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Woods Hole Golf Club
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Photography by George Peet
Woods Hole is the last village before the Town of Falmouth dribbles into a series of islands, and it is about as far from the sometimes honky-tonk world of Cape Cod as a person can get without leaving the peninsula.
The village itself is home to famed science centers, a Coast Guard station and a ferry terminal. Just beyond the cramped, jagged streets of the old village, the place is a leafy neighborhood of stately homes hidden by high hedges and long driveways, homes for several generations of America’s wealthiest families.
The main road into the village meanders between rows of shade trees until suddenly on the right, there’s nothing but an old stone tower and about 100 acres of finely manicured lawn that slopes down a hill to the lapping waters of Quissett Harbor: the Woods Hole Golf Club.
Carved from a forest in the southwestern-most corner of Cape Cod, Woods Hole is an artful collaboration between Mother Nature, the membership and several masters of design, most notably Wayne Stiles, John Van Kleek and Thomas Winton.
Though small, at 6,230 yards, the course plays longer because of its roller-coaster layout and the utter absence of flat spots between tee and green. It gets you with its wickedly sloped fairways, hard-to-hold greens, grassy knolls and deep bunkers. The view from the elevated tee at No. 17 is enough to make you stop and gawk...at the moored boats bobbing gently on their lines, at the white-washed pier and its jagged reflection on the surface, at the shorebirds diving for fish and soaring with the wind.
Every bit as lofty as the setting is the club’s place in Cape Cod golf history.
This is where the late Herman “Dutch” Wessner began his career as a laborer in 1946, before going on to become the head pro until his retirement in 1990, and later the namesake of the Wessner Cup, awarded each season to the Cape pro with the best tournament record.
His first exposure came during World War II as a young Marine from Dutch Pennsylvania, thus the name. “I remember when the gunnery sergeant told me I was going to Woods Hole. I said, ‘What the heck is that?’ But when I got here, I thought, ‘This is God’s country,’” Wessner recalled in an interview with this magazine two years ago. “Every morning, I made a point to go and sit in the clubhouse and look out across Buzzards Bay,” Wessner said in the club’s centennial book, The First Hundred Years, written by Greg O’Brien. “I always thought that Woods Hole was the golf club of Cape Cod, and I think still is.”
Wessner’s successor, Glenn Kelly, still has the old newspaper clips and weather-beaten scorecards that Dutch stored in some shoeboxes under the counter in the old caddie shack that doubles as the pro shop. Among the artifacts is a handbill announcing the old Indian Summer Golf Tournament, sponsored 50 years ago by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and held between Woods Hole, Bass River, Hyannisport, Wianno and Oyster Harbors.
Before Wessner, there was Jerry Travers, who went to work as head pro at Woods Hole in 1936, exactly 21 years after he won the US Open at Baltusrol (which came two years after Francis Ouimet’s historic victory at Brookline, one year after Walter Hagen’s first), and a quarter century after the USGA decided to base its course rating system on his game. As the winner of four US Amateur championships, Travers was touted as the gold standard by rules pioneer Leighton Calkins, who also established the first USGA handicap system. Calkins set the USGA’s first course ratings based on how Travers either had played a course or was expected to play it, if you can imagine that.
While PGA Tour standout Brad Faxon played golf at Eastward Ho! where his father Brad Jr. was a member, Ray Faxon, the family patriarch, was at Woods Hole. As of this writing, that same Ray Faxon is the club’s oldest member at the age of 98. According to Brad, his grandfather’s passions are golf, stocks and cribbage – three activities that require mental focus which may, at least genetically, help to explain Brad’s successful 22-year career on Tour – not to mention his putting stroke.
The name Stimpson will always be linked to and with any conversation about putting. Edward Stimpson, the 1935 Massachusetts Amateur Champion, also invented the Stimpmeter, which is a wooden ramp device used to measure the speed of greens. To measure the speed of a green, a ball is placed in the device and released down the ramp. For each foot of distance the ball rolls, a value of one is given. So, if a green is running a 9.5 on the Stimpmeter, the ball rolled 9.5 feet from the base of the chute from which the ball was released. Edward and his son played at Woods Hole, significantly adding to its place in the history of the game.
When approaching Woods Hole Golf Club, one is struck by the names of the streets that evoke feelings of a slower time – “Quisset” and “Sippawissett,” to name just two. The entrance road to Woods Hole Golf Club winds around and alongside the ninth fairway, giving us our first glimpse of the course itself. We were immediately struck by the elevation changes in the fairway. The clubhouse stands at the top of a hill, slightly left of and looking down to the 9th green. The green is cut into the side of the hill and has severe slopes throughout. It is an awesome sight to see, and you begin to think how strategic this hole may well be in any match played here. Length is not the focus at Woods Hole, but the greens will sure get your attention.
On the right, but not really visible, is the first fairway. The old caddie shack, now the pro shop, is perched along the road directly across the street from the right-hand bunker of the ninth hole. We leave our clubs there and proceed down to the parking lot located in the back of the property. Having donned our shoes, we proceed to the first tee. This might seem to be a simple process, but at Woods Hole the first tee is somewhat hidden to the left and snug up against the pro shop. Indeed, the course designers wasted no available piece of land, utilizing every possible spot to place tees and greens on this wonderful turn-of-the-century course.
