One Idyllic Round

Join us as we play through 18 of the best public and private holes the North Shore has to offer

By Bob Albright

What is the perfect golf hole? Is it simply the toughest hole, the one that you are thinking about two holes before you get there and makes you tighten your golf glove ever so slightly as your stride to the tee? Or is it the one that always makes you take an extra few moments before you plant your tee just to gaze at the scenery and marvel at how someone was able to so seamlessly weave a golf hole into an already perfect backdrop?
Of course there is no one right answer to this highly subjective query and if there was we would have a lot less to talk about at 19th holes from Gloucester to Amesbury. It is, however, always fun to try and in honor of our 10th season of publishing NSG&T we decided to revisit our very first cover story, The Dream 18. Unlike our original list, which was made up strictly of public courses by number, this 18 is comprised of the nine best private and public holes. The limit was one hole per course and holes were selected, regardless of number (For example, we have three finishing holes on the list and not a single starting hole).
Who picked them? We polled a wide array of golfers, pros, course owners as well the staff here at NSG&T.
Is it the perfect list? Absolutely not. Like we stated above there is no such animal, and one could argue that you could make just as compelling round out of the clubs omitted from this list. We will say, however, that if you are lucky enough to play through this 18 this summer you certainly are doing something right, so get out the GPS and take a ride with us as we tackle this 6,959-yard, Par 72 beauty.

1) No. 8 Renaissance GC, 489-yard, par-4
When the original Dream 18 was being released the ground was just being broken on Brian Silva’s sparkling signature course in Haverhill. Nine years later, you could pick any number of holes on this rolling course that was not only tabbed as New England Course of the Year last season by the New England Golf Course Owners Association, but as one of three finalists for the NGCOA’s national award.
With apologies to holes 5,6, 13 and 15 (our cover shot) we will go with the No. 3 handicap hole on the course which is aptly named “Waterloo” for the large pond on the left, which when combined with the steep fescue laced slope on the right, makes hitting a straight tee shot imperative. Even if that is accomplished you are still faced with the daunting choice of going for the green and bringing more trouble into play, or scooting a low runner down the left and trying to take advantage of the slope to a small green with subtle undulations.

2) No. 15 Beverly Golf & Tennis, 163-yard par-3
The famed “Wedding Cake” hole is a selection from our original list that still makes the cut and then some. With a brand new tee they’ve added some frosting and about another 15 yards to this tasty hole which can look very benign off the tee, until your ball rolls off the circular green and into one of the several surrounding bunkers. Goodbye two, hello four (if you’re lucky). There are tougher holes off McKay St. (Nos. 8 and 17 quickly pop to mind), but everyone loves this signature hole no matter how you slice it.

3) No. 5 Black Swan, 530 yards, par-5
While the Georgetown was just beginning its way down a disastrous path nine years ago when we published our first Dream 18, the good news is that the club continues to enjoy and ever greater rebirth these days as Black Swan CC under the guidance of new owner Jack Swansburg. This development means that golfers are once again able to enjoy the challenging par five fifth, with greets golfers with a myriad of choices right off the tee. Do you try to drive the marshy brook, or lay up to the left? From there there’s trouble the rest of the way with water on the left and bunkers on the right and around the tricky green.

4) No. 17 Turner Hill 446-yard par-4
This exquisite addition to the North Shore golf landscape opened just months after our initial publication and like so many of the private clubs in the area offers a bevy of holes that could make anyone’s list. For sheer beauty, difficulty and variety of shots it’s hard to look past the magnificent 17th hole. The dogleg right features a tee shot to a landing area that is sandwiched both trees and water and a second shot over a babbling brook to a testy and undulating green. Want more? Just take a look at the sweeping view of the course’s ultimate jewel – its sprawling Elizabethan brick mansion -- behind you.

5) No. 9 Ould Newbury 211-yard par-3
Oh if the sprawling hickory that stands directly between the tee and the uphill green on this often exasperating finishing hole in Newbury could speak, the stories it would tell. It definitely would recount its near death experience one night at the hands of one well lubricated member back in the late 40’s who returned to the course after having his round ruined on the hole and tried to burn it down. Better than six decades letter only the cement in its core remain as a reminder of that flesh wound. Just eight aces have been recorded on this hole in nearly 100 years of play, most coming with a 3-wood or even a diver to combat the prevalent Northeast wind.

