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Golf on Cape Cod Course ReviewWaverly Oaks Golf Course
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Photography by George Peet
It was about 180 yards to the pin, downhill from the elevated tee, left to right breeze, on the par 3 3rd hole. We grabbed a 7-wood thinking that it would be a safe play, and we’d just plunk it on. Since this was a four-ball scramble and we had inkling that our partners, whom we didn’t know beforehand, were good (their equipment was top-of-the-line, and they didn’t smell of liquor, even though it was a Jack Daniels-sponsored event), we felt that was what the situation called for.
Since it was quiet enough to hear the birds as we strode to the box, we took the opportunity to start thinking about technical things, domestic things and that nasty-looking bunker guarding the green to the left, along out natural approach path.
One quick swing later, we had successfully avoided the bunker by about 35 yards and were off into a no man’s land short of the green, our brandy new Gentleman Jack ball melting down the slope like the Wicked Witch of the West.
No one said a word. Our foursome all hit on safely, but we missed the 18-footer for birdie. The tone for the day was set. It would be rough going.
But no one seemed to mind all that much, for this was the Gentleman Jack splashdown in New England, one in a series of events around the country sponsored by the whiskey-maker (along with Golf Digest). Using as a gimmick the notion that we can all be a little better behaved out on the course and still have fun, the event was part of a sort of Golf Responsibly tour. Friends don’t let friends leave divots.
Each cart was equipped with a laminated tip-sheet that included info on such things as when not to complain about your partners and how to understand that we all bring different skill levels to the course.
Our partners were two fellows from the New England Sports Network, and they were the nicest guys we had ever met, true gentlemen throughout. Our finishing 66 was five off the lead, which was really quite a shame when we considered that the two sports cable guys had us putting for eagle on practically every hole. They were that good. We were that bad.
Waverly Oaks, like any high-quality track, should be started from the beginning, not from the 3rd hole, we said to ourselves in justification for the lame 7-wood. This particular alibi is used here as a compliment to the course, which is well-manicured, dramatic in its variety of slopes and vistas, challenging to the point of difficult, an all-in-all first-rate place to play.
A quibble, and it is just a quibble, would be that Waverly Oaks feels just as new as it is _ just a few years old. Not so much the grass or the greens, but the grounds in general feel sanitized, corporate, and slightly intimidating _ like the way it feels when you enter the lobby of an important company’s architecturally imposing building. But so what? A place shouldn’t be penalized for spending money and keeping things nice, right? It’s probably what the world in general is like once you get off little old Cape Cod. In any event, the course itself is the thing, and it offered a dozen moments of downright giddy good cheer.
We exacted our par 3 revenge toward the end of the round by plunking a 7-iron 20 feet from the cup, hole high, paying no mind whatsoever to the 50-yard-long bunker that wrapped around on the right side as a safeguard to the bottomless pit over there. Actually it was a psychological comfort. One of the cable guys got inside us, so they didn’t need our ball, but we all missed his 15-footer anyway. Oh, well.
Waverly Oaks is good enough to attract not only a healthy amount of the area’s business but also the Women’s Senior Golf Tour, which has carved out four days in the middle of May for the Fidelity Investments Classic, featuring 40 of the top names, including Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott, JoAnne Carner, Jane Blalock and Patty Sheehan.
It is also important to mention that Waverly Oaks is conveniently located on Long Pond Road just off Route 3. Like Bayberry Links off Route 6 on Cape Cod, where the master planners of Yarmouth converted a former trash heap into a nine-hole treasure, the construction of golf courses along this very visible stretch of Plymouth highway benefits the community psyche, whether golf or no golf is in your future. The courses simply look nice, and they break up a long drive a lot better than the alternatives.
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