Course Review- SPRING 2004
Nice Layout, Great Location

HYANNIS GOLF CLUB
Hyannis, MA
Tel: 508-362-4551
"Very enjoyable layout with some difficult contours on the greens. At the end of the first nine, it gets a little ugly with the overhead power lines, but overall it is reasonable to look at. For the better player, there are birdie opportunities available, but equally there are ample chances to drop shots. For me, overall it was a nice introduction to American golf."

That's how Tom Leatherbarrow described Hyannis Golf Club at golfweb@pgatour.com, a website with facts and opinions on thousands of golf courses all over the world Ð from the age and architect of each track to the number of rounds played each year, to the impressions of those customers who feel strongly enough to supply a review.

Not all of the reviews are as succinct as Leatherbarrow's, and many are so wrong-headed as to make you wonder why the person even bothered, but as a resource guide for the traveling public, there is none better.

In the case of Hyannis (hyannisgc.com), not to be confused with the Hyannisport Club, on the other edge of town and a 10-year waiting list away, there are two reviews on the website. The second qualified as a "Why bother?' The reviewer vented all of his frustrations after a five-and-a- half-hour round played behind a foursome suffering rigor mortis.

Leatherbarrow's review, on the other hand, pretty much captured the experience of playing a round at Hyannis.

Hyannis is a feather in the Chamber of Commerce cap, the golf version of the Christmas Tree Shop at the foot of the Sagamore Bridge: visible to the passing throng on Route 6, privately-owned but open to the public, and alluring to a key segment of the tourist population whose first meaningful impression could well be formed based on how they feel about this particular feature.

Located in the crosshairs of Route 132 and Exit 6 off the Mid-Cape Highway, Hyannis GC is one of a handful of golf courses visible to motorists between Boston and Brewster, along with a couple in Plymouth and Bayberry Links in Yarmouth (the site of the old dump), all pleasing parts of the resort tableau; Hyannis is a signature course in the so-called Golf Coast of Cape Cod.
Likewise, Hyannis plays a prominent role in the region's standing as a golf community, because it is open to the public but not municipal. Your experience here could make the difference between a good trip and a lousy one, between a well-spent day and a big mistake, in the way a good bar or a well-stocked newsstand might.

This position cuts both ways. While it helps to attract players, it also adds a certain amount of responsibility for the owners to create a positive experience, like a first impression.

That helps to explain the 10-point plan that owners Joe Keller and Fordie Pitts embarked on eight years ago when they purchased the course. Some aspects of the improvement scheme related strictly to the course's playability (fixing the tees, for example), and others related more to the facility's overall appearance, such as the clubhouse renovation.
The Number 10 item on that list was just completed: Replacing the parking lot lights and constructing traffic islands to improve the flow. But don't think for a second that Hyannis is done with improvements.

"We've been reinvesting the money in the course ever since we bought it, and that'll continue to be the case, even though we didn't make any money this year for the first time after seven straight,' Keller said, adding, "No one did very well this year."

Iraq, unemployment, 9/11, the after-effects of a Wall Street dive and a generally uncertain economic outlook have conspired with a truly lousy run of weather to wreak havoc on the bottom lines of many a seasonal industry such as golf. If all this has Pitts and Keller down in the dumps, you wouldn't be able to tell by the way they operate their golf course.

They do all the small things right, providing a welcoming atmosphere in the pro shop, stocking all the things golfers like in the snack bar, and keeping the course, especially the tees and greens, in the kind of shape you would expect at some of the better private clubs.

What Pitts and Keller seem to understand is that if you skimp on maintenance in the tough times, people are going to remember, and the good times will be harder to find. That and the fact that these guys simply wouldn't want to own a shoddy golf course. As golfers first, and golf course proprietors second, they get agitated even hearing war stories about other courses Ð like the resort where the sand/seed boxes on the tees have been neglected so badly that roots are sprouting inside the boxes, a story that sent Keller reeling with invective for the infidels who could live like that.

They also exhibit a fondness for the sport by hosting a ton of events, leagues, pro-am tournaments, seasonal specials and annual tournaments. They also cater to the novice with a youth program that features a set of yellow tees listed on the scorecard as the "player development course" (4,455 yards, with holes as short as 85 yards and as long as 390).

