The Kittansett course design held up nicely through the years. Sorry. Not even the members, who are used to the carries, the obstacles and the speed of the greens. But its a leap of faith even for members familiar with the gambit, and a thrilling leap at that. The penalty for this infraction is disqualification, of course, and Grainger invoked it without hesitation. The opening holes provide wide fairways with generous landing areas. Friday 8:45PM . An 18-hole golf course became a possibility when in the early 1920's a group of residents bought the land on Butler's Point, which until that time had been occupied solely by the Beverly Yacht Club. Member Services Representative (Former Employee) - Marion, MA - November 1, 2015. Kittansett hosted the 1953 Walker Cup, when an American team that featured Ken Venturi, Bill Campbell, Harvie Ward, Dick Chapman, Gene Littler, Charlie Coe, and other notables routed the GB&I team 9-3. The Kittansett Club, appropriately named from two Native American words meaning "near the sea," is situated in the town of Marion at the end of Butler Point, which extends into Buzzards Bay. This cold and rainy weather has me reminiscing about my round last year at Cascata, a Rees Jones design built in the desert just outside Las Vegas. We all have our list of bucket list courses. in the minutes leading up to your arrival, you can be forgiven for thinking you might be in the wrong place. The course feels quite natural but was in fact designed to within an inch of its life by one Frederic Hood, who had consulted with Donald Ross and worked from some drawings provided by William Flynn. Kittansett loosely translates to "near the sea," and that only scratches the surface of this gem. The land provided well-drained and unusually fine fairways and greens. So check this out for a more detailed retelling of the history of Kittansett Club. Kittansett Club Team Growth. One particularly devastating bunker is a crossbunker that juts onto the left fairway about 100 yards short of the green. Kittansett is the only golf course on Hoods resume; he never designed nor built another. Sean Ogle helps people build businesses they can run from anywhere in the world. It feels quaint, subdued, and local in a good way. Amateur champion, making his third Walker Cup appearance, was the senior member of his team and proved the weekends leading light. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The 337 yard 10th hole at We-Ko-Pa Saguaro is a really fun risk/rewark hole that features two templates: a Reverse Cape on the teeshot and Lions Mouth by the green. The improvements over the past few years have transformed play. He reported the matter to the referee, USGA Treasurer Charles Pierson, who in turn consulted with USGA Vice President Ike Grainger. Yes, Mr. Indeed, his passing had the opposite effect. And the golfers playing in that event will be every bit as enthralled with the layout which also played host to the 1953 Walker Cup match as those who just teed it up there in the Mass Am. Its not just the length, the lack of elevation on the 11th teebox makes judging the distance even more difficult. An obvious case is Sherman Briggs on the Conservation Commission. This drive requires a carry of 145 yards and avoidance of dense marshes on the right. The fact that Kittansett was the site of the Mass Am last week for the sixth time in its history speaks to the high regard in which the course is held. I paid the fine and Im living up to the agreement.. Sometimes, the slants were quite subtle, like those on the par-5 seventh, and No. American weather, if you will. Col. Anthony Duncan, supported his players and informed Totton Heffelfinger perhaps the most fittingly named USGA President in history that his team could not accept victory if it should depend on disqualification.. For decades, the layout was regarded as the creation of one of the clubs charter members, a local rubber company magnate named Frederic C. Hood. Rather than allocating more time and money to removing the rocks from the property, they used them to create mounds that in time were grassed over and employed as strategic hazards, much like the famed chocolate drops at Myopia Hunt Club north of Boston. The two that stand sentinel on either side of the somewhat lunar 16th fairway appear to frame the target but are actually 50 yards short of the green, seriously messing with a visitings depth perception. Follow Boston.com on Instagram (Opens in a New Tab), Follow Boston.com on Twitter (Opens in a New Tab), Like Boston.com on Facebook (Opens in a New Tab), Bill Murray and Wynonna Judd spotted at Newport restaurant, Jill Biden visited a beloved Boston seafood restaurant, Complaint about Bill Murray leads Searchlight to halt filming of Being Mortal. The Country Club is definitely Massachusetts' best course and then it is a battle among Kittansett, Boston Golf Club, and Old Sandwich as the state's next best track. American James Jackson was another type of newcomer in 1953, playing his first Walker Cup foursomes match on the Friday when he unwittingly instigated the events most poignant moment. 17 is a visually tricky hole, as from the tee it can be tough to know exactly where youre going. Once again, I cant imagine what this looked like before the tree removal, and at least from my perspective, it seems like this is a big improvement. The trees were here first and the thicket has been reduced, in fits and starts, over time. Tabor paid Briggs Excavation $8,030 for the work. The 6th plays out towards the water and has a sign off the green designating the high water level from previous hurricanes. It only took a minute, but from the moment I arrived, I knew I was going to like this place. The land the new police station sits on was donated by Tabor to the town for the purpose of building a new police station. The clubhouse is perched at the point of the peninsula which has 270-degree views of Buzzards Bay. Kittansett hosted U.S. This is a relatively straightforward hole with a generous fairway after carrying a series of fairway bunkers