Castine Golf Club by Willie Park Jr.

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

Has anyone besides me played the nine hole course by Willie Park Jr. in Castine, Me??

The golf course originally played from the old British fortifications in town which predate the revolutionary war but even with modifications is relatively untouched from it's original 1921 layout.

Lots of fun! Original features include a hard sloping fairway left to right on the first hole to a horizon plateau green,  a fairway depression on the right side of on hole number three from within you are faced with a completely blind shot, an incredibly challenging seventh hole par five dogleg left to a double tier green and a wonderfully hog backed and narrow ninth.

Primitive golf!

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

Best of all, one morning in August I played the course in fog so thick you could not see past 200 yards.

You just drive the ball into the clouds and wander out looking. In mid fairway you can barely see the green but hit and hope. Upon reaching the green, voila!, there you are.

A very different golf experience.

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

I haven't played Castine but I have been a huge advocate of Maine golfn especially the 9 holers.  One of my favorite golf experiences was at Grindstone Neck and I was impressed by what I saw at Blink Bonnie and Abenakee.
You could take a trip to Maine, only play 9 hole courses by the water and struggle to spend $250 total.  Makes you wonder why people in the Northeast travel across the country to play anywhere else in the Summer...

[Tim Martin]

I haven't played Castine but I have been a huge advocate of Maine golfn especially the 9 holers.  One of my favorite golf experiences was at Grindstone Neck and I was impressed by what I saw at Blink Bonnie and Abenakee.
You could take a trip to Maine, only play 9 hole courses by the water and struggle to spend $250 total.  Makes you wonder why people in the Northeast travel across the country to play anywhere else in the Summer...

Geoffrey- York Golf & Tennis is another fun Maine course-1890`s Donald Ross and as an aside Donald`s brother Alex was the first pro of the club.

[Mike Cirba]

Just learned recently that Tarrantine, in Dark Harbor, was designed by James Mackrell, who assisted HC Leeds at Palmetto.

Not sure if this was common knowledge.

[Mike Sweeney]

Just learned recently that Tarrantine, in Dark Harbor, was designed by James Mackrell, who assisted HC Leeds at Palmetto.

Not sure if this was common knowledge.

As I have to be one of the few people in the world who have played both, I really would like to know more info on both courses and who James Mackrell is. We are talking 9 to 1 on the ten round test scale, so something sounds off to me.

[Michael Moore]

I will opine on Castine tomorrow.

Mike Cirba, Joe Bausch, et alia -

What was Alex Findlay's involvement at Tarratine? Was he the last to touch it? His name is usually the first one to come up. It has the same raw feeling as Grindstone Neck.

[Mike Cirba]

Mike/Michael,

I'll see what I can find about Findlay and Tarrantine.

In the meantime, this is from an April 1899 newspaper.   James Mackrell was, I believe (and Tom MacWood will correct me if I'm not ), the assistant pro at Essex.

Apparently Tarrantine had a strong Philadelphia connection through the Biddle's, among others.

How long is the course today?   At the time, it was just under 2,000 yards, 1939 yards to be precise as indicated in an 1898 article.



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[Mike Cirba]

Mike/Michael,

Here's more on Tarrantine from 1899.

[DMoriarty]

It was affordable in Maine in 1916 as well. Here are the Maine pages from the 1916 American Annual Golf Guide.  Doesn't list the designers, but I still might be interesting to some of you.

Note that the "old course" at Terratine had been abandoned and play would commence on the new course that summer.

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

Ok, I really digress now.

Thinking about Maine and Penobscot bay reminds me of a simple poem by Edna Saint Vincent Millay who hailed from those parts...

I really love the Maine coast!


Vacation Song


Shine on me, oh, you gold, gold sun
Smile on me, oh, you blue, blue skies
Sing birds! and rouse the lazy breeze
That, in the shadow sleeping lies,
Calling, "Awaken! Slothful one
And chase the yellow butterflies."

Oh, mower! All the world's at play,-
Leave on the grass your sickle bright;
Come, and we'll dance a merry step
With the birds and leaves and the gold sunlight,
We'll dance til the shadows leave the hills
And bring to the fields the quiet night.

