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    • Cape Cod Golf Courses: Our Pick of the Toughest Public Courses
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    Cape Cod Golf Courses: Our Pick of the Toughest Public Courses

    Vaseline Posted on

    Looking to hit a few balls with your friends on your annual trip to Cape Cod or take on a challenge to see how good you are at golf?

    Cape Cod is home to a variety of public golf courses, from the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges to the Lower Cape and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Golfers will undoubtedly wonder if they are still sane and if they still love the game.

    While each course has its own unique characteristics, each gives golfers a taste of true Cape Cod conditions, including changing winds, natural habitats and undulating terrain. Golf course architects had to be smart about the available land and use natural elements to create their masterpieces. Courses are typically mapped no more than a mile from the ocean or bay, with winds that protect potentially scoring holes.

    That said, golf is hard enough, but if you’re looking for a challenge, here’s a top five list of the toughest public golf courses on the Cape. Maybe you’ll hit that one shot that keeps you coming back for more!

    1. Dennis Pines (East Dennis, 6,931 yards, par 72)

    Designed by Henry C. Mitchell, Dennis Pines opened in 1966 and is widely regarded as one of the most difficult layouts on Cape Cod. Pines is set among narrow, tree-lined fairways that emphasize accuracy over distance.

    Golfers are routinely forced to leave the driver in the bag to keep the ball in play on abrupt dogleg holes. When a tee shot finds the fairway, golfers are faced with approach shots to small greens that are fast in the summer months. There are several forced carries over fall-offs to the green that test a golfer’s ability to commit to yardage, while shots that wander over the back further test nerves with delicate shots to sloping greens. Water comes into play on only three holes, but danger lurks around every corner.

    2. Miacomet Golf Club (Nantucket, 6,890 yards, par 72)

    Fancy a boat ride to one of the islands for a spot of torture? Look no further than Nantucket’s only 18-hole public course, Miacomet, which is considered links-style. Originally a nine-hole course, Miacomet—a name derived from an area of ​​the island inhabited by the Wampanoag tribe—was expanded to 18 holes in 2003.

    There is a problem off the tee with an abundance of long bunkers along the fairways. Fairways are built with contoured hills that leave no flat lie, making it difficult to hit blazing fast greens that range in size from 3,000 to 6,000 square feet. Approach shots have a chance to get onto the greens, but they are heavily protected by false fronts and roll-offs. Golfers, beware if you are out of shape.

    3. The Cape Club (East Falmouth, 6,855 yards, par 72)

    Originally Ballymeade Country Club, the Cape Club is widely regarded as one of the finest public courses not only on Cape Cod but in New England. It took a while to get there, though. Steve Harrison laid out the original design, but it was redesigned by Jim Fazio five years later and Ballymeade still hadn’t reached its full potential. In 2015, following a change in management, the course underwent a significant transformation, including all-new green complexes, expanded playing corridors and reshaped fairways.

    While blind tee and approach shots have been largely eliminated, what makes the Cape Club a tough test is the variety of elevated shots—uphill and downhill—to the greens. There are opportunities to take aggressive lines off the tee, but any erratic shots are appropriately penalized. Greens, which are firm, fast and undulating, are protected by bunkers that catch any shots that don’t reach their intended target. They can turn your golf outing into a day at the beach.

    4. Captains Golf Course – Port Course (Brewster, 6,675 yards, par 72)

    With an argument for the toughest 18 holes you’ll find on Cape Cod, Port Course Captains Golf Course is not for the faint of heart. With several forced tee shots, most notably holes six, seven and 12, there’s no gentle introduction or hearty parting handshake. Errant tees are tough to get back in play, as trees line the fairway and you’d be happy to get in the way of your 5-iron punch, which will send you God knows where. Holes six through seven can easily put your score up with bogey or worse in play. The eighth hole, a par 5 that opens to 573 yards, gives players their ideal number for a layup, as it’s usually out of the question in two holes. The back nine is quirky with two back-to-back par fives (a story for another day), while the closing two-hole stretch is a combined 741 yards from the back tees.

    During the busy summer months, it can be tough to get a tee time on the Port or adjacent Starboard Course, but it’s worth the effort. Oh, and good luck finding a flat lie.

    5. Quashnet Valley Country Club (Mashpee, 6,491 yards, par 72)

    Quashnet Valley is not long, but it is frustrating. Built on a natural site of ponds, streams and wetlands, the Quashnet River comes into play on fifteen of the eighteen holes. The club has played host to several Massachusetts Golf Association events, including the Junior Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Public Links, as well as the Mass Women’s Open and the Cape Cod Open.

    There are several blind and forced carry tee shots where the driver is not in play. Want to cut the corner on a dogleg? Think again, because tee shots are protected by trees on either side of otherwise narrow fairways, ready to snatch your ball. The par-5 seventh hole is one of the most scenic on the course, but water is in play the entire trip. Greens are defended by bunkers, and elevated greens on the side slopes force golfers to trust their targets.

    Allen Gunn covers high school sports for the Cape Cod Times. You can contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @allentgunn.

    Thanks to our subscribers, who make this reporting possible. If you’re not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription.Here are our subscription plans.

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