Cedar Bank Links (Cape Cod national seashore)

[Ronald Montesano]

This appeared on the PlayMassGolf X/Twitter feed today, and it boggled my mind.

https://twitter.com/PlayMassGolf/status/1762923704852308419/photo/1

[Chris_Blakely]

Cedar Bank is covered in one of Daniel Wexler's Missing links books.  I am traveling and unable to confirm if it is Missing Links or Lost Links; however, I believe it is the first one - Missing Links.

[Tom_Doak]

Any idea who designed and built it?

[Brad Tufts]

I'll have to look it up when I get home in the Wexler book, but I think it was done by Mr. Shaw himself, with construction help from a local farmer...that's what the MassGolf post says.


Like so many other places, the National Seashore land especially out near Provincetown would make for several Bandons if it were developable.  Just think, a 20m flight or 90m ferry from downtown Boston to P-Town followed by a short shuttle....it's a dream.


Highland Links is well worth a visit for a linksy experience and to climb the lighthouse...I believe this is the only golf that sits on NS land...golf going back to 1892.


Of course, some parts of the world should stay natural-ish, and the National Seashore is well worth a visit for hiking/birding/beaches, etc.  The Outer Cape is a bit of a different planet compared to the Upper/Mid/Lower (Canal to the Elbow) section.

[Tom Bagley]

I've walked the property many times and tried to imagine how spectacular it must have been.  If I knew how to post photos I would but a quick search of the Digital Commonwealth website under "cedar bank" yields most of the photos found on the Mass Golf post.


cedar bank - Digital Commonwealth Search Results


The golf course was located on what is now the Fort Hill Trail site just off Route 6 in Eastham. 


This is from the Massachusetts Golf Association's Centennial Book, "A Commonwealth of Golfers" -



It was a significant loss, too, when the Cedar Bank Links in Eastham on Cape Cod surrendered after World War II.
The Cedar Bank course was the plaything of Quincy A. Shaw, a private 18 holes built in the late 1920s around his
vacation home on the Salt Pond off
Nauset Marsh on land which also offered duck hunting
in season, glorious ocean views all year and limitless
entertainment possibilities. These he exploited to the
full, especially with an autumn "clambake" which
included in its day both Bobby Jones and Francis
Ouimet. The links was reduced to nine holes in the late
1930s, Shaw's interest declined after World War II,
and it is now part o f t h e Cape Cod National Seashore.


I believe I have seen a newspaper article about Bobby Jones playing there, but I will have to dig deeper to find it.

[Ronald Montesano]

Searched "Cedar Bank Daniel Wexler" and this hit topped the charts~~~

https://capecodandtheislandsmag.com/the-lost-links-of-cedar-bank/


I love Wexler's research and writing, but I find it difficult to imagine that a fellow with no design credit nor expertise, coming off a period of illness and recovery, would design a "conspicuous cache of all-world holes."