every other job where he worked. Now they want me to take up where he left off and if I succeed in doing anything with it, Fowler, and not I, will get the credit."

Did Eastward Ho! exist yet?

[Mike Sweeney]

Here is a pretty good overview of Fowler. I believe it was written by an Eastward Ho! member.

http://www.golfoncapecod.com/CourseReview-EastwardHo.php

[Rich Goodale]

Mike

When the author credits Fowler with:

".........the virtually complete re-design.....of.......Cruden Bay (1911) in Scotland."

I am inclined to discredit the author.

Rich

[Tom MacWood]

Sean
I wonder a bit about those bunkers as well, some look like they're right others a little too stylized. Here is a before after of the 3rd hole....personally I like the cross-bunker.

[Tom MacWood]

I also just noticed there are no trees on the horizon in the early photo. Here is a plan for the course.

[Sean Arble]

Sean
I wonder a bit about those bunkers as well, some look like they're right others a little too stylized. Here is a before after of the 3rd hole....personally I like the cross-bunker.

Tommy Mac

Thank you! It looks like there was a bit of a compromise with the 3rd.  The cross bunker taken out, but the right bunker moved in tighter to play.  I like both versions though the style of the bunkering in the old photo looks more like Fowler.  That said, this guy never ceases to amaze me.  Even the bunkering in the old pic has enough difference from his UK bunkering in both placement and style which seems to support that Fowler really was able create a different look and feel for all his courses.  I have never known anyone to be quite so unique in this way. 

Ciao

[Patrick Hodgdon]

Um wow.... when is the GCA get together at Eastward Ho!??

[Adam Sherer]

I also just noticed there are no trees on the horizon in the early photo. Here is a plan for the course.

The property was originally a farmland (contrary to the original GCA.com post saying [paraphrase] "the course was carved out of the woods").  I remember seeing some old photos of the property (prior to the golf course's existence) while perusing a book store in Chatham that clearly showed the land was more or less devoid of trees at the turn of the century.

Seeing current pics of the course (since I have not been back to EH! since working on the restoration project 5 years ago) makes me appreciate how talented Keith Foster really is!  Furthermore, Frank Hancock has turned a "hidden gem" of a course on the Cape into a "crown jewel" of American golf!

[Bill_McBride]

Quote from Donald Ross from page two of this (http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/columnists/2009/02/gw20090209whitten?currentPage=2) article:

"When Herbert Fowler, the would-be architect, came over to America, the club was better able to build a real course, and instead of giving me a chance they hired him and it was published in all the Boston papers that Fowler was the world's greatest expert. His work proved to be an absolute failure, not only at Dedham but also on every other job where he worked. Now they want me to take up where he left off and if I succeed in doing anything with it, Fowler, and not I, will get the credit."

Did Eastward Ho! exist yet?

Wow, I have never heard that Ross was capable of such a spiteful comment!  He was a pretty sore loser in this case.

[Tom_Doak]

I toured Eastward Ho! this summer and thought it was spectacular, and I was bummed I didn't have the chance to play it right then.  It's on my short list of places to get back to.

It is a stunningly beautiful site, but I would have to reserve judgment on the course until I played it.  I am sure Ran mentioned it somewhere in his review, but the course is barely 6300 yards from all the way back, and I am sure that's the principal reason it has evaded the top 100 lists for so long.  Additionally, the fairway contours may be the most severe I have EVER encountered -- that's a pretty strong statement -- and I'm sure that some guys wind up hating the course because their "perfect" drive hits into a crest and rolls backward thirty yards, or way down a hill to a place they never imagined, and they feel like they got screwed.  There is a lot of potential for that at Eastward Ho!

However, I can't imagine that anyone could have done a more interesting routing for the site or taken better advantage of the natural features that are there.  It just doesn't add up to a comfortable yardage and a lot of conventional shots.

[Bill_McBride]

I'm sure that some guys wind up hating the course because their "perfect" drive hits into a crest and rolls backward thirty yards, or way down a hill to a place they never imagined, and they feel like they got screwed.  There is a lot of potential for that at Eastward Ho!

Worse than #6 at Crystal Downs?      I didn't get to the top there and my tee shot must have rolled back 50-60 yards!  This was in July.

I have really liked Fowler's courses I played in England - Delamere Forest and Beau Desert - and Eastward Ho! sounds even more interesting.

[Tom_Doak]

Bill:

Yes, that hole at Crystal Downs is pretty severe ... I just got back from walking up it on a lovely fall day with my dog. 

Eastward Ho! does remind me of the Downs in some respects ... but it's even shorter, and there are perhaps twice as many holes where slopes like that come into play.  It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea ... even the Downs is not.

[Bill_McBride]

That's okay, I'll try to made do with the occasional round at Crystal Downs!

Those old courses are so fascinating and fun at the same time, it's too bad most modern architects can't or won't build courses like that.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

This great course only needed proper turf  when I played there and thankfully it has now. What a wonderful place.

[Ed Oden]

I finally got around to reading this entire profile beginning to end.  Eastward HoMyGod!  It looks to be a place impossible not to love.  Ran, this may very well be your best course profile ever, which is saying something. 

Ed

[Bill Rocco]

Ronald,

When looking at the article on Donald Ross' quote on Herbert Fowler it was dated 1923, one year after the establishment of Eastward Ho! Country Club (a different name at the time). Eastward Ho! Country Club is a special place that is among the best on the East Coast. I have played it many times and can say without question it is better to drive the ball in the right spot as opposed to hitting it as far as you can. It was noted that it is around 6300 , butmany times you are into a wind that can be very gusty making it difficult to figure out yardage, and the push up greens have many false fronts making it necessary to be accurate off the tee and with your irons.