How Good Is Kittansett?

[John Blain]

A friend and I are headed over to Kittansett Club to play in the U.S. Senior Open qualifier in a couple of weeks. Neither of us have ever played there and we won't be able to play a practice round. The only thing we know about the place is that it has a reputation as a terrific course and a venerable old club. What really piqued our interest though was the fact that they hosted the 1953 Walker Cup matches.

How good is it and what should we expect?

Thanks for any and all replies.

-John

[Jeff Taylor]

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/kittansett/

[Mark McKeever]

Kittansett is a very special place and If youre playing a competitive round, you may not need to use your driver a whole lot.  There is a premium for position off the tee on several holes.  Corridors are generally fairly wide, but the make sure you know if there is fairway on the other side of a bunker before trying to hit over it.  There  are a couple holes out there where I hit a good tee shot and found myself in the rough in a bad lie.  If the wind picks up (which it probably will) the course will really start to show its teeth. 

Below is the link to a thread I started a while back.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50568.0.html

Mark

[Brad Tufts]

Hi John,

It is really good.  Even though you will not be in "smell the flowers" mode during the qualifier, it will still be a treat to play.

It's a very lay-of-the-land design with some built-up greens and mounding here and there.  The highlights are at either end of the course, as holes 1-4 and 16-18 play in the open windswept meadow near the clubhouse at the end of the point of land.  The middle parts were underwhelming the first time I saw the course, but upon a second play I realized they are nearly as good as the open holes.  The wooded parts rely on strategy where the open holes rely more on the wind to provide the challenge.

Good luck in the qualifier!

-Brad

[John Foley]

World class! I think its a tremendous place - Idylic setting - strategy galore - the par 3's are my favorite -

Here is a detailed tour I did a few years back - Hanse's work there is fantastic

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35681.0.html

[Paul Jones]

I got to play it once and remember most of the holes, if not all.  It is a special place and I agree with earlier post, position is more important then length. 

[Dan_Callahan]

I was just talking to a friend about how great Kittansett is. Out of the however many hundreds of courses I've played, Kittansett is my favorite, ahead of Newport, The Country Club, Pebble, Yale and Ekwanok. If the wind is blowing, you'll have your hands full.

[Sean_A]

Gosh, the pix of Kit remind me a ton of the many wonderful 2nd tier courses in England!

Ciao

[jeffwarne]

On the ferry right now for an am round

[Tim Martin]

On the ferry right now for an am round

When you said ferry I didn't know that was your destination. Enjoy!

[Eric Pevoto]

Such a cool place. Strong par 3's. Interesting routing and sequence options with the winter start at #10. By the end of my only round there the wind was howling. Dead into, #17 was a "bunt it under the wind" situation. 18 and 1 basically share a fairway (divided by a very narrow ditch) and that width came in handy with the strong crossing gusts.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Kittansett or Eastward Ho!?

Question follow up - From photos, Gil Hanse appears to have done a brilliant job on vegetation clearing, grasses and general aesthetics at Kittensett.... But would it be a fair assumption to say that Eastward Ho! has much more integral strategy and interest in the rolls of the land?

Either way, both look amazing so just trying to split hairs... Which set of greens hold more interest?

[Mark McKeever]

I would call the greens a draw between the two courses.  Both have very strong sets of greens.  Eastward Ho! is blessed with some of the most dramatic east coast land forms I have ever seen.  The rolling nature of the property is simply phenomenal.

Mark

[Brad Tufts]

I really like both, but Kittansett is championship length, and EH is not.

Of course we are splitting hairs, but I could see a low marker liking Kittansett more, and the higher marker preferring E-Ho.

[Mark McKeever]

Brad,

Are you saying that a shorter course is not as good?

Mark

[jeffwarne]

It's very good and currently VERY hard,with knee high fescue everywhere  including all bunkers.
Something to consider when hitting out of rough particularly over or anywhere near a bunker.
Could definitely lose a ball on any swing.
Very windy today and playing very long with all the rain of the last week.
Excellent course, but I prefer  the terrain and variety of Eastward Ho-I guess that means I'm not a low marker

[Pete Lavallee]

I've had the good fortune to play the course before and after Gil's renovation. The elderly member who I played with after the renovation was one of the many mambers who didn't like the introduction of the tall fescue on bunker lips and in out of play areas; they couldn't cut across from greens to tees in certain areas because of it. It definetly ratchets up the difficulty. Flynn, or Hood, were smart in keeping the greens on the holes exposed to the wind fairly flat; the only greens with real movement are in the interior of the course where wind is not as big a factor. The site is dead flat but dotted with numerous mounds created by piling the many rocks deposited by glaciers, and covering them with turf. They are much more penal now that they are topped with 2' tall fescue. The course appears easy from a look at the card and in person but rarely plays that way. Marion isn't the sailing capitol of Cape Cod for nothing! I often wonder if this is what brought George Thomas to the area to design Marion Golf Club, just down the road. Competitors should take the time to have a look at the Captain's first design effort. It's definetly steeple chase architecture, with all  hazards either perpendicular or parallel to the line of play. Lots of rock mounds covered with turf there as well. Even a few stone walls fronting the greens. It's only 9 holes and could be toured in 1/2 hour easily.

