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Golf on Cape Cod Course ReviewQuashnet Valley Country Club
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Photography by George Peet
From afar, especially for those who don’t play the game, golf really can appear ridiculous. At its bare bones, we (golfers, that is) hit a small white ball with long metal sticks into a hole. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what we do.
We chase the ball through green grass fairways carved out of woodlands, marshes, flatlands and beachscapes and hit the ball with our metal rods a few times, preferably a couple times, until we find a 4.25-inch diameter hole, marked by a flag, roughly 6 to 8 inches deep. We then try, with all our powers of focus and concentration, to land the ball inside the hole. We repeat this process 18 times in a row.
We have proper clothes to wear while we golf, certain etiquette to abide by, rules to follow, techniques to administer, etc. And many of us golf—believe it or not—because we find the process of hitting a ball into a hole…fun.
I know, I know… the game and the people who play it are crazy, but nevertheless that’s the game, and we are the folks who play it.
That’s also the game we showed up to play at Quashnet Valley on Old Barnstable Road in Mashpee in the late fall. The Cape Cod weather promised us rain, sleet and fog but delivered us sunshine and blue skies instead.
That’s another thing golfers live for (especially Cape Cod golfers), besides the game itself—those perfectly warm fall days, not too hot, not too cold, sun shining, no wind, a slight dew on the morning greens and a course free of the busy summer schedule: just us, the golf course, the game, and the golf course staff. After all, a golf course doesn’t run itself.
The staff at Quashnet knew about our secret. “Picked a nice day,” the woman in the pro shop said with a smile. The restaurant staff echoed the same sentiment when I bought a cold soda and a bag of chips before the round. It’s a nice feeling when staff members you encounter at a golf course know how great it is to play golf and choose to revel in the excitement with you. The folks at Quashnet exceeded all expectations.
Architect Geoffrey Cornish designed the initial nine holes in 1974, with today’s front nine added in 1984. It’s the only public golf course in Mashpee (Cape Cod Country Club is only a few miles down the road with a Hatchville location) and has earned its reputation as one of the better public tracts on the Cape because of a nice layout, well-manicured turf and some simply good-looking golf holes.
The name Quashnet Valley derives from the Quashnet River that runs through it and, as a result, the majority of the course is built on and around bogs, marshes and swamplands. Many of the holes at Quashnet Valley travel literally over the river in places and of course through the woods.
The character of the course lies within all the naturally formed hazards of its landscape. Likewise, the natural aesthetic of Quashnet is what sets the course apart from other Cape courses. Beyond making the views enjoyable, the ponds and streams, old cranberry bogs and swamps also provide a haven for wildlife. It’s not uncommon to catch a glimpse of red-tailed hawks, great blue herons, swans, fox, geese and an ever-abundant population of rabbits and ducks. These water hazards that provide habitats for wildlife species also make playing golf around Quashnet appropriately challenging.
From the back tees, Quashnet is a par 72 measuring 6,601 yards, with a 72.6 rating and a 134 slope. While the course is relatively short, Quashnet plays true to its slope rating, combining a host of challenging obstacles with some tricky routing.
Pinpoint accuracy is essential on many holes. Those of us without a target scope built onto our drivers must be careful. The smart Quashnet player will leave the big stick in the bag, for the most part. Further, a clear sign of a seasoned player of this course is one who carries some extra golf balls, either for himself or his partners, for Quashnet has a reputation for golf ball thievery.
An introduction to the marshy layout begins with the par 5 first hole, a 590-yard dogleg right that wraps itself around the swampy marsh at the right hand side of the hole. The left side of the first hole is thickly wooded and free of the marsh, and the green is slightly elevated, making the possibility of a rolling approach shot an unlikely success.
Surprisingly enough, many of the holes on the front nine are arranged like the first. One side of the fairway will always spell trouble in the name of swamps and ponds and marsh, and the other side will usually offer relief—not much relief considering the woodlands, but better than the alternative.
Take, for example, the other par 5 on the front nine (one of four par 5s on the course), the 525-yard 7th hole, arguably the most picturesque at Quashnet Valley. Close to 400 yards of the left-hand side of the 7th fairway are made up of ponds and marsh, while the right-hand side of the fairway is comparatively safe.
Similarly, the par 4 third and fourth holes have bogs and marsh on one side and fairly open woods on the other. The 3rd hole has an exceptionally large hill that acts as a safety slope for any drives hit to the left. However, if luck is not on your side, the hill might propel a severely hooked drive into the bog on the right. And that’s much of the challenge at Quashnet: Stay out of the bogs, but not too far out of the bogs.
The greens at Quashnet check well and roll nicely. The moist earth that the course is built upon provides a healthy environment for its lively putting surfaces. There is a mature, stiff sponge quality to the greens, which also indicates proper maintenance. Often the greens and tee boxes of public courses suffer from lots of traffic, yet despite such traffic, the Quashnet Valley maintenance team is battling the short grass adversity phenomenon well.
The par 3 second hole is a simple, straightforward par 3 that balances difficulty with natural beauty. At 154 yards, the tee is separated from the green by an old and dormant cranberry bog. Surrounding the bog and forming the exterior definition of the hole are big and beautiful trees, many of their branches reaching into the sights of the golfer on the tee. The trees make gauging the strength of the swirling winds difficult, so club selection can be thought provoking.
The par 4 9th, like the 18th, is also a stunner. The tee shot requires about 180 yards in the air in order to reach the fairway, across the Quashnet River and onto the right side, so the green, tucked back and to the left, is reachable. The 9th is an unattainable beauty—nice to look at, but difficult to conquer.
Then comes the backside. On the surface, from a quick glance, some of the pressures of the front nine are alleviated on the back. There is a little less water, a little more breathing room, and hopefully a better chance at keeping the ball in play. That’s not to say it’s easy.
The first three holes are good examples of the more spacious latter half. The 10th, 11th and 12th all have elevated tees that offer good views of the obstacles waiting in jest for the wayward shot. All par 4s and all under 400 yards, the first three are not especially difficult. On a course that’s littered with tight fairways among bogged and wooded waterways, these holes are wide open, affording a welcome break from the tee-box jitters.
There is only one par 3 on the backside, the 17th, an average length par 3 at 155 yards, straightaway, with only bunkers with which to contend. Incidentally, the bunkers at Quashnet, like many public tracks, leave a little more to be desired. Perhaps it’s the bunkers on many of the Cape’s private courses that raise the standard with high quality sand and aggressive upkeep, no doubt made possible by higher budgets; nevertheless, the bunkers at Quashnet could use some of that posh attention.
At the 18th, we step up to the tee for the last time to hit our small white ball with our long metal sticks. The 4.25-inch diameter hole is 520 yards away, and there are a couple of unique features that make traveling the hole unusual. There’s a large grassy knoll in the middle of the fairway about 150 yards from the green that previously supported a large tree, and the Quashnet River lies about 50 yards in front of the green. First-time players are likely not to see the river. Unlikely, on the other hand, is the chance at eagle on 18, even for the big hitters among us.
After the round, we visited Quashnet Valley’s 19th hole, a pleasant clubhouse restaurant and bar that overlooks the valley, a vast panorama of bogs and fairways. We told a couple of golf stories—a tragedy about a lost ball eaten by a wet predator, and a comedy about a couple golfers who tried to be like a Tiger.
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