For the architectural appeal of Hyannis GC credit goes to Keller, Pitts and Bob St. Thomas who masterminded the current course. The course was originally designed by Geoffrey Cornish and William Armstrong and had fallen into disrepair from over a quarter century of benign neglect.

Right from the first you can tell a few things about Hyannis: that it's built on a bumpier terrain than most Cape courses, which can be flat to the point of dull; that it's challenging in its width, if not always its length; that it's essentially a golf course in the woods, as opposed to being in the corridors of development as so many other public resort courses are.

At 370 yards from the tips (and 340 from the whites), No. 1 is the shortest of the four par 4's that begin the round. To many golfers this is as it should be, a starting hole that doesn't derail your game before it even gets going. Which is not to say it's a piece of cake, because the hole requires a drive down the middle or bogey becomes a likely scenario.

Next up is the No. 1 handicap hole, at 420 yards with a big dip in the middle that adds yardage to the second shot. You stand at the tee here and survey the expanse of fairway, which must stretch 50 yards across, and think, "I can do this, just grip it and rip it.Ó Big mistake. This has a tendency to introduce sloppiness to your swing, risking a slice into the big trees right or a hook into the valley left. What you want is what you always want Ð something straight and long enough to reach the green with an iron you've used before.

The first three-shotter on the course comes at No. 5, a 554-yard dogleg right into a prevailing wind that makes the second shot seem like a mis-hit no matter how well it was struck. On the other hand, the green is big, accessible and fairly flat, so a lengthy up and down is something to shoot for.

After a fairly pedestrian par 4 sixth, players get back-to-back par 3's at Nos. 7 and 8, 160 yards and 211 yards respectively. A great thing happened to me here, and it ended up turning a lousy day into an unmitigated success. Standing on the tee at eight, we noticed that the threesome in front of us had splashed their balls everywhere but on, and so they did the decent thing and invited us to play through. Ordinarily, this would have had a disastrous effect on my game, something akin to a photographer snapping a shot in Tiger's backswing. But not today. Today I stood up there and plunked a soft fairway wood to the middle of the green, past the flag, with a long down-hill putt coming back that seemed to trickle to the hole on its own. It was one of those great golf moments when you try your hardest to look like this is the kind of thing you do all the time, you thank the guys for letting you through, and head to the next hole without cracking up into hysterical laughter.

No. 9 is my favorite hole on the course, visually impaired by the aforementioned power lines, but a blast to play from tee to green~ especially if your second shot flies into the right rough and happens to sit up nicely in the grass, allowing for a clean chip to within a foot, with people milling around the pro shop beyond the green.

Nos. 10 and 11 complete a four-hole run of very challenging golf. At 487 yards from the back, the par 5 tenth plays to a straight and narrow fairway that requires two solid shots to lay up in front of a bunker that guards the elevated green. No. 11 is one of those holes that begs the clichŽ about separating men and boys. It's either 230 from the back or 125 from the whites. We played it from the whites and, after carding two 2's, were glad we did.

No. 12 begins a run of five holes that take you up, down and around the quiet, woodsy back edge of this course, with two short par 4's from the middle tees (315 at No. 13 and 308 at No. 16), a monster 575-yard par 5 at 14 (the No. 2 handicap hole) and a tricky little par 3 at 15, with a bunker protecting the front and some long rough all around.

It's right around here that you realize you've been having a great time, loving the way the course plays, the way the greens roll consistently and true, the way the world has been kept at bay, and the fact that the card hasn't gotten all mucked up with hockey sticks and cross-outs.
However, this is not a good time to relax and count your chickens Ð not just yet. No. 17 is manageable enough, at 400 from the back, with a couple of big bunkers but no real trouble.

No. 18 is the one that can send you home wondering what the heck happened out there. At 429 for the big boys, and 388 for normal people, this is a finishing hole with a bite. Not only is it always into the wind, it requires a stiff second shot between a wet grave on the right and a low-lying thicket on the left, a cauldron of trouble that might have you choking up and chopping one short, not exactly the favored position to be in if you need the hole.

This is what Tom Leatherbarrow was talking about as an ample chance to drop a shot, and maybe a sawbuck, too, if the game alone isn't enough self-abuse.