6) No. 18 The Meadow at Peabody 447-yard par-4
One of several holes that were nominated at the ultra popular public course in Peabody, but in the end the same finishing hole that we selected in our initial Dream 18 once again rose to the top. The elevated tee shot offers not only scenic views of a good portion of the North Shore, but a lot of head scratching as well. Many will want to rare back and blast it but, there’s a large hazard that lines the right side and a mini Crane’s Beach of a bunker conveniently placed on the left. Wind can also be a problem making the hole play much more like a par-5 and necessitating a layup in front of both hazards. Keep your approach shot to the right hand of the green.

7) No.16 Kernwood CC, 425-yard par-4
The good news for golfers is that this testy par-4, which measures 425 yards from the tips, is beatable. Late local golf legend Bill Flynn eagled it en route to the Mass Open title in 1963. The bad news? Few people can make the type of shots that Flynn was making back in his prime when he holed out a 6-iron as part of an eagle-birdie-par-eagle-par-par finish, which wiped out a three-shot deficit with six holes to go. A large oak, which sits about 100 yards down the left fairway, forces the better players to try to shape a 3-wood around it as a driver will leave them in the right rough. With a green that slopes severely from back to front with a steep slope that leads back to the water, the only reward for going for it in two is if you can leave yourself below the hole.

8) No. 15 Tedesco, 385-yards par-4
Second only to the hole directly before it in long time head pro Bob Green’s heart, this medium length par-4 rose to the top out of 17 other worthy choices at this rolling classic in Marblehead. The narrowest hole on the course with an undulating fairway, this layout is bound to take its toll on some of the free swinging youngsters at this July’s Massachusetts Amateur championship. Once you get up to the green, things only get testier says Green.
“It’s a green that is sloped heavily from back to front which leads to some really treacherous putts. If you are not careful you can putt it right off the green.”

9) No. 12 Bradford CC, 489-yard par-5
The original cover girl for our very first magazine more than stands the test of time nine years later on this course that just continues to get better under its new ownership tandem of Kevin and Kristin Murphy. There’s no exact correct path to play this daunting hole which is ranked the third toughest on this challenging track. The hole features a large pond some 260 yards off the tees and then a swamp right in front of the green. From the front of the pond it’s 230 to the green and 175 yards or so to one of the two landing areas on either end of the pond, but before the swamp. Golfers can choose to either go for the gusto on their second shot or to pick one of the two landing areas and then pitch to a kidney shaped green. If you choose the larger left side, you can easily find yourself in a pair of greenside bunkers if you come up short on your pitch.

10) No. 5 Ipswich CC, 211- yards par-3
Many call this the most majestic – and daunting – water hole on the North Shore as evidenced by the predictable wide-eyed expressions from golfers who emerge from the wooded cart path on the elevated tee and first gaze down at the blue body of water below. From the back tees this trans-Atlantic voyage measures 211 yards, including a formidable, 190-yard carry over the pond, which wraps around the left side of the hole. The blues play at 191 yards from a lower-tiered tee and the red tees are no bargain either at 142 yards and right on level with the pond. An informal study back in 2008 estimated that the average foursome lost 2.5 balls each time they played this beautiful, but deadly hole. The fifth narrowly edged out the magnificent 18th of this superb Robert Trent Jones design.

11) No. 13 Sagamore GC, 398-par 4
This 398-yard slight dogleg right is the No. 1 stroke hole at the bustling course in Lynnfield. The call here is to shape your tee shot left-to-right toward a small boulder some 230 yards off the tee. “Take a club less on your second shot because if you go long it leaves you with just about the toughest chip you can imagine,” long time head pro Steve Vaughn noted."Hitting it long is absolute death.”
That’s because there’s a five-foot drop behind the green and you‘ll be chipping to a green that slopes away from you. “I like it because you have to think,” says Vaughn. “The risk-reward is there with the driver, but you’ll probably have to hit one of your best drives of the day.”

12) No. 9 Myopia-Hunt Club, 136-yard par-4
Whenever you stride to the tee and spy a set of stairs winding down into a greenside bunker you not only know that you have your work cut out for you, but that you are also playing some place pretty special. Both are certainly true of this par-3 in South Hamilton which has alternately thrilled and exasperated the likes of Bobby Jones, Presidents Ford and Taft, Jack Lemmon, Bill Murray, not to mention the fields of the four U.S. Opens that were held at Myopia from 1898 to 1908. Named along with the fourth hole as one of the top 100 signature holes in the country by Golf Magazine, the revered Herbert Leeds design was the only course to put two holes on the list.