We are greeted by affable Glenn Kelly, head professional of the club, who points us in the direction of that almost-hidden 1st tee. The opening hole at Woods Hole is short, and the tee shot is blind, for the landing area is down into a swale. Use a fairway wood, and keep it in play. The fairway rises again rapidly up to a green located snug up against the street we traveled to the club entrance. The second shot of the day requires one to select the correct club, factor the elevation, pick the right target line and hit it the right distance – and hope it doesn’t fly the green. Ooh boy! Now I get it!
We cross the road to the next tee, muttering about how fast these greens are, and step onto the tee. This No. 2 hole is nothing like the first. It is a long, expansive par-4 with a generous landing area, all of which is visible from the tee. The green, however, is just about as diabolical as you can imagine. It is large, undulating, with a false front, and sits in front of a large tree that borders the left side of the short par-3 6th hole. A mid to long iron is required to reach the hole, and be very thankful if you two-putt. The greens at Woods Hole are small, fast and sloped.
Nos. 3 and 6, both par-3s, share a large and newly rebuilt tee box. Each of these holes has had many renovations, particularly the 3rd. The 5th green is visible to the left and seems to be fitted in between the 6th green and the 3rd green. It is here that you realize how tight the boundaries of the course are. The big challenge of these next four holes is clearly the par- 4 No. 4.
The 4th tee is built-up and located behind a rock ridge in back of the 3rd green. A stonewall runs down the right side of this narrow fairway, calling for wayward shots. The left side of the fairway is guarded by a new bunker, strategically placed exactly where you want to hit your tee shot. Dang it! We select the safer choice and hit a fairway wood short of the bunker, leaving us about 145 yards to the hole. The green sits up against the property line and has two tiers, back to front. The second shot requires accuracy and perfect distance. Do not go long.
Holes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are short and tight. They seem to bump into each other. They are holes that clearly put a premium on brains (accuracy) and not brawn (length). No. 7 is where everything changes. This is one strong par-4. The tee shot is up-hill and requires you to stay left. The fairway then slopes steeply down into a dale. The green is again situated at the top of a hill, sloping back to front and left to right. Evergreen trees and a bunker protect the left side. The right side is woods. The second shot is severely uphill and correct club selection is a must. Reaching the green only gives you a chance at par. This green is slick and dangerous.
No. 8 is a downhill par-5 that plays to a small green. This hole is reachable in two by big hitters, but the second shot must be perfect. Making a birdie at 8 delivers you to No. 9 in the right fame of mind. The tee shot on No. 9 must be accurate and long enough to give you a flat or slightly uphill shot to the green. This is a very good par-4 that is picturesque and fun to play. But don’t relax once you’ve reached the putting surface, for the green is as challenging as any of the greens on the course.
No. 10 is similar to the first hole, but longer and with more width. The key here, as with many of the holes on this beautiful course, is the second shot. The green is small, surrounded by bunkers and tucked beneath shade trees that border the limits of the course. The green is a saucer that slopes back to front.
From here, Woods Hole plays out big and expansively, with each succeeding hole offering its unique blend of hazards and opportunity. Nos. 11 and 12 are back-to-back par-5s, with birdie more likely on No. 12 than on No. 11. The 11th green is a little sliver of elevated moss that seems about seven yards wide. No. 13 is probably one of the finest par-3s on Cape Cod. It measures about 180 yards and plays uphill. The green is cut into a hill that slopes left to right. The green is flat, like an Arizona mesa, but slopes back-to-front with runoffs right. The wind usually blows left to right, flicking errant shots down the hill. Missing the green right will bring out the local Search Committee.
The finish at Woods Hole is as enjoyable and challenging as any in the region. No. 15 is a sweeping dogleg right, with bunkers guarding the inside of the dogleg and thick rough along the outside portion of the fairway. The second shot is about 155 yards uphill to a small green with a false front. There is no room to hit long, as the green is at the edge of the property line near the roadway. The green is slippery, running back to front with big mounds to the right.
From No. 17, the blue vistas of the harbor waters and boats bobbing in the background require one to step back, to look and enjoy. But beware. This beauty is a trap like the Sirens of Ulysses, because the shot at hand requires the utmost attention. From the tee, although a mere 132 yards, the putting surface can resemble a green Frisbee that was run over by a car and tossed from the road onto the sandy beach. The green is so small, sloped, crowned and surrounded by sand that it can seem at first unhittable, beyond even an imaginary flight path. This is simply a one-of-a-kind golf hole.
The course ends with a strong par-4 that plays uphill. Here you must avoid the right side, as the fairway falls off into the rough. Again, accuracy and club selection are required to hit this well-guarded green that slopes left and right from the center.
The finish to playing Woods Hole lingers in your memory like a well-aged single malt lingers on your taste buds. The subtleties of the course design become vivid memory points, and you gain the knowledge that a good test of golf does not require a trek over 7,200 yards of turf.
Oh, yeah. Did I mention the view from No. 17?
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