Old Sandwich Golf ClubPlymouth, MABill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, 2004
It's been quite a while since I have done one of these tours on this board. In fact, I believe the last was a tour of Boston Golf Club I posted nearly a year ago. But after a recent round at Old Sandwich at the peak of fall, I thought that the many fans of the work of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw on this board, and fans of New England golf in general, might like a look at this terrific course. All of the photos in this tour were taken by me on October 20, 2016, with the club's permission to shoot and share. I hope you enjoy the tour.Old Sandwich Golf Club
Boston is rightly regarded as one of the five best metropolitan areas in the United States for quality golf. Despite the relatively short season, the greater Boston area is blessed with more than a dozen bucket list golf courses, including classic gems like
Myopia Hunt Club, The Country Club at Brookline, Essex County Club, Salem Country Club,
Eastward Ho Country Club, Charles River Country Club, and Kittansett Club among others.
Any modern architect working in the Boston area faces the challenge of designing a course that will inevitably be measured and compared to these venerable courses, which were built by Golden Age titans with names like Donald Ross, William Flynn, Herbert Fowler and Herbert Leeds. Such is the tall task that faced Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in the early 2000s. Suffice it to say, these two gentleman, as they have so often done, rose to the occasion with gusto.
The result is a masterpiece incorporating the best traditions of the game -- huge, undulating fairways; natural hazards affording all manner of heroic recoveries; greens and green complexes that hold interest in round after round; and firm, fast conditioning permitting players to play the type of shots they choose. Soon after completing their work, Coore and Crenshaw said about the course, "Through time, we hope that Old Sandwich will be viewed as a compliment to its beautiful surroundings, to golf in general, and to the long and storied tradition of golf course architecture in Massachusetts." Twelve years later, it's clear they succeed.
The Golf Course
A round at Old Sandwich begins with a walk out of the gorgeous clubhouse, nicely attired in stone and wood, and a walk along a sandy path across a bridge spanning a serene pond.
From the clubhouse, nearly the entire course is hidden from view, but as one makes his way across the pond, the first tee comes into view.
Notably, there are no water hazards on the course at Old Sandwich. How many architects working today would have routed a course on this site to finish with a "heroic" carry over this pond to a green in the shadow of the clubhouse, perhaps while sacrificing the flow and playability of the golf course? Credit to Coore & Crenshaw for putting quality golf first.
Hole 1 - 531 yards - Par 5The round begins with a true gentleman's handshake - on his first shot of the day, the player is greeted with a massive fairway and a gently uphill par-5 of reasonable length.
Although the fairway is quite large, the player must nevertheless pay attention to positioning, as a tee shot which strays too far left may find himself bunkered (hidden by shadow in the photo below) or out of position for a layup.
For the player's second shot, the two fairway bunkers to the right draw the eye and focus, but the cant of the fairway will direct indifferent shots into the less-prominent but no less dangerous bunkers running the left of the fairway.
The green at the first is a true work of art. Open across the entire width of its mouth, running approaches are welcomed at this green, but care must be taken to account for the steep false front on the left...
... as well as the bunkering bordering the left side and left rear. Note the many appealing pin positions on this large green.
This bunker on the right side of the green is hidden from view on most approaches, while the green itself blends wonderfully into its surroundings.
Hole 2 - 403 yards - Par 4At this par-4, the primary objective off the tee is avoiding the center-fairway bunker complex. The more aggressive right hand side leaves a shorter approach, but forces the player to confront the right-hand fairway bunkers. Left is easier, but leaves a longer approach. Finally, the player may elect to lay up short of the bunkers, but faces a long and difficult approach. Choices like this are everpresent at Old Sandwich.
Regardless of the route chosen, execution is key. Anything in the center traps is essentially a one-stroke penalty.
The elevated green, tightly mown surrounds, and firm conditions make this approach particularly interesting. This bunker sits some 20 feet below and to the left of the putting surface, but an approach that comes up just inches short of the green is in real danger of rolling back into it, leaving an extremely tough third.
This view of the second green from the third fairway affords perspective and shows the movement of the landscape.
Putting from beyond the pin at the second is a frightening proposition; chipping from behind the green is even worse. A stout hole.
Hole 3 - 450 yards - Par 4This long par-4 plays shorter than its yardage on the card due to the fact that it is typically downwind, but it is nevertheless a challenging hole.
As the hole doglegs left, the best line is down the right side, but the right is guarded by several menacing bunkers. Any ball finding these pits will also find it nearly impossible to reach the green.