for the first 200 yards. The approach here is fairly straightforward with bunkers on either side about 60 yards short of this green and three guarding both sides of the green. This has led to significant changes in bunkering, and even more notably, the removal of hundreds of trees that have completely reshaped the look and feel of the course. Relative to par, Im not sure theres a more difficult hole than the 11th. The low score was 71. Events like these culled a few tupelos, to be sure. As I mentioned, I expected the whole course to be like this, but I enjoyed the changing environment throughout which weaves from open seaside, into the coastal forest, and back out again to finish the round. Featuring a dazzling set of seaside holes and equally interesting inland holes, an invite to Kittansett is to be cherished. The right corner of the dogleg is lined by deep bunkers while a hidden pond guards the left. The 12th is a fantastic strategic dogleg left playing at 380 yards. The prudent play is left of center, directly over the bunkers highest point; this allows the contour to shape the ball onto the green. Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.com. This is also one of the best bunkered holes on the course with numerous bunkers running through this fairway forcing the golfer to think carefully on each shot. Im not sure people realize just how difficult this golf course really is, says Steve Demmer, the head pro here since 1994 [departed in 2014]. Marion, MA. The course at that time measured 6,374 yards from the back of the regular tees, with the stands of pines and hardwoods combined with stretches of marshland and wispy field grass to give it a very New England feel. Now, thanks to a slow and thoughtful 20-year restoration by Gil Hanse, the course . Par is 71, measuring some 6,800 yards from the tips but a little more than 6,400 yards from the markers used by most male members. Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson noted at the Selectmens May 7 meeting that Briggs had not submitted a letter of resignation, and he asked Selectmen how to proceed or if the board has an appetite for removal.. The reachable 330 yard 10th gets my vote for easiest hole at Kittansett. The maps on this site are based on Cesium which in turn is based on WebGL. (LogOut/ The Club was originally built by founding member Frederic C. Hood who had significant knowledge of other American and British courses of the era. It was showing its age, and as good Yankees who were not inclined to spend very much, we waited awhile before doing something about it.. Then, there were the angles with which Flynn endowed so many of the holes. Nine holes were ready to go by the following August, and the full 18 two months later. This integrated piece appeared as a course feature and Walker Cup sidebar in LINKS Magazine during the summer of 2006. I made numerous friends while there and many of . The 380 yard 9th is one of the weaker holes on the course as a straightaway par 4 lined by tall trees on both sides. And on other occasions, Flynn made them more pronounced, as on the fourth, which doglegs sharply to the right. That scheme called for culling significant numbers of trees and underbrush, largely to bring back panoramas of the bay from different parts of the course and to improve turf conditions by enhancing air flow. Despite being a mostly out-and-back course, it weaves in a nice selection of doglegs in both directions with straight holes as well, and you see this throughout the back 9. Big hitter? Congressman from its Second District went 2-0, winning his foursomes match with Ward, 9 and 8, and clinching the Cup with another landslide victory in singles, 7 and 5 over Roy MacGregor. 16 that was fashioned in the thickly forested land that made up the interior part of the track. Club records indicate that construction on the course commenced in summer 1922. Many of the games greats were indeed on hand for the event. Club's weekly film round up. I love your content (just found you on YouTube) and wish you the best. At 16, for example. Briggs, 60, owns Sherman E. Briggs Excavating, a business which has performed excavating work for Tabor Academy in Marion for more than 20 years. The fairway is level, there is a very narrow creek about 15 yards to the left of the fairway. A similar trio is reprised at the wonderful, short par-4 10th, where the hazards are reasonably cleared with a long-iron or fairway wood mind games notwithstanding. Kittansett differs from vintage fare in this respect as well. MARION, MASSACHUSETTS | Competitors in last weeks Massachusetts Amateur had the pleasure of playing one of the Bay States best golf courses at the Kittansett Club. Par is a tremendous score here. Those thinking of cutting the corner have to contend with tall trees lining the right. One of those revisions came shortly after the discovery of the Flynn drawings in that Pennsylvania barn. According to Hanse, his initial mission was to restore the unique architecture of the layout while also enhancing its look, conditioning and playability. I can only hope one day Ill have the opportunity to return and experience it again. Keep it up! I thoroughly enjoyed my 25 years working at The Kittansett Club. It is now a much more open course, the sea is visible from many more holes, and the wind has become a significant factor in course management. There were some 2,500 others in the gallery and Golf World reported that a large majority besieged Jones for autographs. At just 155 yards, this world-famous hole plays directly over the Ocean to an island green surrounded by beach sand. The collective result of those changes has been nothing short of spectacular. This hole plays dead straight with thick forest running down the right the entire way. As for the Conservation Commissions need for a better relationship with Tabor: Much of the academys waterfront property is located in a flood plain and wetlands, and therefore subject to Conservation Commission overview for building projects. 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