GOLF ON CAPE COD COURSE REVIEW

Falmouth & Southers Marsh

By Nick Smith
Photographs by George Peet

FALMOUTH COUNTRY CLUB

Falmouth Country Club is one of eight golf courses in the greater Falmouth area, including the two private clubs in Mashpee - New Seabury and Willowbend - as well as their public counterpart, Quashnet Valley.

With all that competition in such close proximity, what’s a golf course to do to attract a steady stream of play? That is the question, according to Peter Barbutto, General Manager at Falmouth Country Club. How do you first get the players to the course? Then, how do you make them come back?

Of course, asking these questions is no hidden secret to success. This is the challenge of running a golf course on Cape Cod, for every golf course on Cape Cod. The golf courses must attract and retain play in order to stay alive.

Over the last few years Falmouth Country Club has had a few ideas on how to answer these all important management questions. They’ve remodeled the golf course, adding ten new holes to the middle section of the existing 18-hole stretch (hole #’s 4-13) and creating what is now coined “The Championship Course”, a par 72, 6,535-yard layout with a 118 slope and a 70 USGA rating.

Instead of bulldozing the old nine holes, they kept them for safekeeping, renamed the tract the “Talon” course, and set up special rates for play. Who knows when you’re going to need another nine holes of golf on a Sunday afternoon, right? Right.

The Talon course could be the longest nine-hole trek this side of the Mississippi, boasting two 495 + par 5’s and two 420 + par 4’s, adding up to a cumulative 3455 yards for the side. If The Championship Course is backed up with tee times, which is an uncommon occurrence, Peter Barbutto recommends giving the Talon course a shot. “It’s a legitimate nine holes that will definitely give you a run for your money,” said Barbutto. “And if you feel like playing 18 holes, you can always play the Talon twice,” he added.

The changes to the 18-hole course are great. The new holes come as a welcome addition to the former Falmouth Country Club layout, in a stretch of woods that has allowed the holes to be carved away from the surrounding neighborhoods, subsequently providing that enjoyable golfing-in-the-woods-without-any-houses-around environment. After all, it’s always a comforting feeling to know that someone reading the newspaper and eating a snack won’t have to look out their living room window to watch a high handicapper take a big chunk of grass out of the fairway—unless, of course, you’re the kind of golfer who enjoys the attention. To each his own, as they say.

Along with that sought-after isolated golf environment comes plenty of water hazards to keep golfers on their toes. Water comes into play on six of the new 10 holes, making course management essential to good play.

Overall, Falmouth is a tight, flat, and thus walkable course. There aren’t too many fairways that allow for erratic shots, and the wind certainly doesn’t make things any easier. Even on the drive over to Falmouth Country Club, while you’re drinking coffee on a Sunday morning, start thinking about the Golden Rule of blustery golf courses, “swing easy…swing easy when it’s breezy”. Combine that mental preparation with a solid half an hour on the practice tee, maybe 15 minutes on the practice green, and the groundwork is laid for a steady round.

If the knock-down and bump-and-run shots aren’t the strong shots in your bag, be sure to get out on the driving range at Falmouth Country Club. The range has an all grass practice tee and usually delivers a strong headwind that will prepare you for the conditions on the course.

The first three holes on the “The Championship Course” are from the old layout and relatively easy, but tricky given a headwind. The first hole, a straight 400 yard par 4, is a good starting hole as long as the tee shot remains in the somewhat tight fairway. The second is a similarly straightforward par 3 that requires a full mid-iron at 175 yards. Occasionally the windswept nature of Falmouth Country Club can be most brutal on the first and especially the 2nd hole. An iron shot off the tee on the third hole is never a bad idea, but we all know how tempting the thought of a sand wedge as opposed to an eight iron approach shot can be as we’re staring down the barrel of a 370-yard par 4.

The fourth hole, a short par 4 that doglegs slightly to the right, is the first of the new “ten” holes. Its elevated tee provides a good look at the fairway that opens up to the left before veering off to the right about halfway from tee to green. The fourth, like the next nine holes, will not tolerate any of those banana balls careening off the clubface in either direction, so take umbrage at the fourth and heed the call of “keep it in the fairway”. It will be a consistent call throughout.

The 403-yard, par 4 fifth hole introduces the first possibility of a one-stroke water hazard penalty, roughly 100 yards from the green. The hazard is not big enough to swallow every poorly crafted approach, yet you get the feeling that the design team wasn’t trying to go easy on the golfers who under club themselves on approach shots. The fear of hitting the ball short and to the right is very real.

The 175-yard sixth hole is the second par 3 on the front side, and again the water short and to the right can stiffen an otherwise lubed golf swing up until that point. The seventh hole gives you a break from the wet stuff, but it’s no easy par 4. A strong dogleg to the left makes the 381-yard hole’s tee shot a delicate decision.

At the end of the seventh hole, management at Falmouth Country Club decided to build a new snack shack, with the typical crackers and soda, hot dogs, and cold beer kind of grub. It’s not a bad idea to have a bite to eat after the seventh hole, because the snack shack doesn’t show its face again until the 13th —and the clubhouse is only drivable on holes #1 and #18.

The eighth and ninth holes, a 531-yard par 5 followed by a 426-yard par 4, end the front nine with more difficult tee shots and two well protected greens surrounded by a couple of big sand bunkers on #8 and a series of smaller bunkers on #9.

The greens on the new “ten” are like any freshly-grown-in greens— a little hard, spotty in places, and demanding of shots with a little backspin. They’re well shaped though, free from any major rifts and valleys and, in due time, the greens are sure to grow in nicely. In the meantime, golfers should be wary of the challenges that these new greens present.