Once past the bunkers, the fairway opens considerably and falls off into a depression short and right of the green. The green itself is one of the best at Old Sandwhich -- its many elements include a false front short right followed by a large, slightly-domed area, followed by a swale cutting across the surface horizontally, followed finally by a back right tier on which today's pin is placed.
A bunker wraps around behind the green from the left. Given the slope of the green, this bunker is a common result when the pin is back.
The hazards protecting the left side of the green make an approach favoring the safer right side attractive, but beware the pot-like bunker long right, as it is a truly brutal hazard. An excellent golf hole with options abound.
Hole 4 - 209 yards - Par 3The first one-shot hole at Old Sandwich, and a beauty. As is often the case at Old Sandwhich, looks here can be deceiving, as the view from the tee leads the golfer to believe that he has less room and more carry than he actually does due to the slight rise in the landscape and the framing bunker left, which prevent a perfect view.
However, as this elevated view shows, there is ample room on this hole to land short of the green and bounce a ball on to the putting surface, as well as room to play left away from the deep greenside bunkers.
In following the natural contour of the landscape, the huge green feeds gently from front to back, while the high left shoulder allows players to use the ground to feed shots into pins on the right side.
Hole 5 - 336 yards - Par 4Generally considered the signature hole at Old Sandwich, the fifth is a stunner and a unique hole in American golf.
A short, cape-style par-4, the hole presents the golfer with an incredibly rumpled, elevated fairway moving left to right. The sight of this fairway is one that a golfer does not soon forget.
The fairway on this hole will both direct well-hit, aggressive tee shots toward the green and with the potential to reach the green in one. However, as is always the case with a well-designed cape, the higher the reward sought, the greater the risk taken. And any shot that fails to carry the chosen line is dead.
As noted above, the fairway mounding can both redirect ideal shots to the green while also presenting a difficult, uneven lie on approach for more conservative tee shots.
Looking back toward the fairway, the elegance of the transition to putting surface is revealed, as the fairway bleeds seamlessly into the green.
As this elevated view from behind the green reveals, there are plenty of ways to get yourself in trouble on this hole, but also plenty of ways to play the hole which will result in a good score.
The key to scoring well on the fifth is knowing one's own abilities and limitations, choosing a line that fits within those criteria, and executing one's chosen strategy. And isn't that what golf is supposed to be?
A brilliant rendition of a modern risk-reward hole.
Hole 6 - 562 yards - Par 5The second three-shot hole at Old Sandwich is the longest on the course, and requires an uphill tee shot and carry over gunch to an elevated fairway turning right to left. This corner of the course is one of the prettiest spots on the property.
The fairway is guarded on both sides by deep fairway bunkering. The right bunkers (out of frame) catch tee shots on an overly conservative line, while a pot bunker in the middle of the fairway complicates the second shot.
The green is tiered from front to back, and contains ridges running both vertically and horizontally, which effectively quarter the putting surface.
When looking back at the fairway, the golfer is likely to be surprised at just how much elevation he has scaled while playing the hole.
Hole 7 - 391 yards - Par 4The seventh is yet another standout hole at Old Sandwich renowned for its uniqueness. From the tee, most of this dogleg left par-4 is visible, including the green and the pin, although much of the interest surrounding the green remains hidden.
From the fairway, the incredible greensite is revealed in full.
Sitting elevated in a lake of sand, the green functions as an island, repelling poorly struck approaches into the surrounding sand.
The green is deeper than it appears from the fairway, offering ample room for shots struck on the appropriate line.
Easily one of the prettiest greensites in golf.
And in full fall color...breathtaking.
Hole 8 - 379 yards - Par 4The eighth is a transition hole, transporting the golfer from the seventh green to the ninth tee, where a run of spectacular golf begins anew. The canted fairway tilting opposite of the hole's direction adds an element of difficulty here.
Mounding to the left protects and obscures the left side of this green and makes judging distance difficult.
The bunkerless green appears to have been mowed directly from the fairway, so perfectly does it blend with its surroundings.
Hole 9 - 131 yards - Par 3This gorgeous little one-shotter plays to a large but multi-tiered green isolated in a sandy basin. Bunkers guard on all sides.
While hitting this green is no easy feat, neither is doing so any guarantee of a two-putt par.
The back portion of this green shunts balls into this nasty bunker, or to a tightly mown area adjacent to the green. Neither is an ideal spot for recovery.
A birdie is a possibility here, but any player should be pleased to escape this little beauty with a par.
