With the success of Dennis Pines and the rising demand for more golf facilities in town, Dennis Highlands was added in 1984.
This course is very different from its elder sibling. Michael Hurdzan and Jack Kidwell, designers of the Highlands, came up with a course that is more wide open than Dennis Pines and about 500 yards shorter from the tips.
Hurdzan made up for the lack of distance by endowing the Highlands with some extremely tricky greens. Most greens are elevated—with subtle breaks and multiple tiers. Perhaps the most treacherous green on the course is the three-tiered seventh.
There is a wide range of holes from the short 100-yard ninth hole to the 557-yard 15th. Perhaps the main strength of Dennis Highlands is the way the course moves along so fluidly without any pretensions. There are no gimmicks, just straight golf.
The 175-yard par-3 third hole is perhaps the course’s most scenic. It has the classic feel of an old-time New England design.
The toughest hole on the golf course is the 427-yard, par-4 sixth that plays uphill to an elevated, two-tier green. A par here usually wins the hole. The seventh is a lengthy par-3 hole of 186 yards that plays to a three-tiered green. Get on the wrong shelf, and three putts are definitely in the offing.
The back nine is 400 yards longer and flatter than the front. This nine offers no weak holes. The 15th is a 557-yard par-5 with an elevated green. Only big hitters can get there in two, as the hole usually plays into the prevailing wind. The drive must be hit left of center. The 546-yard 18th hole can be reached in two—if the drive catches one of the areas that funnels the ball down the fairway into good position to reach the green in two.