13) No. 18 Gannon GC, 580-yard, par-5
It takes a lot to make the prodigious stone clubhouse at Larry Gannon GC look small, but take a walk back the 588 yards from the green which sits in front of the sprawling structure to the tee and the clubhouse is reduced to near pump house proportions on this mammoth and classic finishing hole. The No. 2 stroke hole on the course dictates that you hit it a whale of a first drive to get to the bottom of the sloping fairway and avoid hitting your second shot off a downhill lie. Both sand a small pond guard the green necessitating accuracy on your second and third shots. The green slopes away from you leading to some nerve-wracking putts, especially with the large gallery peering down at you from that once again prodigious clubhouse.

14) No. 11 Essex County Club, 175-yard par-3
Where do you start when you try to rank this collection of 18 gems from one of Donald Ross’ earliest and most impressive works? While strong arguments can be made for every hole with 3, 4,8, and 18 all getting multiple nominations, will defer to Donald Ross Society co-founder Michael Fay who tabbed this 175-yard uphill “one-shotter” as one of Ross’ 18 all time best in his book, Golf, As It Was Meant To Be Played. With deeply mounded bunkers on the left and even more expansive trenches on the right guarding this tricky sloping green which features a redan style back board on the right side, a well-struck iron is paramount.

15) No. 11, Far Corner par-4
With 27 terrific holes to choose from there were lots of conflicting opinions as to what was indeed the truly the best hole in West Boxford. The testy par-3 seventh over water received a lot of mentions as well as the brutal 472-yard par-4 fifth on the newer Hawk course. I’ll use my one editor’s choice here and select beauty over brawn with the scenic par 4 11th (No. 2 on the Heron Course), which was also nominated. Here you are going have a blind uphill tee shot that you will want to keep to the left side of the fairway. Leaving your second shot downhill to an elevated green which slopes off deeply off the back side. A great hole to begin with, go play it in the fall for a real treat.

16) No. 4 Cape Ann GC, 414 par-4
A strong consensus choice among all polled simply for the magnificent sweeping views of the winding Essex River Basin, not to mention Ipswich’s Castle Hill and Crane’s Beach. The estimable John Updike called this one of his favorite holes in an interview he did with NSG&T back in our initial season in 2003. The rest of the hole is not half bad either. Keep your first two shots to the right on this hole which ranks as the toughest on this Skip Wogan gem in Essex lest you want to get a better look at the marsh and Hog Island where the parts of the movie “The Crucible” were filmed.

17) No. 9 Salem CC, 425-yard par-4
Perhaps the best testament to this 100-plus year-old Donald Ross classic, as well as so many of the vaunted courses on this list, is that for as many people we polled for this story we got nearly the same number of different choices. To break that logjam we will go with the guy who penned the club’s centennial history a few years back, our own Gary Larrabee. “ The ninth is a tricky driving hole from the tee with the ‘A’ position being tight right,” said Larrabee. “The green is a nightmare, smallest on the course, and slopes steeply back to front.”
This famed hole sank the mercurial Jim Colbert in the 2001 U.S. Senior Open, not to mention the great Ben Hogan in his charity match with Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret and Jack Burke 59 years ago this May.

18) No. 18 Ferncroft CC, 563-yard par-5
Measuring a majestic 563 yards from the tips, Ferncroft Country Club’s 18th hole ranks as one of the top finishing holes on the North Shore and the perfect conclusion to this idyllic round. Featuring a large pond that hugs the left side of the fairway and guards the front of the green, it was tabbed as one of nine best water holes the area has to offer back in 2008 by this magazine. The ominous pond sets up the classic risk versus reward situation and is the primary reason spectators hang around for all 18 holes on Sunday, whether it be a regional event, a club championship, or the old LPGA Boston Five Classic back in the 80s. Even after laying up, a third shot is no bargain as you’re aiming at a green that is receptive, but which also slopes back to front and which is guarded by a large bunker on the front right of the green.

What holes did we miss? Send your nominations and thoughts to balbright@northshoremassgolf.com. Selected letters will be printed in the next issue of NSG&T.