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Golf on Cape Cod Course Review
Since the last time Hyannis GC was reviewed in these pages, the course has been changed in two salient ways: It is busier now that it is a municipal course, having been acquired by the town from Joe Keller and Fordie Pitts, whose era of private operation spared that already-congested artery of Cape Cod another round of speculative housing. And it has a new entranceway, the result of roadwork on Route 132, where a signaled intersection has been added and the club’s driveway has been reconfigured to resemble the last turn in that famously winding road in San Francisco, Lombard Street. It is a fitting metaphor in more ways than one, as the distinctive traits here are hills and valleys, steep landings and narrow openings, where reach-ability is the carrot and trees are the sticks. From the top of Lombard, you can see Alcatraz. From almost every hole at Hyannis, you get an elevated view of a valley below, a green in the distance and jail right and left. As much as any of the 50 courses on the Cape and Islands, scoring well at Hyannis requires solid course management. No, it isn’t long, at 6002 yards from the whites, and it doesn’t have much water. But those hills, those hills are alive with the sound of…bogey. Just how much of a difference good course management can make to your score might not have been apparent were it not for our pairing with a member named Frank Connolly, a 78-year old retiree who would not have been playing Hyannis that morning, except they had a tournament going on at the Fairgrounds, so he drove over here to play a quick nine. And a quick nine it was — a succession of pars and tap-in bogies marred only by his lost ball in the hidden drink on No. 4, where the ideal drive must be good enough to hold the left side of the fairway or so bad that a shot opens up from another fairway. For the driver who hits to the right, this could be the time for that ball retriever you never use. Where I might have gone fishing, Frank just dropped another and hit it, and regained his form in the process, despite the double-bogey. When’s the last time you played here, Frank? “Wednesday,” he said. “Shot 91.” Right from the first, it was obvious he knew what he was doing. While we He was short but in the middle on No. 1, while we were on the hill right. He was short but in the middle on No. 2, while we were long right and in the woods. He was short but in the middle on No. 3, while we were in the rough left. He was short but in the middle on No. 4, while we were scattered all over creation, trying to figure out why he was about to reach his fourth green in regulation and we had yet to card a par. No. 5 presents the first par-five, at 528 yards, but the same holds true. If you don’t get your drive in the fairway, forget it. Hit it straight and long and the bunker in the middle might wreck your day. Hit it left, trees. Hit it right and you find a slippery slope that spells hockey stick. (Note to right-handed players who rent carts on damp days and tend to hit with a slice: when in doubt, it is best to drive back toward the tee and go around In the same way that Highland Links reflects the remoteness of Truro, and Oyster Harbors GC reflects the swells of Osterville, Hyannis reflects its village’s status as the transportation hub of Cape Cod, easy to get to, just off the highway, and often in the flight path of the planes in and out of Barnstable Municipal Airport. As for distinguishing characteristics, besides the terrain, Hyannis has water on five holes, two par-three’s in a row at 7 and 8, and 10 par fours under 400 yards. One perennial favorite is No. 9, a 404-yard par four that climbs out of a valley of long grass to a hill with bunkers on both sides and then slopes down to a green where the smart guest knows to come in from the right, that or get the sand wedge out again. Another hole you won’t see anywhere else is No. 18, ranked second in difficulty to the slippery par-5 mentioned above, and popular as the place to win or lose a golf tournament. It’s only 388 yards, but as nasty as they come for those of us just learning the finer points of course management. If you crush a drive here to the right, it’s either wet or just plain lost. Crush a drive here to the left and you’ve found the penal colony. Only a perfect plain vanilla drive down the middle stands any chance for future success, for the second shot is every bit as intimidating as the first, and can only reach the sanctuary of an elevated green if it is dropped from a safe height and stopped. Otherwise, there’s a bunker in back and long grass all around.
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