Cape Cod Country Club (Falmouth, MA)

The  “Volcano” hole alone is worth the greens fee at Cape Cod Country Club!  The small green stares down from atop the hill, falloffs on every side, demanding your most accurate shot. It’s a classic Devereux Emmet hole and one that I believe would not be built today. The golden age of architecture had so many cool ideas often pushing the boundaries between fair and unfair. It is this untethered approach that makes me love playing these gems. 

CCCC was designed by Devereux Emmet and Alfred Tull in 1928. It is routed over bold landforms and big elevation changes. Some of the greens are incredibly wild in their location. (The opening hole is 30-40 feet on a little shelf!) The course only plays at 6,175 yards yet it stubbornly yields low scores. Much of this can be attributed to its staunch par threes including the 257 yard twelth! Talk about half pars! One will probably make four here and then make a four on the reachable 449 yard par five thirteenth. 

(The 449 yard par five thirteenth is reachable in two especially if you turn it over and the ball tumbles down the hill. As this view shows, balls that stay on the hill have this incredible shot to the green. Fail to make carry and the ball can run all the way back down. What an absolute thrill this half par is!) 

(This is a close up of the 360 yard par four fourteenth “Volcano” hole. Note left, long, and right have long grass waiting any shot not hit accurately. The two locals I played with purposely hit short in the fairway and took their chances from there.) 

(The 190 yard par three fifteenth is all carry. Check out the bunkers 20-40 yards short of the green. They see a lot of action. The green is slightly higher than the tee and plays a tad longer.) 

Why the course doesn’t get more love and is relatively unknown is beyond me. I suspect it’s yardage holds it back from the major publications. The last three holes don’t do it any favors either. Both seventeen and eighteen are sub 300 yard par fours. Residents of Cape Cod know it’s worth. It hosts the Cape Cod Senior Open every year. (It held the USGA Massachusetts Open in 1955,1956,1957) If you’re in the area, I highly recommend playing a round. I give it a solid 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play). 

(I played the back nine with a retired Air Force vet and a retired Coast Guard vet. They were both very gracious to allow the starter to pair me up with them as they made the turn. Some good conversations about the upcoming NFL season, how the “Dead Sox” are playing, and good old fashioned life made it a great nine holes. I birdied 11 and bogeyed 12&16 for a 36.) 

(The 407 yard par four tenth.) 

(Believe it or not, there’s talks of turning this property into a solar farm. The Fried Egg had a write up about it last month, and I’m hoping that the uptick in golf will give the citizens of Falmouth a new appreciation for the gem they possess in their town.) 

L. C. Boles Memorial (Wooster, OH)

Owned by the College of Wooster, Boles Memorial is a nine hole course free to students and $12 for everyone else. With such a low price point, it’s hard to be overly critical of it. The bluegrass fairways are adequately cut while the bent grass greens are smooth and velvety. The property is a hillside bisected by a road. 1,2,9 are on one side while 3-8 are on the other. The course is decently routed with holes marching up, down, and even across the slope. The greens are deceptive, breaking much more than first glance. The hillside mutes them because the topography is rolling. 

The course starts off with a driveable par four. It’s only 251 yards but downhill and blind. The up and over second has a left to right cant. The third at 440 yards is the longest par four. The green is brutal as it slopes hard to the left. Four is the only par five playing uphill across the slope but short at 450 yards. It is my favorite hole as the green is perched on the very top of the hill. It’s tough to hit it with a wedge let alone a long iron in two shots. Five could be a good par three but growth of the brush and trees cramp the tee shot and the downhill view. The 312 yard sixth is uphill and blind. It’s a tough green with the front tipped but the rear pitched forward. Seven is then downhill, playing opposite of six and eight. Even at 364 yards, it’s driveable for the long hitters. Eight goes back uphill and plays very long for its 393 yards. Like six, the green is tipped in front but pitched forward in the rear. Nine is the only “eh” hole doglegging 90 degrees to the right. Shorter hitters will have a hard time making the turn. All in all, not a bad nine holer. The golf team at least will get good at hitting off a variety of lies. This is a standard 3 (average)(worth driving 15-30 minutes to play). The story of the local kid playing 5,500 holes in a single year originated here. He lived off the second hole. 

Oakland University Katke Cousins Course (Rochester Hills, MI)

I would be willing to post Oakland University’s two golf courses against any 36 hole college facility in the country. They are that good! The Katke Cousins is a muscular 7,273 yard par 72. It was designed in 1975 by Robert Beard. It sits on John Dodge’s old Meadow Brook estate and is a terrific piece of property. The course cascades down the hillside to a lush valley where Galloway Creek meanders throughout. Wildflowers, wetlands, and diverse wildlife gives it a wonderful walk through the park feel. 

The four dogleg right par fours at 5,7,13,14 seem to stick out the most in my mind. It’s a key stretch in the middle of the round, and by themselves, are strong holes, but together they get repetitive. The player with a power fade in his bag will have a decided advantage. Fourteen is the best of the bunch. It doglegs around a valley forcing one to pick his line and successfully make the carry. It’s also the shortest and can lure the long hitter into driving it as close as possible. 

(The short par three eighth is backdropped by Meadow Brook Hall to the left and is the highlight of the front nine. The green is ringed by four bunkers and demands a very precise shot…
…the gorgeous stone and brick structure offers tours for those who enjoy architecture.)

The back nine is where Katke Cousins really shines. It starts out strong with two very fine par fours and finishes with three excellent holes in 5-4-5 sequence. The sixteenth is one of the coolest par fives I’ve played. It tumbles downhill into the valley before abruptly climbing uphill where the green is tucked beside a large tree. The key is to ascend the hill in two shots otherwise the third is uphill and blind. Seventeen follows with water left, right and crossing 260-280 yards. It’s the ultimate tee shot with nowhere to miss. Eighteen finishes the round off with a 619 yard uphill into the wind par five that stops just short of the beautiful white clubhouse. It is an absolute beast of a hole! 

(The eleventh drops into a slight valley with the green backdropped by a pond and waterfall. Today’s green light pin position is fun to attack but not so much when it is in the rear.) 

The Katke Cousins is only the second collegiate course  (after University of Michigan) to host the Michigan Open, a tournament that has been around since 1916. It’s also held many qualifiers and PGA sectionals. For the single digit golfer, this is the course you want to play.  It’s the epitome of tournament golf with narrow fairways and tough greens. I give it a 6 (very good)(worth driving two hours to play). 

(The par five eighteenth hole climbs uphill to finish the round. The player must be precise especially with his second shot as the fairway is squeezed in by natural falloffs. The green occupies the highest point of the property. A great view awaits once you arrive.) 

[we played the Bear tees at 6,299 yards. Between the intermittent rain and gusting winds, I thought we had decent scores sans the few blowup holes. Josh only pays $14 during the week and $20 on weekends to walk both the Katke and Sharf courses. It almost makes me want to enroll myself.]

[This is blog #450! I have my eyes set on the next fifty and believe 2025 will be when I achieve the half millennium mark. We are very fortunate to live in the Great Lakes and I wholeheartedly believe that the best golf courses in America, possibly the whole world, are right here!! Michigan in particular continues to impress me. I’ve played more 6s and 7s here than anywhere else!]

Oakland University Sharf Course Review

http://golfingwithshawn.blogspot.com/2022/07/oakland-university-r-sharf-course.html?m=1