[Ronald Montesano]

Way down east on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is a golf links called Highlands, laid out by Stanley Thompson and restored by Ian Andrew. I've never been...



I have been to Highland Links (http://highlandlinkscapecod.com/) near Provincetown (tip of the Cape), Massachusetts. Situated beneath a recently-relocated lighthouse, along the cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean, Highland Links is a course designed by no one in particular, of any renown. It is a jazzy jaunt up and down and along bluffs, with an Irish finish to its nine holes. Blue squares in the image above mark the tee decks.



North Truro has great sand dunes. They are protected, as are the ones past Provincetown. At the nine-hole Highland Links, you play over marvelous sandy ground, to greens located at fairway height. The course is homey, in a found way. You don't expect much opposition from the shortish layout, but if the wind is up and the ground is firm, you'll be handed a challenge.

I'm not going to tell you to travel all the way to this claw, just to play Highland Links. It's a special little place, but not a destination by any stretch. If you are in the neighborhood and don't play it, you've missed out.

I'll intersperse landscape images every few holes, to give a sense of the neighborhood.



The first hole is 250 yards in length and is found across the sandy trail from the clubhouse. The tee sits hidden, on a bluff behind a wooden, split-rail fence. On viewing the green site from the tee, atop a ledge, a simple drive away, you drool. That's your first mistake. My suggestion is, hit 6-iron off the tee. You'll have a chance to drive the green your second go-round.

Tee ball, real view



Tee ball zoomed in



Down in the gully, about where your 6-iron will land, leaving you about 90 yards (a nice and full, uphill shot) to the green



About 40 yards shy of the green



Looking at the green from the right-rear fringe

[jeffwarne]

Great pics!
Don't freeze this one-can't believe I haven't been back in over 25 years.

Now wait a second Ron,
Only yesterday you stated you carried your tee ball 230-240
Seems a perfect fit for this hole.
Surely if the card said par 3 you'd hit driver?

[Ian Andrew]

I spent a morning driving over from Plymouth and the fog was so thick that I could not see the lighthouse from 50 feet!
I've been there - but I have not seen the course.   

[Chris DeToro]

Interested to see the rest of this thread--I didn't even realize there was a course that far up the cape!

[Ronald Montesano]

Great pics!
Don't freeze this one-can't believe I haven't been back in over 25 years.

Now wait a second Ron,
Only yesterday you stated you carried your tee ball 230-240
Seems a perfect fit for this hole.
Surely if the card said par 3 you'd hit driver?

Well, I do, but I find that a safe play followed by a full wedge on the first hole is logical for me.

[Ronald Montesano]

The second hole at Highland Links is the jaw-dropper, at least from the tee. From the upper deck, you stand about eighty feet above the fairway and watch as it disappears to the left. The quintessential Cape hole, number two asks you to assess how much a shortcut is too much, and how little a shortcut will take you through the fairway on the right.



No reasonably-sane person would debate the narrowness of the fairway. It needs to be wider in the landing area, but it's not. The key is to get the ball down to the flatter portion of the hole; hunting for the little white orb amid the native flora on the left hillside is a lost cause. It's not that it's thick or deep, just difficult to spot.

Once submerged in the canyon, the second is a straightforward play over the cross bunkers, to the green.

If you haven't seen it yet, a turret sits above the hill on the right, even with the beach. It's a memorial to a singer of bygone days and one more element (beyond nature's play) to distract you from this daunting task.

Tee shot to fairway strip



Tee shot zoomed in



Tee shot from lower deck



View from the native, left hill side



Your basic, natural cross bunker



Looking back from beyond the putting surface



A view from the third green, into the canyon and the second green

[Thomas Dai]

Wow! Seems like a little bit of yee olde GB&I golf transpalnted 3,000 miles west. Lovely.
atb

[Richard Hetzel]

I have never been, but it is on the list.

[Ronald Montesano]

Wow! Seems like a little bit of yee olde GB&I golf transpalnted 3,000 miles west. Lovely.
atb

Agreed. It bounds and rolls like a links should. No watering beyond mother nature.

[Ronald Montesano]

I have never been, but it is on the list.

Richard,

it would be perfect for your type of trip. You guys would love Provincetown and the colonial ambiance of much of the town. The preserved dunes nearby are neat to visit and watch gliders soar. The golf course is very enjoyable and there is a lot of golf on the lower (main) portion of the cape. As I said, Truro is not a golf destination, but it is a course that you'll look back on and smile.

