Highland Links
So, Tom Coyne, you played every links course in Ireland and
Scotland, but you haven’t played the oldest true links course in America?* Highland
Links is a little nine-holer far out on Cape Cod in Truro, MA. The scorecard
says the course is easy – I mean how can you take a 5332 yard par 70 course
seriously? But trust me, holes 2 through 7 could fit seamlessly into any of the
best links courses in the world.A drivable par 4 to start off, the course starts out easy, but why didn’t I make birdie? And then it really starts. As I stepped off the first green and walked toward the second tee, I thought I had been transported to the west coast of Ireland.
Before me was a steeply downhill drive into a transverse
valley between ancient dunes overgrown by scrub pine and other native plants.
The fairway was a 20 yard wide strip of short grass set at an angle to the tee
shot lined with red fescue and native grasses. I should have known the aiming
point for the drive should be over a scruffy bunker to the left of the fairway.
That’s where I hit my second drive. My first was pushed just right and too long
to be found among the scrubby bush. The second shot plays uphill to a green
protected by an old-fashioned deception bunker that was 20 yards short of the
small green, so, of course, I was short.
Next, we faced a seriously uphill par three of just 170
yards that played at least 190. You can see the flagstick on the fifth hole
above the third green -- I don’t know
why, but seeing two flags in the distance makes me happy. You can’t be short on
this hole, but you can’t be long either because the green sets hard against the
slope behind.
Hole four is a short par 4/5 up a steep incline. A long
hitter might drive it to the top, but for the rest of us, a good drive leaves a
blind second shot and a pitch to the green.
From the tee, the fifth hole looks flat until you approach
your drive to realize that the fairway drops off in the landing area, which is
narrow and canted to the left.
The fescue in the left rough was not so wispy and grabbed my
hybrid, smothering an attempted shot toward the elevated green that features an
“infinity view” in the direction of Ireland.
Hole six is a challenging uphill par five of only 464 yards, but even a good drive leaves a blind second shot into the prevailing wind. A bunker just behind the green is well placed to catch an over-aggressive pitch to a back pin. Surrounded by scruffy fescue, the bunkers look about as natural as can be and play like a day on the beach.
The finish of this magnificent stretch of golf holes is the
171 yard par 3 seventh. The elevated green rejects any attempt to play a run-up
shot and the wind pushes even well-struck shots off the green to the right.
Highland Links is a throw-back to an era when golf courses
were a reflection of their environment – the fairways are not irrigated, and
they use a concoction of kelp and molasses to fertilize the greens – seriously
-- a sign on the first tee says so! The natural feeding must work because the
greens have a lot of grass, which is to say they run slow. Yes, the greens at
Highland Links can be slow and bumpy – the way I imagine the greens at the old
Scottish courses must have been a century ago. All part of the enjoyment of links golf.
*There aren’t as many true links courses as you might think. See: http://migrantgolfer.com/the-true-links-courses-of-the-world/
