Note: I'm going to start writing some golf course reviews. In preparation for our trip to Scotland for the 2014 Ryder Cup, I've been reading a bunch of great reviews of Scottish links courses. These writeups combine what could be my two favorite things: golf and writing. I figured I'd start doing a few myself. If you're reading these and you work for a golf course and would like me to write a review, shoot me an email! (Small chance, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take). Additionally, if you'd like to use a review that I've already written for your course, I'd be glad to part with it for a (very) modest fee. Happy reading.
Green Harbor Golf Club
Having
played Green Harbor Golf Club many times, the one word that comes to mind to
describe it is direct. This is a
standard, no-frills golf course. The fairways are generally wide and forgiving,
the greens are bunkered but approachable, and there are no dramatic elevation
changes. The course is easy to find, set just off Route 139 in Marshfield, and
the plain green sign proclaims in bold letters: “Public Invited.” This is a
golf course that aspires to be no more than that.
With that
said, Green Harbor is the favorite course among almost all of my golfing
friends. We’ve outgrown the short, tight, O.B.-lined fairways of Widow’s Walk
and Scituate Country Club physically, but still feel compelled to pull driver
on most every par four. Whether it’s machismo, peer pressure, or simple force
of habit, tee shots that would be safe on many other courses wind up crashing
down prickle-covered gullies or flying into stands of tightly-laced pine trees,
never to be seen again. Green Harbor, to us, is a haven.
The grounds
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| The pond behind the 9th green, looking from the clubhouse. Via |
No sweeping lane
or grand vista accompanies the entrance to the club, as the driveway opens onto
a wide oval of a parking lot, bounded on the far side by the pond behind the 9th
green and the utilitarian brown wooden clubhouse. A white wooden sign hangs
prominently on the clubhouse’s exterior wall facing the parking lot and
explains that non players are not allowed on the course. Another reminder that
Green Harbor doesn’t pretend to be anything other than an honest man’s golf
course. I’ve played several courses where walkers are encouraged to traverse
the grounds, and I understand that this is the custom at some courses in the
British Isles. To that I say: If golf truly is a good walk spoiled, why let
anyone have a free good walk when we have to pay to spoil it?
The
clubhouse would look at home at any muni in America – the right-hand side
houses the pro shop with its assortment of the not-quite-newest clothing and
equipment, and the left contains a wide, loft-ceilinged lunchroom, with
carpeted floors and a maze of small, circular tables surrounded by low wooden
chairs. The men and women who staff the course are the kinds of people who Ace
Hardware would want to act in their commercials (if Ace Hardware still had
commercials) – helpful folk who want you to enjoy their course, are
knowledgeable about the game, and probably enjoy nothing more than listening to
the Red Sox on a portable radio while grilling some hot dogs on the back porch on
a warm night in July. Through the lunchroom window, you can look back over rear
pond to the ninth hole, watching groups play their 2nd shots over a
small pond to a slightly elevated, back-to-front sloping green.
And speaking
of the holes, do not let the open layout of this track fool you. There are some
truly quality holes hidden on this course, particularly on the front nine.
The course
Rather than
some of the more famous courses in the world (venues like the Old Course at St.
Andrews and Pebble Beach come to mind), Green Harbor eases you into your round
with two cupcake par fours. The best line on the first hole is down the left of
the miles-wide fairway, leaving you an angle to stick your ball into the right
side of the green and let it trickle back towards the center.
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| The first, from behind the tee box. Via |
Things start
to pick up on the third hole in a big way. By that, I mean that the third hole
is my favorite on the course. In fact, three of my four favorite holes come in
the four-hole stretch from three to six. The third is another par four, but
there’s almost no circumstance in which I could see someone hitting a driver
here. About 150 yards up the right-hand side of the fairway, a creek trickles
in from the woods and meanders its way at a 45 degree angle until it empties
out into a pond sat smack-dab in the landing area of the longer drivers of the
ball. Anything short and right will find the creek, and anything carrying the
creek and to the right of the pond won’t hold the slope, and will be lost into
the pond.
