Designed by William Flynn and Frederic Hood in 1922 (it was restored by architect Gil Hanse in 1998), Kittansett was not particularly well known prior to the 53 Walker Cup. Opened for play in 1923, Kittansett and its various attributes should surprise visitors. Keep it up! With its spectacular views and challenging golf, a round at Kittansett is a truly memorable experience. This keeps the vibe more chill and low-key, and really allows you to soak in the wonderful setting on the Bay. We need to schedule a public hearing to discuss the next steps relative to this.. The par 4 2nd also plays 415 yards and is another very difficult hole. At 385 yards, the 6th is another difficult sub-400 yard par 4 that features another awkward teeshot. This approach runs uphill towards a back-to-front sloped green guarded by bunkers on either side. With his plans and knowledge, the club brought in famed architect Gil Hanse to restore the course to fit Mr. Flynns original designs. (Credit to this SI article for additional details). 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. This hole features another tiny back-to-front sloped green lined by cavernous bunkers on either side. 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. 16 that was fashioned in the thickly forested land that made up the interior part of the track. Turks waitress Kimberly McCarthy was one of several at the restaurant who posed for a photo with the actor. This green is large, two-tiered and guarded by deep bunkers on either side. This was his first Walker Cup and he showed the promise he would later fulfill, going unbeaten on the weekend. But that is not the only theory. 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. Which isnt to say Kittansett hasnt been well regarded for a very long time. Briggs said he had to do that after Marion Conservation Commission member Norm Hills had to recuse himself from the decision because his wife works for Tabor. We played at 2pm on a Monday afternoon the week after they aerated the course. 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. 17, which features cross rough and a wee burn in a depression some 250 yards from the tee. I love your content (just found you on YouTube) and wish you the best. The course was so well designed and there were so many well-executed strategic elements, that it seemed like there had to be additional help from someone who was more prominent during the era. In the 1990s, the team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restored the course to its original glory by removing trees and renovating bunkers. 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. Par is a great score here. Its a seaside course peninsular for heavens sake; the Aboriginal American name means near (sett) the sea (kittan) but there isnt a proper dune in sight. However, the course performed admirably, conceding not a single sub-par round during the weekends play, even though the wind a Kittansett trademark blew hardly at all. A charming rock wall and fescue guard just right of the green as well. Kittansett differs from vintage fare in this respect as well. Tucked away in a sort of nether region between Cape Cod and the Rhode Island coast, its widely acknowledged as the second best course in Massachusetts (behind TCC in Brookline) though few have actually played it. State Ethics Commission Executive Director Karen Nober gave Briggs two weeks from the March 5 offer to get back to Ethics Commission or face up to a $50,000 fine. The first thing I noticed was that the golf course had become overgrown and had suffered from what can best be described as benign neglect, said Hanse. Briggs admitted to violating the conflict-of-interest law by voting as a town Conservation Commission member to issue an Order of Conditions authorizing Tabor Academy to install two 2,000-gallon saltwater tanks at its Marine Sciences Center building. The Kittansett Club Originally, it was the Native Americans who led the Plymouth settlers and their cattle to the warmer winter pastures on these shores. But the layout is so much more: a steely, uncommon test on the calmest of days. Tabor officials then hired Briggs business to perform the excavation work. That prompted us to restore them to their original sizes. The club was established in 1922, and officially opened for play in 1923. Venturi, 22, was the baby in the group but his form was perhaps the best of all. Add in a cross bunker about 200 yards out (that shouldnt come into play), and another bunker through the fairway on the same line (which also likely wont come into play), and you get a very challenging tee shot visually. George Herbert Walker, great-grandfather to President Bush and founding patron of the international cup series, embodied the spirit of these times. Many of the bunkers had also shrunk in size over the years and lost what had initially been a rugged, almost windswept appearance. Flynn placed two devilish bunkers on both corners of the dogleg that more-or-less force the golfer to hit a drive between 220 and 250 yards. In a recent letter to Selectmen, resident Annie Rockwell, of Parlow Mill Farm Road, asked Selectmen to stop the practice of dual and questionable appointments. 