[Ronald Montesano]

Time to diverge. Playing golf around and beneath a lighthouse is a unique experience. During this distraction, we won't consider the lighthouse at Truro; in due time, we'll visit it.

Rosa Ragusa



Neighbor to Rosa Ragusa



Obligatory bench



Fence



Whimsy

[Ronald Montesano]

The third hole at Highland Links is the first of three, one-shot holes. Each is memorable and worthy; the par-three holes are stronger than the 4s and 5s. After dropping into the canyon from one green to two green, it was necessary to ascend once again to the upper flats of Lighthouse Alley. No smarter way to do so than by creating a 165-yard par three that plays like a 205 yarder, thanks to the 80-feet climb from tee to green. There is a bit of a false front to the putting surface, but not so vicious as to drop the golfer back down the slope. The green is quite sizable and contributes a variety of hole locations to the course lexicon.

Overhead
That sense of proximity makes Highland Links an intimate tour. The connection of holes is enhanced by perpendicular intersection. Although green sites are adjacent, the direction from which you arrive is never identical.



Relationship of two green to three tee.
For those who adore brief walks from green to tee, Highland Links merits your endorsement. A mere stumble from 1 to 2 and now from 2 to 3.


View from the deepest portion of the tee



A bit closer, where the climb and the ledge connect



Pray you don't end up here



Short o' the green



A view from the 5th green, taking in the entire 3rd hole

[Ronald Montesano]

The fourth hole plays away from the ocean for the first time, to the west. For clarification, the first played south and the third, northward. The second played to the east, into the rising sun. The rule of scorecard thumb at Truro is, if it's over 400 yards, it's a par five! An anticipatory glance reveals three of each par balancing the nine.

The fourth measures 415 from its farthest tee to the middle of the green. It plays across a vertical seam in the property, one that runs perpendicular to the beach canyon on number two. This low impacts tee balls on four and six, as well as the approach into number five. It is a critical feature to the layout, as it forces interest and offers movement from low to high or from high to low into/along each of these three parallel holes.



Tee ball, long view



Tee ball short view



A glance back, over the divide, to the tee



Long view into the green



Shorter view into the green



Greenfront and proper



Looking across the green, backward to the approach

[Mark Fedeli]

Thanks for the tour. Brings back great memories for me, even though this little course kicked my butt.

[Ronald Montesano]

Moving on past the midway point of our appointed, nine-hole round, we turn eastward again toward "the pond," as the sign at the end of the hole designates the adjacent water. Five is a par four of 380 yards, down into the declivity, then up again to the cliff side. There is wispy native grass on either side of the fairway. A pitch-out is simply played; a full recovery is another matter.

Up around the green side, the instinct is to save a missed green with an aggressive chip or pitch...that invariably and cruelly runs past the hole. A bit of humility around the putting surfaces grants opportunities to save strokes; unless you are Olazabal, don't get cute!



Tee shot to blind landing area, over the rise



Tee shot zoomed in



A view from the wee precipice, just before the fairway dives down like Nemo



The view from the left rough, looking upward to the horizon



A view up from the shallows



A view back from the green



A view of the green

[Ronald Montesano]

Thanks for the tour. Brings back great memories for me, even though this little course kicked my butt.

It does that to many a guest, I'd imagine. A perfect example of scorecard delirium: one salivates at the yardage, forgetting that there is terrain to negotiate.

[Frank M]

Thanks for the tour. Brings back great memories for me, even though this little course kicked my butt.

It does that to many a guest, I'd imagine. A perfect example of scorecard delirium: one salivates at the yardage, forgetting that there is terrain to negotiate.

Ronald, I must say this place is making me salivate period. I've never been, but from photos the land looks quite perfect for golf and the routing seems to take advantage of it. Might be on my must visit list for 2015.

[Ronald Montesano]

It's way up there, as I indicated. As I recall, the next closest golf (about an hour south) is in Orleans.

[Frank M]

It's way up there, as I indicated. As I recall, the next closest golf (about an hour south) is in Orleans.

That's what makes it even better.

[jeffwarne]

It's way up there, as I indicated. As I recall, the next closest golf (about an hour south) is in Orleans.

That's what makes it even better.

Chequessett is a quaint 9 holer near Wellfleet.
Not quite the natural links seaside advantages of Highland Links but a good match after 18 at the Links

[Ronald Montesano]

The Lighthouse



The lighthouse has a recent chapter to its story. You'll read about it in the final picture in this second deviation. On a course of lesser stature, the lighthouse would be more memorable. As it is, you glance at it repeatedly, but you don't do more than glance.