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| The pond at the third. The pin can be seen just right of the bunker. Via |
More often
than not, I play a 5- or 6- iron to the left of the fairway, but the safe play
sets up a daunting second: the green is elevated a few feet above the
fairway, and a steep bunker guards the left-hand side. From the fairway, it
seems like the only way to the green is to drop a 150-yard shot over that
bunker to a green that slopes down and away from you. In fact, the green
extends a bit to the right of the trap, but a drawn 7- or 8- iron up the hill
is devilishly tough to land close to the pin.
Just as the
third presents two complex shots, the fourth and sixth are terrific holes in
that one great shot can put you in position for a birdie. The fourth is a
90-degree dogleg right. The fairway is blessedly easy to hold thanks to its
banking being something out of a NASCAR track, but deceptively shallow if you’re
trying to land it past the corner. Cutting the corner is an option, but the
trees short of the green have a way of swallowing wayward balls, despite the
lack of underbrush beneath them.
A drive
finding the center of the fourth leaves you with less than a pitching wedge to
a green also set on this slope – a stuck wedge will usually trickle four or
five feet right after landing.
The fifth is
a standard par-three, with an elevated green that forces correct club selection
with big drop-offs front and back.
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| The tee shot at the sixth, with some nice fall foliage. Via |
Standing on
the tee of the sixth, you could be forgiven for having flashbacks (good or bad)
to your tee shot at the fourth. Indeed, you’ll need to pull out a similar effort
for this dogleg right, though the elevated tee box and flat fairway mean that
keeping your ball in the short grass won’t be as easy. This is a longer hole
though, and the punishment for missing right is simultaneously less severe (in
that you’ll probably find your ball) and much more annoying (in that you’ll need
to hit over or under a 75-foot pine tree). This green is one of my favorite on
the course, and is typical of Green Harbor’s putting surfaces: wide, uniformly
manicured, and with a prevailing slope to the whole of the green, within which
the player needs to account for other, subtler breaks.
There are a
few other notable holes that make the back nine worthwhile, including the sometimes-drivable
par-four 14th complete with a cross-bunker some 275 yards from the
tees. Laying up here is an option, but there is no O.B. left, so I often pull
out the driver and see if I can hit a long fade that carries the bunker and
lands short of (or hopefully on) the green.
The 16th
and 18th holes give this course its deserved, measured finish. A
long, looping dogleg right par four, the 16th invites a fade, but
punishes the player who doesn’t bite a big enough chunk off the corner by offering
up a mid-iron second into a small, away-sloping green. The 18th is
reminiscent of the third, and might be my favorite if it didn’t also mean the
end of a round and the return to the drudgery involved in not being on a golf
course. Left is the play here as well, with the dual intention of taking the
deep pond out of play and setting yourself up with a second shot unaffected by
the tremendously large (at least by Green Harbor’s standards) hump guarding the
right portion of the green. You need to put a little extra on your wedge to get
it to the hole, as the putting surface is slightly elevated. This is one of the
flatter greens on the course, allowing you a good chance at draining a lengthy
putt to end your round in style.
The atmosphere
The thing
that sets Green Harbor Golf Club apart from anywhere else I’ve played, and the
reason that many of my friends love it so much, is that the place imparts a
sense of peace. I personally feel that every golf course should give you this
feeling – it’s one of the reasons that the sport is so popular. A great round
of golf does not need to be a demanding, heart-pounding thrill ride that forces
multiple long water carries or approaches to greens guarded by bunkers with
nicknames referencing a certain underworld deity’s nether regions.
No one could
consider Green Harbor a great test of golf. But that is exactly why it appeals
to so many. The players and staff alike realize that while we may subscribe to
Golf Digest (or at least read it at the barber) or watch the tournaments on TV
(at least when Tiger’s in the hunt on Sunday), we want a golf course that
rewards good shots, softens the blow on bad shots, and gives us four or five
hours to reflect, relax, and take our hacks.
As carts
aren’t allowed at Green Harbor, everyone will have a good walk. It’s up to you
not to spoil it.
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