Edna St. Vincent Millay
1907

[David Hargrove]

I have played Castine many times and concur with the comments. At times the greens can be quite inconsistent and slow as expected in such a northern climate, but it does not detract from the experience. It is interesting that the greens built on the ridges (holes 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9) tend to fit well into the landscape whereas the greens on the two par threes (2 and 4) are built up with steep back to front slopes. Those holes and the dogleg par 4 number 5 are very wet at tiimes so their being raised makes sense. The green on the par 5 seventh with an upper tier on the left side and a steep transition to the lower right hand side can be quite challenging, particularly after navigating a very undulating fairway. In recent years they have cleared trees to the right of the 7th green to give a glimpse of the Penobscot Bay. Depending on weather conditions the fairways can be either lush, burned out or some combination.

I have also played Grindstone Neck many times and always enjoy it. The "primitive" nature of the experience is part of the charm as well as the incredible water views from all the holes. There is a wooden bench on the rear of the third tee which has a remarkable view of Frenchman's Bay. Modern technology makes some holes too short but if one leaves the heavy metal iin the bag, the shot qualities improve dramatically.

For those spending time in Maine I would also recommend the ferry ride from Rockland to the Stiles designed 9 hole course in North Haven with an interesting routing with significant elevation changes. There was a great thread a few years back about this course.

These three courses have extemely modest facilities. At Grindstone the pro shop, lockerroom, bag storage and toilets are in a three room cottage with a small sporch out front. At Castine the pro shop is on the second floor of a small white structure with rocking chairs on the narrow porch. Toilet facilites are across the parking lot in the club's main building. North Haven takes the prize as the business part of the facility is one side of a garage.



 

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

I have also played Grindstone Neck many times and always enjoy it. The "primitive" nature of the experience is part of the charm as well as the incredible water views from all the holes. There is a wooden bench on the rear of the third tee which has a remarkable view of Frenchman's Bay. Modern technology makes some holes too short but if one leaves the heavy metal iin the bag, the shot qualities improve dramatically.

For those spending time in Maine I would also recommend the ferry ride from Rockland to the Stiles designed 9 hole course in North Haven with an interesting routing with significant elevation changes. There was a great thread a few years back about this course.

These three courses have extemely modest facilities. At Grindstone the pro shop, lockerroom, bag storage and toilets are in a three room cottage with a small sporch out front. At Castine the pro shop is on the second floor of a small white structure with rocking chairs on the narrow porch. Toilet facilites are across the parking lot in the club's main building. North Haven takes the prize as the business part of the facility is one side of a garage.

David,

We played Grindstone without woods and only carried even numbered irons plus one wedge.  It's amazing how it brought the shot values back into play once you left the driver in the car.  I also remember the third tee like it was yesterday and I have a wonderful picture of the three of us by the bench.  The beauty of the course was definitely augmented by the lack of man-made hazards.  You literally just play through the forest.

Regarding facilities, modern courses might learn a thing or two from their Spartan clubhouses.  That's why they are still operating nearly a hundred years later.

[Mike Sweeney]

I will opine on Castine tomorrow.

??

[Michael Moore]

What did Shakespeare say about "tomorrow"?

Anyway, Castine Golf Club is indeed located well off the beaten path, in an exceedingly charming fishing village turned summer colony. On the morning that I played, a brilliant summer Sunday, there was no one one the course, but the deck of the modest, ultra-traditional clapboard clubhouse was swarming with blue blazered brunchers and their pearl-wearing wives. Surely a wonderful, "throwback" atmosphere, semi-private in the finest sense.

The course is lovely, surprisingly challenging, largely unspoiled. The fourth and fith holes, which take you down to the lowest and wettest points, are a bit of a lull, but the rest is just a bumpy, old-timey, gnarly golf course. The view from the sixth green is one of the greatest in Maine golf.

If you ask nicely they will show you the original Wille Park blueprints, which are in impeccable condition. Eighteen holes here followed by a stroll by the ocean and some lunch is some high-quality tourism.