Review: Cape Cod Country Club (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Cape Cod Country Club, go here to see the front nine.

The tenth hole is a fairly long 425 yard par 4 that swings left through the bottom of a shallow valley. The ideal tee shot is aimed at the fairway bunker right and drawn slightly. The green is fairly narrow and wedged between a bunker left and a hill to the right. Right is a very bad place to miss the green unless the ball bounces back down, as the green slopes from right to left. If you get caught up on the hillside, you'll have a steeply downhill lie to a green that runs away from you. 

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is the longest hole at Cape Cod, playing nearly 550 yards as it swings constantly leftward through the forest. The hole is reachable though if you challenge the dogleg and the treeline, though the target is not large from that far out. However, no matter how good the tee shot, the second shot will be blind until the fairway crests a small ridge about 150 yards from the green. For most people, the second shot is just a set-up for a wedge third shot. The green slopes from left to right, and there's a severe dropoff right into three bunkers and dense forest. It's not an easy shot with a wedge, let alone with a wood. This is a hole probably best played as a three shotter.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

A bit of a theme of this trip seemed to be incredibly long par 3s, as Metacomet and Butter Brook both had par 3s pushing 250 yards. But the twelfth at Cape Cod stands alone, as it plays 265 yards from the back tees. I'm absolutely certain that makes this the longest par 3 I've ever played. It technically plays downhill, but only by a few feet, and there are so many trees around that any wind assistance would be minimal. There are two bunkers right that are more fairway bunkers than greenside, as even the further one is set 10-20 yards back from the green. The two bunkers left are greenside though. My advice here, as it was for the long par 3s at Butter Brook and Metacomet, is to play the hole as I'm betting it was originally intended: as a short par 4. Lay up on the left side of the fairway about 20-50 yards short and pitch on. You can still make 3 and reasonably ensure yourself a 4.

The incredibly long par 3 twelfth hole.

The twelfth green. This is not a bad place to lay up.

The thirteenth hole is a short par 5, playing less than 500 yards. The hole is level for the first half, but then drops down a few dozen feet as the fairway swings nearly 90 degrees left. You can hit some big tee shots on this hole if you reach that downslope. Sure, the green is perched up on a big hill and you'll have a nearly blind second shot, but you're still going into a par 5 with a short or mid iron, it's a reasonable tradeoff. By the way, get used to seeing green complexes like this one, where there's a lot of going down and then back up to get to the green. We'll be seeing it a lot in this closing stretch.

The thirteenth hole.

Get used to approaches like this.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is the sort of hole that you'll probably never forget. It's not long, only 365 yards, but it doesn't need length to defend it. The tee shot is pretty open, though long hitters may want to hit a 3 wood to stay short of the fairway bunker that eats into the right side of the fairway. That's not the tough part. It's the second shot where the challenge comes in. This may be why Donald Ross has been associated with the course, as the Volcano green is typically associated with him. I've played a couple Volcano holes before, at Bedford Springs and Shennecossett, and those were both par 3s. This is a par 4 and the approach is only half the length, which does it make it a bit easier, but not by much. The green is tiny and there's a 30-40 foot drop right, left, and short. Miss it and you're going all the way down. In my opinion, the hole would be great if the green was maybe 50% bigger. There's just so little space up there and the penalty for missing is so severe, a bit more space would make the second shot merely scary instead of terrifying. But just a bit, I don't want to take anything away from the memorability of the hole. 

The fourteenth hole.

One of the most difficult wedges you'll ever hit.

The fifteenth hole is a 190 yard par 3 that plays over a deep valley. This is a hole where you really don't want to come up short. Those bunkers are not pleasant places to be. While I think this is a good hole, the fact that we just had two extremely elevated greens works against it. Sooner or later, it can get a bit tiresome having to worry about coming up short and watching your ball roll back down the hill.

The fifteenth hole.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is something you don't see too often: a consecutive par 3. There's a good reason for that though, as the hole is not original. From what I can tell, the sixteenth was originally a par 4, but a house was placed where the fairway was, so the hole was reconfigured into a 200 yard par 3. And that makes some sense, as the walk from the fifteenth green to this tee was rather long. The hole itself isn't bad, but it's not that good. The bunkers around the green provide decent defense, but the hole is dead flat and the green isn't anything to write home about. 

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

Refreshingly, Cape Cod concludes with a pair of short 4s. The seventeenth is the easier and shorter of the two, playing 315 yards down a wide open fairway. There's plenty of room for the wayward driver (aka, me) to hit a wayward drive and still get away with it. There's tall grass left, but this is New England tall grass, not Maryland tall grass. It's still perfectly playable, but not easy to get out of. The green is protected by bunkers long and right, and the right side of the green falls away a fair amount. It's still a good birdie opportunity, and the hole is drivable for the longer hitters out there. 

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole, in a way, plays very similar to the last hole. It's only 15 yards longer and the fairway does a similar drop and then rise to the green so that the tee and green are at roughly the same elevation. This hole has many more trees though, and they're on both sides. That makes the calculus on the tee much trickier. You could play it the same, but you're risking quite a bit. I imagine most people opt to play safer and leave themselves the uphill, semiblind approach. If you can lay up at a distance that avoids the fairway bunker on the right, even better. The green has a bit of a false front, though not nearly as severe as the one on seven. Short approaches definitely won't roll all the way back down. I like this as a finishing hole. It's short enough that you can still reasonably make birdie, but it's not easy. You have to hit a good drive to get anything out of it.

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

At no point during the round did I think: "Wow, this is a really great hole I'm playing." Some people may feel that way about the fourteenth, but I thought it was a little too much. There were no standouts, in my opinion, but what Cape Cod does have is 18 good, solid holes. The fourteenth may be a bit ridiculous and the twelfth is 30 yards too long, but I wouldn't call either hole bad or boring. And beyond that, the golf is good. There's a decent amount of elevation change and the course is sand based, so it plays firm and fast. 

As far as value, Cape Cod is pretty good for the area. It was $43 to walk on a weekday morning, which isn't cheap, but when everything else is $20 more at least, it's just fine. Golf in Massachusetts is in general a bit more expensive than Pennsylvania and upstate New York, from what I've experienced in my limited time there. Not more so than Maryland, though, and the golf is way better. I'd definitely recommend the course if you're out on Cape Cod and looking for a good public golf experience. Or if you're looking for a course to play in the morning as you head out to Highland Links for an evening tee time, as we did.