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Golf on Cape Cod - Golf History
Cummaquid Golf Club
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The
86-year-old retired bank president (Cape Cod Cooperative), two-time
Cummaquid Golf Club champion and oldest active member in terms
of consecutive years (54), then offered; "I always like to
recall a humorous incident when the word cow pasture comes up."
Crowell then proceeded to describe how, during a tournament, his
opponent topped a drive, and the ball rolled and disappeared into
thick underbrush. "When we walked into the 'puckerbrush,'
he dropped his bag to search fort he ball. Well, he finally found
the ball, all right, but then he couldn't find his bag." |
| Nye Crowell (left, a Cummaquid. "You have to drive well. There are a series of holes that require perfect placement because of the out-of-bounds and narrow fairways. It's not the length of the course or the greens; it's the tee shots." |
Gary Philbrick, Director of Golf at Olde Barnstable Fairgrounds
Golf Course
in Marstons Mills, is well acquainted with Cummaquid. "You
have to drive well. There are a series of holes that require perfect
placement because of the out-of-bounds and narrow fairways. It's
not the length of the course or the greens; it's the tee shots."
A journey through history book pages back into the late 19th century
reveals that a small group of golfers from the towns of Yarmouth
and Barnstable carved out a nine-holer two years before the official
organization of the Cummaquid Club. The course rolled across a
terrain behind the present Yarmouth Port Post Office. However,
no reference to details of the course or its longevity could be
found.
When the site of the present course was officially acquired, it
presented the organizing group, headed by Dr. Gorham Bacon and
the club's first president, G. W. Simpkins, with intriguing problems.
One example: coping with a stone wall that had been built across
the first fairway about 50 feet in front of the first green. Historical
records reveal that the wall and numerous other walls across the
land were dismantled, their stones sold to the town and used as
a foundation for the present Route 6A that runs from Sagamore
to Orleans along the Cape's north shore.
Less than one year after the organization, the club's first clubhouse
was built on a site overlooking the first tee. The often-renovated
building still stands in the same location.
Were it possible for today's members to journey to the clubhouse
site, as it appeared in the final days of the 19th Century, they
would stand stunned. The view would be a sweeping scene with tennis
courts, a windmill, a water tower, a sun dial, the small clubhouse,
and, at times, light horse and buggy traffic.
There was little to disturb the serenity of the private club and
its members during the very early years of the 20th Century. There
was however, a noticeable decline in activity throughout World
War I years and the '20s, but it wasn't until the middle of the
'40s that ominous storm clouds appeared, signaling serious trouble.
World War II had taken a toll on a weary country and, despite
signs that the war was nearing an end, golfing activity at Cummaquid
sunk to its lowest level ever. On September 12, 1945, the board
of governors ordered the club closed. It wasn't until seven months
later that stockholders convened to discuss the crisis and quickly
voted to make an attempt to keep the club going. The vote changed
the Cummaquid golf history.
The crucial vote, followed by the end of World War II, sparked
an enthusiastic renewal of interest and set the stage for Cummaquid's
expansion and heady popularity. But the speedy growth and clamor
for memberships led to an issue that fractured the comfortable
calmness and resulted in the club's most raucous meeting in June,
1968. The issue: Should Cummaquid expand to 18 holes?
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| The 11th hole requires a perfectly placed drive became of the narrow fairway. |
"It was pretty wild," former club president Bernie
Wilber remembered. "There was a group that felt Cummaquid
would lose its cozy privacy and friendliness and become a country
club. They fought like hell against the proposal, but the plan
carried."
The following August, stockholders resoundingly approved the land
purchase for the new holes and a contract was signed with golf
designer Henry Mitchell of West Dennis to proceed with expansion
plans.
Two years later, on July 8, the 18-hole course was unveiled and
on July 26, 1970, Wilber, during whose term as president the expansion
was completed, told a Dedication Day ceremony, "Today is
Cummaquid's finest hour." He could easily have added, "and
the day we bury the cow pasture."
Often overlooked in the continuing salutes to Cummaquid's progress
and popularity are the contributions of Allan Stewart, the clubs
eighth Head Professional Manager. Here again, Cummaquid can point
with pride to wise decision-making.
Stewart arrived on the scene after brief stops at Nashawtuc in
Concord, MA, and White Cliffs Club in Manomet section of Plymouth,
several miles north of the Cape Cod Canal.
To have maintained a stewardship of 30 consecutive years in a
profession where constant changes in club affiliations are the
norm is strong testimony to Stewart's dedication to Cummaquid
and of the membership support and appreciation of that dedication.
The mid-century growth and popularity at Cummaquid was accompanied
by an enthusiastic interest and participation in the game by the
Cape's young people. And the club can point with pride to its
recognition as the home and training ground of two members who
achieved success and conquered the treacherous path leading to
the starry skies of the PGA Tour. The name Jim Hallet heads the
list. Grandson of the late Cummaquid pro-manager Ollie Hallet
and son of Ollie Jr., one of the Cape's better known and successful
amateurs. Hallet gained more than a modicum of success for 10
years. A severe wrist injury forced him to the sidelines and hampered
his ability to regain hi PGA card. (Hallet also has been associated
for many years with Bass River Golf Course.)
Other notables include Jeff Lewis of Sandwich, who enjoyed a brief
run on the PGA Tour along with successes in New England; Barbara
Fitzpatrick, Cape Cod Community College professor, who owns an
amazing streak of 12 consecutive women's club championships, and
a total of 19 (the streak was snapped last year by Megan Tripp,
a young Cummaquid member who was injured fatally in a fall while
on a trip to Australia last winter.); Osterville native John Curley,
who grain national recognition and later competed on the Canadian
Tour; and Mark O'Brien of Centerville, who at age 21 won the Cummaquid
club title while a member of the Bryant College, RI, golf team
and today is Director of Golf at The Captains Course in Brewster.
Dramatic and exciting sums up the many changes at Cummaquid through the
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years. No longer the uncultivated pasture, the finely manicured
private course that excludes strong character today nestles courtly
a few Tiger Woods-like tee shots from the chilly waters of Cape
Cod Bay in a hamlet the Indians called "Chummaquid,"
meaning "Long Point."
Cummaquid Golf Club: where greens fees at one time were less than
the price of today's cup of coffee and doughnut, where membership
dues were little more than a restaurant dinner tab, where club
clientele were predominantly blue-collar workers (most of them
male), and where today the creme de la creme of motor cars has
replaced the small trucks and well-traveled old vehicles that
once filled the parking area.
"Oh sure! The old pasture. I played it more than most anyone
alive today," said former club president James "Scuppy"
Crowell, who joined the club 45 years ago. "And I loved it!
Cummaquid was much like a closely-knit community club then. Those
times don't exist anymore. But, hey, it's 2001." Crowell
was asked what he remembered most about Cummaquid.
"I'll tell you. When I hit a three-iron over the water on
the old sixth (120 yards) for a hole-in-one, and you put in the
newspaper that 'Crowell lofted a nine-iron for his ace.' And then
Frank (his opponent) called the paper the next day and told the
to get their facts straight. That it was a three-iron shot."
The Cummaquid cow pasture is long gone. Yet, for the remaining
few grizzled older seniors who had no fear to tread where cows
might now, it still remains a pleasant memory of happier and more
contented days of golfing.
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