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. The first tee time isnt until 1 on Mondays, so the course and club was pretty quiet. Kittansett members have the good sense to know that big tournaments and their attendant crowds would overwhelm their little slice of heaven, even if the competitors most assuredly would not. Hole Descriptions:Situated at the end of an archipelago jutting into Buzzards Bay, The Kittansett Club occupies an incredibly scenic seaside property. Big hitter? Briggs said he signed the disposition agreement March 15. The 470 yard par 4 17th is one of my favorite holes at Cascata as a beautiful sweeping, downhill dogleg left. We were hosting an Eighty Club event at Old Sandwich and Boston Golf Club, and I tacked on an extra day to the trip to make the journey out to Marion and experience a course Ive been excited about visiting for years. The tournament, held at the Kittansett Club each summer, features retired athletes like Celtics Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn, Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee and Bruin Milt Schmidt. The high scores tell you something else. Found guilty of violating state ethics laws and handed a hefty civil fine earlier this month, Marion Conservation Commission Chairman Sherman Briggs Jr. thinks he should be reappointed to the commission when his term expires, and that this latest turn of events should have no impact on his re-election bid to the town Planning Board. Theres another bunker 100 yards short and on either side of this small circular green. The keen golfer was said to be very knowledgeable about course architecture, thanks largely to trips he had taken with his sticks to the British Isles. Find them!, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Here's a rare chance to see it for yourself, with a member from the club in your group to show the way. The conditions were surprisingly calm and beastly hot that Labor Day weekend 53 years ago. Sure enough, in the early 2000s plans for the course were found in William Flynns attic. 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. True All Day Pants Review: Damn Good (Golf) Pants. The course needed a facelift, said Jim Osborne, who was green chairman at the time. The 6th plays out towards the water and has a sign off the green designating the high water level from previous hurricanes. American Jack Westland, the reigning U.S. 18 brings you back to the clubhouse, and again throws off vibes of the opening and finishing holes at Maidstone and Fishers Island. One particularly devastating bunker is a crossbunker that juts onto the left fairway about 100 yards short of the green. 13. Those who go left or long will find a bunker at 195 yards or worse be OB. The corridors are naturally ample. Accolades for Kittansett include: Conditions:8/10, Similarly to nearby Newport Country Club, Kittansett has a decidedly linksy feel to it with firm, fast fairways and greens that never run faster than an 11 on the stimp. The course is located in South Newark and is operated by Essex County along with classics Francis Byrne and Hendricks Field. I can only hope one day Ill have the opportunity to return and experience it again. 3 sun.com; oracle.com; unionclub.org; 3 617227XXXX; 617227XXXX; 617227XXXX; Steven Mann . Stay up to date with everything Boston. Featuring a dazzling set of seaside holes and equally interesting inland holes, an invite to Kittansett is to be cherished. Since the 1990s the course has gone through a series of redesigns by Gil Hanse, who has been a longstanding consultant with respect to restoration, improvements, and renovations of Kittansett. If you had to describe the setting in a word? Kittansett hosted U.S. 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. Club's weekly film round up. The practice facilities are also strong and include a grass range long enough for driver and two short game areas. We also raised some of the sand faces so they were easier to see and more impressive visually. Ward and Charlie Coe were the top international amateurs of their day, and Sam Urzetta, a 51 Walker Cupper, was the 1950 U.S. Because of the ever-present winds perhaps, Hoods design rarely calls for forced carries into the greens themselves. This hole marks a return to the Ocean, as the final three hole play on the tip of the archipelago. When I visited in late June, a wind-killing fog (thick enough to cancel the first day of the 2006 U.S. Womens Open down the coast at Newport) had settled over the place. Located in this sleepy sailing village on Buzzards Bay just west of Cape Cod, it is a Golden Age classic, routed across an exposed, often windswept spit of land and through more sheltered swathes of New England woods. This green is relatively flat, but plays elevated with slopes on all sides. The most famous hole at Kittansett comes early in the round in the form of the 167-yard par 3, 3rd hole. 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. The layout is quite varied with about half the holes lining the marshes and ocean and other half playing inland off the water. That served to reinforce the wisdom of the work Hanse had already completed with help first from Kittansett golf course superintendent, Lenny Blodgett, and then his successor, John Kelly as it also acted as a guide for future work. This hole plays dead straight with thick forest running down the right the entire way. Please remove Mr. Briggs from the Conservation Commission immediately. 6, 10 and 13 a bit further from the tees. They are, in fact, enough to humble and beguile just about anyone in any sort of weather. The view from this teebox is world-class, with 390 fantastic yards separating you from the water. 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