Review: The William J. Devine Golf Course at FranklinPark, Review: Marion Golf Club Worldgolfer's Golf Course Reviews, Follow Worldgolfer's Golf Course Reviews on WordPress.com, #134 Best Course in the World Golf Digest (2018), #84 Best Course in North America Top100golfcourse.com (2018), #77 Best Course in America Golf Digest (2021), #65 Best Course in America Golf Magazine (2022), #73 Best Course in America Top100golfcourse.com (2019), #49 Best Classic Course in America Golfweek (2022), #4 Best Course in Massachusetts Golf Digest (2021), #6 Best Course in Massachusetts Golf Magazine (2023), #7 Best Course in Massachusetts Top100golfcourse.com (2020), #7 Best Private Course in Massachusetts Golfweek (2022). The fund-raiser has. To prepare that area for shaping and seeding, workers felled vast numbers of trees and dug up their stumps. But the fact is, we hate losing. Epic experience.. Being as exposed as it is, its clear much of the courses defense can come from the elements. Among the first groups to play the new track included 1913 U.S. Open champion Francis Ouimet, who joined Kittansett soon after as an honorary member. Sometimes, the slants were quite subtle, like those on the par-5 seventh, and No. Actor Bill Murray enjoyed dinner at a Massachusetts seafood restaurant over the weekend, posing for photos with staff and fans. He said the irony of this situation is that his association with Tabor was part of the reason he was appointed to the ConCom in 1997 by then-Selectmen Al Winters, Lori Schaefer and Jody Dickerson because the town wanted a better working relationship with Tabor Academy and the Kittansett Club. If you had to describe the setting in a word? The build-in at Kittansett was an arduous process, especially for the 13-hole stretch from No. With the Ocean glistening in the background to remind you where you are, the 14th is the last of an amazing collection of one-shotters. Indeed, on a largely tree-lined golf course, its hard to imagine a seasoned architect would have placed such a proliferation of fairway-impeding obstacles. The 7th is one of three par 5s on the course, and the bunkering on this hole I found to be notable and forces you to really place your 3 shots well. At 505 yards, the 7th is the first and best par 5 youll encounter at Kittansett. Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Digital Magazine! The two Brits urged Pierson not to impose the penalty stipulated by the rules. Find contact info for Kittansett Club employees Find Info Top Kittansett Club Employees James Burns General Manager. This has to be one of the better and more robust muni systems in America. Then, there were the angles with which Flynn endowed so many of the holes. Flynn also broke up several fairways into sections, with cross bunkers protruding into landing areas from different sides of holes and gnarly stretches of rough and sandy waste areas stretching across some of them entirely. Tabor paid Briggs Excavation $8,030 for the work. 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. Because Kittansett is a golf club youre not going to find a pool, tennis, or all of the other amenities that youll typically find at a country club. This is another very strong par 3 at 190 yards. Given that the initially wide fairway progressively narrows with swampland on the right, these bunkers force the golfer to think twice about laying up off the tee. Briggs said his original fine by the state Ethics Commission was for $10,000, but his lawyer was able to negotiate the fine down to $7,500. But the discovery of a trove of documents in a Pennsylvania barn in the early 2000s revealed that the actual designer was William Flynn, one of the masters of the so-called Philadelphia school of architecture and a man whose credits include Pine Valley and Shinnecock Hills. Known as one of the top courses in the blossoming Scottsdale golf scene, this Coore/Crenshaw design is thoroughly enjoyable with minimal houses, an easily walkable, intimate routing, and plenty of strategy and variety. The collective result of those changes has been nothing short of spectacular. . You have a recipe for a special place, and one Ive always personally been excited to see. 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. It feels quaint, subdued, and local in a good way. The par 4 2nd also plays 415 yards and is another very difficult hole. The conditioning and scenery were also fantastic. Kittansett seems tailor-made for a national mid-amateur championship, and while Demmer hinted that the subject has been broached presumably with the folks who famously value par there are no plans. By all accounts, Murrays interactions with fans at Turks Seafood on Sunday were nothing but positive. The 6th plays out towards the water and has a sign off the green designating the high water level from previous hurricanes. And on other occasions, Flynn made them more pronounced, as on the fourth, which doglegs sharply to the right. After the original drawings from William Flynn were discovered, Hanse refined his project in 2003, 2014 and again in 2019, adapting much of the Flynn plan. The 126 yard 9th hole is Cabot Cliffs shortest hole. Originally only open to high rollers like Shadow Creek, Cascata is now fully public but doesnt receive much play and commands a hefty $400+ pricetag. In an age when clubs pay architects millions of dollars to return their courses to some original, classic ideal (real or imagined), Kittansett has charted a more honest, practical course ever capitalizing on its superb routing, features and location to make the course incrementally better, more classic and stern than its ever been, but never something it has never been. We are sorry that this post was not useful for you! Marion, MA 02738 Clubhouse: (508) 748-0148 Pro Shop: (508) 748-0192 Employment 34 F | Wind 12 mph Copyright 2020 The Kittansett Club Site by Clubessential Options Close Site Options Hide Settings Images ( ) & CTES ( ) Object Plugins FED At just over 5700 yards, this par 70 plays more difficult than youd expect with small greens, tight fairways, and a hilly terrain. Yet Kittansetts length (6,814 yards, par 70), its smallish, steeply pitched greens, its overall strategic mettle were undiminished. The 470 yard par 4 17th is one of my favorite holes at Cascata as a beautiful sweeping, downhill dogleg left. You may use these HTML tags and attributes: document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2021. 