The 516-yard par 5 tenth hole might be reachable for some players, but for those who are intimidated by thick tree lines on both sides of a roughly 25-yard fairway, with water on the right about 225 yards out, the thought of three easy swings to a mid-size green would be a healthy alternative to the eagle putt.

The 11th hole, a 385-yard par 4, allows a little room on the left side off the tee before offering a wide-open approach to the green. A par on the 11th should be expected, even for those who consider breaking 100 a good day on the golf course.

The 151-yard par 3 12th, the 17th handicap hole, is similarly easy and offers a great, short golf hole visual, with the yellow sand of the bunkers surrounding the petite green. Perhaps after two pars on 11 and 12, you can reward yourself with one of those ice-cold beers at the snack shack. For those who imbibe, though, beware. The finishing holes are no simple undertaking.

The 13th hole ends the new “ten” with the longest par 4 on the entire course at a monstrous 427 yards. The large rolling crevasse that sits directly in front of the green will make you want to add some extra ummph to an approach that will already have you swinging hard.

Then it’s back to the old Falmouth Country Club layout —with some different numbers on the holes, of course. The 14th and the 15th are still among the few back-to-back par 5’s on Cape Cod. The 14th still has that little creek running down the right hand side of the fairway. The 15th hole still allows some room for a strong swing off the tee—until, of course, the funnel effect of the latter half of the hole requires accurate iron play to a small postage stamp green. The 16th is still is the only hole with a hill at Falmouth Country Club, and the large green that sits atop should be a model for how the greens on the new “ten” should be grown. The 17th is still a long, deceptively simple, 190-yard par 3. And the par 4 18th green is a quick finish, 390 yards from the tee.

Remember a few things about Falmouth Country Club: bring your walking bag, bring your “swing easy when it’s breezy” shot selection, enjoy the new “ten” holes, and don’t forget that the nine-hole Talon course is an excellent alternative for those busy summer golf days when a tee time is elusive.

There’s a reason why Falmouth Country Club has flourished in the competitive Cape Cod golf market. It’s a great course that is as challenging as it is attractive. Enough said…

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SOUTHERS MARSH

Like the unique story behind the construction of Southers Marsh Club, the experience of playing the golf course isn’t the average, run-of-the-mill afternoon turning 18. The course website asserts that the golfer will need to use “every club in the bag”, and any one who’s played SM can attest to the legitimacy of that statement.

The golf holes at SM wrap around each other like an intricate puzzle, the cranberry bogs acting as the background of that puzzle, and the holes themselves, the foreground. Despite the relative shortness of most holes and the lack of available space on the bogs, each golf hole has its own unique layout. The isolation of the individual holes from the view and crosscurrents of other holes clearly was a conscious effort of the design and routing architect, because each hole is separated by land formations, mostly cranberry bogs, mounds and cart paths, exclusive to the hole in question.

Think of the 18 holes at Southers Marsh as 18 different golf courses, all cut out of their own singular track of land. Each hole requires a different strategy. Sometimes the wooded forest shapes the left and right hand sides of the fairway like on the 7th and the 8th, creating an out-of-bounds possibility for the wayward golf shot, and other times the bogs are the only borders, lying in jest ready to swallow any poorly crafted swing.

And it’s not simply the borders that keep the holes at Southers Marsh interesting. The 13th hole, a 354-yard par 4, travels uphill to an elevated green that gives a bird’s eye view of the course layout below. The 15th hole, the second par 4 on the back side, is a slight dogleg left that is a visually captivating golf hole because it offers a nice view of the 18th green near the clubhouse from the tee, and as the hole travels down the fairway, the 15th also offers a clear line of sight to the majority of the course layout, another feather in the cap of the routing architect.

The eleven par 3’s at Southers Marsh are no ordinary lot. These par 3’s range from short devilish holes like the 2nd, a 139 yard hole that would be an easy swing of a mid-iron off the tee if it weren’t susceptible to the crosswinds that can be a factor at Southers Marsh and the 10th and the 11th which are also free from any tree cover. After all, let’s not forget how strong the wind patterns can be on a wide open plot of land that was initially a cranberry bog.

The 12th hole is another small par 3 that pretends not to be difficult. On the 12th, resist the temptation of all self-fulfilling prophecies or the thought of “the cranberry bog is going to eat my golf ball” will undoubtedly come true. The 7th hole measures in at 129 yards and is well-protected by trees, which takes the wind out of play. The 138 yard 5th hole forms the far eastern border of the golf course and is similarly protected from any heavy wind currents.

There are also plenty of longer par 3’s, some tricky, some not so tricky. The 3rd hole, the longest par 3 on the course at 175 yards, has plenty of cranberry bog to deal with. The 16th and the 17th, a 157 yard par 3 followed by a 165 yards, are enjoyable. Standing on the tee of the 16th, you get a feel for the creativity it surely took to design and build Southers Marsh because of how the hole is comfortably nestled in between the surrounding holes without being in the way.

The most attractive holes at Southers Marsh are at the beginning and the end, the start of a visually stimulating round on the 1st hole, a 370-yard par 4 that boasts one of the few wide landing areas off the tee, and the finishing hole, the 18th, a 359-yard par 4 that has a feel-good effect as you’re trekking back to the clubhouse.

Don’t be mistaken by the Par 61 on the scorecard. Southers Marsh’s lack of yardage is no indication of a lack of quality and character. The course is fun, in a word, and not in the “executive” style sense of the word. Southers Marsh is a real 18 holes without any of the lapses in legitimacy, like a 250 yard par 4 or a 75 yard par 3 which is often the case at other executive courses. Southers Marsh will keep you on your tees and also keep you comfortably entertained by the beauty of the design and the layout.

And knowing the story behind the construction of the course will only make a round at Southers Marsh more pleasurable.

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