[jeffwarne]

Pete,
It didn't "appear" easy to me on the card or in person but as I said, high wind and sloppy conditions (and more rain forecast).

It killed me to drive by Little Marion and not stop-was rushing to catch a return ferry.
Played it last time I was at Kittansett-neat spot

[John Blain]

I am back from the USGA Senior Open qualifier at Kittansett and my overall thought about the course is that it just blew me away! From reading the posts on this thread I knew it was going to be good but quite honestly I had no idea just how good! It was just unreal. Tough but fair and very playable. The qualifier had 84 players for 2 spots (!) so it was actually a one-round shootout. It was an idyllic day and the views were just spectacular. On a perfect day with a benign set-up and not a real a real strong wind only one player shot par (71) and there was a 3 for 1 playoff at 2 over par 73. I can't imagine what the scores would have been like if the wind had really blown.

Certainly one of the best I have ever played and hard for me to believe it is only ranked 84th on the GD Top 100 list. Maybe not as good as Shinnecock but I would certainly put it ahead of Newport.

I never enjoyed shooting 83 more in my life

[jeffwarne]

I am back from the USGA Senior Open qualifier at Kittansett and my overall thought about the course is that it just blew me away! From reading the posts on this thread I knew it was going to be good but quite honestly I had no idea just how good! It was just unreal. Tough but fair and very playable. The qualifier had 84 players for 2 spots (!) so it was actually a one-round shootout. It was an idyllic day and the views were just spectacular. On a perfect day with a benign set-up and not a real a real strong wind only one player shot par (71) and there was a 3 for 1 playoff at 2 over par 73. I can't imagine what the scores would have been like if the wind had really blown.

Certainly one of the best I have ever played and hard for me to believe it is only ranked 84th on the GD Top 100 list. Maybe not as good as Shinnecock but I would certainly put it ahead of Newport.

I never enjoyed shooting 83 more in my life

JP,
a good friend of mine and former coworker(Mark Costaregni) was medalist and will now be playing in the US Senior Open
I played with a guy who had a 2 and a 1/2 footer for 72 (and what would've been the second spot) Chose not to mark after a good lag first putt.
Never came close to touching the hole, and sadly he lost in the playoff and did not even make alternate.  

When 84 guys tee off and 73 is second low, and only a one-two club wind,you've got a tough setup-lots of 2 foot high fescue surrounding cross bunkers, and greenside bunkers made many shots white knuckle. I missed a green by 5 yards and chose to hit a provisional.
I will say the setup caused me to play quite conservative and I hit 8 drivers, 5 five 3 woods and a five wood off the driving holes.
managed to hit 14 greens(a lot for me) but had 4 three putts from reasonable range(very unusual as well ) to shoot 77
There's golf, and then there's tunamint golf
.
Scores were incredibly high, in fact the highest scores I've seen for nearly any event I've played in on a reasonable day, although to be fair it was my Senior debut .

A great golf course,in marvelous condition, but with the current super healthy fescue setup well inside the fairway and greenside lines of play, I'd guess some of the members do a fair amount of grumbling.

Played Little Marion on the way out-a fair amount of quirk and interesting greens, but not quite as interesting as I remember......

[John Blain]

Jeff-

I saw your name on the tee sheet and was hoping to meet you but you know how that goes

Very sad story about you fellow competitor missing the little one that would have gotten him in CLEAN!! But anyone who has played tournament golf can feel for the guy. No one misses those on purpose, it's what they call pressure! By the way, I thought the greens putted beautifully and were at a speed where you could have holed a lot of putts if you were having a good day. Not overly fast but very smooth. I thought the MGA did a nice job setting up the course. They could have set that place up where anything under 80 would have been a really good score. A friend of mine who had played the course many times summed it up best when he said to me "Kittansett is an awesome club and course, you just don't want to have to post a score there!"

You make a good point about the fescue. I am guessing that it is an older membership club and I have to believe there is, as you say, grumbling about the severity. I am not sure it would have quite the allure if that grass was mowed down.

BTW- My friend who came with me (and also played in the qualifier) and I played Marion GC on Wednesday afternoon and quite honestly we were both disappointed. I am not sure what we were expecting but neither one of us can honestly say we enjoyed it.

-John

[Pete Lavallee]

BTW- My friend who came with me (and also played in the qualifier) and I played Marion GC on Wednesday afternoon and quite honestly we were both disappointed. I am not sure what we were expecting but neither one of us can honestly say we enjoyed it.

-John

You don't go to play"Little Marion" because it's good, it's to try and figure out how Captain Thomas went from this rudimentary steeple chase architecture in 1914 to designing some of the finest strategic golf courses the world has ever seen in the 1920's! Was it his trip to the UK when he commmanded his Air Squadron, or collaborating on Pine Valley that truely opened his eyes?