Flight Service Domes and Turrets



The domes are from World War II and the turret is an homage to a long-dead actress. Paired, there is a disconnect that may or may not "work," but certainly is unforgettable.

View



This capsule of a portion of the course exemplifies the rough and tumble land from which the course is hewn. Tremendous stuff.

Sign



Not that you have many attempts at breaching the fortress, but the golfers-only sign reminds us that golf courses in the USA are restricted only to golfers, quite different from the British Isles, even on a true links.

Plaque



The neat thing, for me, is that the lighthouse was moved by a western New York firm: http://www.internationalchimney.com/

[Ronald Montesano]

If you haven't figured it out by now, a links course whose longest effort is 464 yards is the perfect place for hickories. I suspect that the hickory nuts (does hickory have nuts?) among the brethren would take a shine to this golf course.

Number six is a 464-yard, dogleg left down, then up (wayyy up!) An ideal line to take is lighthouse with a bit of leftward movement on the ball. Not too much, mind you, as you'll overcook it into the left rough. From there, who knows? You don't want to leave it out right, though, so perhaps left is right after all.

The approach is blind, up into the sky. The final fifty yards or so run along the upper flat to a green protected by back center and right side bunkers.



Tee shot from a distance



Tee shot zoomed in



From the end of the foot path



Over the rise, in the vale



A bit of peek-a-boo from the flag



From beyond the back bunker, to the sea

[Bill Crane]

It's way up there, as I indicated. As I recall, the next closest golf (about an hour south) is in Orleans.

That's what makes it even better.

Chequesset is a quaint 9 holer near Wellfleet.
Not quite the natural links seaside advantages of Highland Links but a good match after 18 at the Links

GCA bonus points for the first person to refer to it by its local name! 
[/quote

One of our oldest family friends starting taking us up to Wellfleet in the very early 60s, and my parents built a house in So Wellfleet in the 1970s. 
I probably played the “Wellfleet Sand Trap” for the first time about 1968 or 1969.    That’s what we always called it.

The dyke (!!) holds back brackish water from the Harbor so that the Herring River runs fresh near the course.   The Herring river starts in Gull Pond, runs through the sluiceway into Higgins Pond, then Herring Pond before flowing west to the Wellfleet harbor.  We canoed it with my father in about 1975.

Have probably played over a dozen rounds on the “Sand Trap” and nearly as many at Highland Links.  Made friends at Eastward Ho – which has been great through the years.

Wm Flynnfan

[Bill Crane]

Ron:

I have posted about Highland links several times on various threads. One is attached below.

The course looks really green in your pictures, through the years I have seen it completely brown and rock hard except for greens and tees.

Have often recounted the experience of taking friends there for nine and it started raining sideways and the wind was blowing the Pin out of the Cup on the fifth green.  This was the only time I have seen this, before or since.  Wind can be really strong at any time.

Views are staggering from the highest point of the course.

Looks like the Park Service changed management of the course in 2014:  http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20140517/News/405170322

Thanks for posting.


Wm Flynnfan

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Bill Crane
Jr. Member

     Re: A love of lighthouses
« Reply #32 on: January 20, 2013, 12:45:20 PM » Quote Modify  

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Gang:

Still can't believe no one has mentioned Highland Links in Truro Mass - on the dunes looking down on Highland Beach, the nine hole course surrounds the Cape Cod Light.  A true links course, somewhat rudimentary, it is a fun course often playing firm and fast, although they sometimes over water the greens.  Tremendous views of the Atlantic, Provincetown Harbor, and Cape Cod Bay to Race Point at the tip of the Cape.   Green fees a little expensive for what it is, especially in the summer.

Pictures and information can be found here:    

http://www.truro-ma.gov/html_pages/facilities/golf/golf_aerial.php

Interestingly enough, the lighthouse was originally 500 feet from the Dune/cliff edge about 130 feet elevated above the ocean.  By the mid 90s the dune had receded to the extent that there was only 128 feet left to the cliff.  A relocation project lifted the lighthouse onto steel I beams and moved it 428 feet back from the ocean.  A jack pushed the lighthouse on the Ivory soaped beams a tiny bit at a time and the tap, tap , tap could be heard all over the course.  See:       http://capecodlight.org/

I recently wrote a post here on the most weather exposed holes thread about playing the course during early October in sidewise rain, with the wind BLOWING the Pin out of the cup on the 5th green.  Have never actually seen that before or since.

WmFlynnfan

[Terry Lavin]

Nice lighthouse, I'd agree.

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