Leeds remained at Myopia Hunt until his death in 1930 refining the course. For thirty-five years, he got the most out of the property that he could. Similar to Fownes at Oakmont, he studied how the best played the course. He carried white chips with him and if a good player got away with a seeming miss, he would drop a few chips in the area and a bunker would shortly appear thereafter. In that regard, Myopia must be considered more penal than strategic in nature and is none the worse for it.

Holes to Note

The 4th doglegs around a natural wetland area.

4^th hole, 390 yards; The only true dogleg on a course filled with straight holes. Ironically, it may be the finest and it prompted Tom Doak to write 'it might very well be the best hole of its length in the free world.' The hole swings left around a wetland area to a devilishly sloped green that falls from back right to front left. How pitched is it? In one of the US Opens contested here, a participant putted his ball off the green… and lost it!!

The approach to the 4th green highlights the virtues of Myopia Hunt: inspired bunkering
coupled with medium size greens of lasting character.

7^th hole, 405 yards; Natural sand pits (to call them bunkers seems an injustice) line either side of fairway. The approach is blind but the downhill slope of the fairway feeds directly onto the green. The members know full well to land the ball some twenty yards short of the putting surface and allow for it to bumble on. The 7th highlights one of the charms of the course: understanding how best to play Myopia Hunt is not immediately revealed. It takes time to understand but Leeds insured that such time is eminently well spent.

9^th hole, 135 yards; The equal to the more famed Postage Stamp hole at Royal Troon, the green is a mere 9 yards wide and a full 40 yards deep. Seven bunkers surround the green, and from one, you have no chance of even seeing the top of the flag.

Seemingly everywhere, bunkers surround the 9th green.

This bunker extends from the front right of the 9th green toward the tee and is but
one of the uniquely shaped bunkers at Myopia Hunt.

10^th hole, 405 yards; Other than St. Andrews, name a course that features two famously named bunkers on one hole? Myopia Hunt and its 10^th hole is one of the few. The tee shot is one of two blind tee shots on the course. The Jonesville bunkers will gather any sliced ball, and are so named because Bob Jones was known to frequent them. A deep cross bunker named after President Taft is further up, fifteen yards short of the green. The bunker is a full 8 feet deep, and it got deeper each time Taft landed in it. How did it get deeper, you may ask? Because Leeds would make it deeper - he had a running feud with the President and liked to see him suffer. In the end, caddies were seen with ropes trying to hoist the big man out of the bunker. Chalk up another victory to Leeds!

The famous Taft bunker

13^th hole, 350 yards; The hardest hole of its length in the country, in part because Leeds could care less if this hole was 'fair' for all level of golfers. The green is 70 feet above the fairway and the approach shot must carry a hay-covered hill. Any ball short left of this elevated green will gather back into a bunker twelve yards from the green surface. The 13th played the most over par in a recently contested Massachussets Open. Leeds' design remains refreshing in this age where too many architects feel compelled to offer courses that try to be all things to all people.

The design at Myopia Hunt deserves to be more widely understood and appreciated. After all, little has changed with its design since it hosted four US Opens from 1898 to 1908 and was considered as good as any test in the United States. Indeed, the challenge of Myopia is just as awesome today as it was 100 years ago when the highest score to win a US Open was recorded.

Myopia had a tremendous impact on the direction of golf course architecture in the United States. Donald Ross arrived in Boston from Scotland the same year that Myopia hosted its first US Open. Also, Philadelphian George Thomas, Bostonian Wayne Stiles, and A.W. Tillinghast were influenced by the abundant placement and penal nature of the hazards that Leeds employed.

The original five founders of the Myopia Hunt Club all wore glasses, hence the club’s name. The subsequent Club leaders have done a wonderful job of retaining the historic integrity of the course and grounds. The only lack of vision came decades later when many outside the Club stopped realizing what Myopia is – one of the few landmark masterpieces of golf course architecture in the United States.

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