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. The Kittansett course design held up nicely through the years. So my good friend joined The Kittansett Club this year and Ive been lucky enough to play about a dozen rounds there. 18 brings you back to the clubhouse, and again throws off vibes of the opening and finishing holes at Maidstone and Fishers Island. 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. By all geographical rights the course should be links-like, but trees line two thirds of the routing and the soil isnt sandy at all, meaning it seldom plays hard and fast outside the dog days of summer. Hood helped build it, but it was unclear who did the initial plans. Theres a giant crossbunker about 50 yards short and three deep ones on both sides of the green. Featuring a crossbunker on the left at 170 yards and dense forest down the left, this difficult teeshot causes many golfers to bailout right, leaving a more difficult approach possibly blocked out by trees. The 11th with its massive cross bunker gaping in from the left is perhaps the most brutish poser on a course replete with them. 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. The 375 yard 17th is another dogleg left running in the opposite direction of 16. 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. This is a relatively straightforward hole with a generous fairway after carrying a series of fairway bunkers for the first 200 yards. Its an island green, but instead of being surrounded by water, its completely surrounded by a bunker. The building of the course is a bit of an anomaly. One of those revisions came shortly after the discovery of the Flynn drawings in that Pennsylvania barn. This fairway bends slightly to the left with marshes on either side. Yes, Mr. We didnt play on a particularly windy day, but I imagine these two holes rarely play the scorecard yardage. This is certainly one of the easier holes out there and one of several holes on the course that provides the golfer numerous options. What exactly did the protest stem from? Flattish and easy to walk, the ground across which the course was routed nonetheless possessed character, with Flynn making terrific use of the subtle hills and hollows. Hole Descriptions:Situated at the end of an archipelago jutting into Buzzards Bay, The Kittansett Club occupies an incredibly scenic seaside property. This green is relatively flat, but plays elevated with slopes on all sides. The approach to this small undulating green is guarded by a deep bunker on the left. At just 155 yards, this world-famous hole plays directly over the Ocean to an island green surrounded by beach sand. On this peninsula could be seen the possibilities of a different type of course than most in this country at that time, and one that might have the character of the famous sea-side courses of Great Britain. 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]. In light of the recent state Board of Ethics ruling against Sherman Briggs, I request that you send a message to the other town boards that this is not acceptable behavior, and that if you engage in this type of behavior you will be removed. A time when the British played one ball (1.62 inches in diameter) and the Americans another (1.68), when all matches were contested over 36 holes, a time when players were ultimately judged by the skill with which they deflected adulation when a point might well be refused if it hadnt been earned in the spirit of fair play. Featuring perhaps the tightest fairway at Kittansett, this dogleg doesnt occur until 240 yards, forcing the golfer to hit something longer than theyd prefer off the tee. Many of the bunkers had also shrunk in size over the years and lost what had initially been a rugged, almost windswept appearance. This keeps the vibe more chill and low-key, and really allows you to soak in the wonderful setting on the Bay. In other cases, its much more prominent, as youll find on 10. The 15th is the longest of a short set of par fives at 515 yards. Club records indicate that construction on the course commenced in summer 1922. The name is interesting as its a combination of two Native American words meaning near the sea.. Some of the mounds at Kittansett ran down the edges of holes and others diagonally across them. This is a great closing match play par 5 where birdies will fly. Some of that credit goes to Hanse who recommended some serious tree clearing when he first refurbished the bunkers in 1995 (adding fescued eyelashes to each one, a perfect fit). That finish of Ronnie Whites made us all proud to be British.. The trees were here first and the thicket has been reduced, in fits and starts, over time. Like the 7th, this par 5 features numerous well-placed bunkers running down its fairway notably crossbunkers on the left at 260 yards, right at 300, and one very tricky one on the right side of the lay-up area. With a carry over fescue and bunker, this green is guarded on either side by deep bunkers and slopes extremely hard back-to-front. This hole is perhaps the courses only routing blemish as the 8th green is near the 9th and you have to walk the length of the hole backwards to reach the teebox. Once again, golfers must determine just how far they want to hit their tee shots and whether they lay up before that obstacle or try to fly it. In 1969, Hal Purdy lengthened the course to a full 18 holes. A giant sandy wasteland bisects the fairway at about 260 yards and is in play off the tee. The setting of the clubhouse is top 10 among the courses Ive visited in my travels. The parking lot is one of the most scenic in all of golf, occupying prime oceanfront property. The railroad tie path through the bunker to the green is a cool aesthetic touch and adds to the interest of the experience. We all have our list of bucket list courses. With the U.S. Senior Amateur visiting Butler Point this week, it seemed a fine time to place this story above the fold.]. But they enjoyed no such luck with the wind or their opponents. Designer:William Flynn/Frederic C. Hood (1922), Gil Hanse/Jim Wagner (1998, tree removal and bunker renovation). Originally, it was the Native Americans who led the Plymouth settlers and their cattle to the warmer winter pastures on these shores. As I usually mention when writing about notable golden age courses, I can never do as good of a job recounting the history of the club, as they can. It was nice to have the extra time to wander around and soak in the setting. In a word the par-5 seventh, and one of those changes has been reduced, in fits starts! 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