Wayside Golf Links Members - members of the Thacher family.
The first people to ever play golf on Cape Cod were from Yarmouth. That makes sense because the first golf course on the Cape was Henry C. Thacher’s private 9 hole links course called “Wayside” which he had built in the late 1880s. It was primarily on the land that is now the nature trails of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth. The 7th hole crossed Strawberry Lane and the 9th green was up on the edge of the back parking lot of the Congregational Church. Some descendants of Henry C. Thacher used parts of the course until the 1950s.
Yarmouth’s Bass River Golf Course is one of Cape Cod’s best and oldest courses. Opened in 1900 as a private nine hole club, the course has grown and flourished over its more than 100 years. In 1914 a noted golf course architect was commissioned by the club to redesign the course. The signature hole is #9, a 169-yard, par 3, which plays across part of Bass River.
Bass River started as a cow pasture which was rented by eight summer residents. They built fences around the greens they created so the cows wouldn’t trample them, and they hired a local farmer to mow the grass. In the 1920s, the players bought the land they had been leasing, banned the cows and removed the fences around the greens. They increased the course to 18 holes. The only hole in its original 1900 position is today’s 10th, and its tee was built over an Native American shell midden.
Playing through the cow pasture at Bass River, 1910s.
The Depression, World War II and gas rationing, which limited the ability to get to the course, coupled with devastation from the 1944 hurricane, led the group to sell the club to South Yarmouth businessman Charles Henry Davis in 1946. Davis lived in the “House of the Seven Chimneys” on the corner of Pleasant and River Streets, and he had money to rebuild the course. Davis died in 1951 after substantially improving it. His death caused uncertainty, the town of Yarmouth purchased it in 1953 for $85,000 and it became the first town-owned golf course on Cape Cod. In late November of 1957, the clubhouse burned to the ground. It was replaced and there was a realignment of holes at the same time. Automatic watering sprinklers were installed in 1969, replacing a 1937 system.
Another early view of Bass River Golf Course.
The two nines are very different; the front is short and tight while the back is long and open. The front nine is the part designed by Donald Ross, but how much remains is uncertain. Several of the greens remain as Ross designed them.
The Great Island Golf Links was founded in 1902. It started as a nine hole course and expanded in 1905 to 18 holes. It was supposedly the first course ever to be watered, having windmills on many of the holes. A steam roller was used to make sure the greens were flat and smooth. The 18 holes were 5121 yards, with the longest, #11, being 557 yards and the shortest, #12, being 110. Intriguing hole names such as Trout Pond, Hoodoo, Misery, Rocks, Ghost’s Walk, and Circus made the course even more interesting. President Grover Cleveland was a frequent visitor to Great Island during his administration and supposedly caught a trout in the trout pond that weighed three pounds. The course wasn’t built until after Cleveland left office and while he continued to come to Grey Gables in Bourne, it isn’t known whether he ever played golf on Great Island.
Great Island’s Aberdeen Hall which had its own golf course.
The next course was located near Lewis Bay in the Englewood section of town. It was built as a private course by Simeon P. Lewis, probably in the early 1900s. The only reference to it anywhere is one sentence in a book “ Collector’s Luck – A Thousand Years at Lewis Bay, Cape Cod,” written in 1967 by Betty Bugbee Cusack. In the first paragraph she wrote, “... in 1955, we bought our little cottage ...overlooking Lewis Bay – on what was once Simeon P. Lewis’ private golf course.”
The Depression and World War II stopped all golf construction, but the influx of tourists after the war led to Blue Rock Golf Course which opened in 1962. It was designed by Geoffrey Cornish. It measures 3,000 yards in length from the professional tees and features four challenging water holes. Holes range from 103 to 255 yards, with the ninth hole as the signature hole. It was rated in 2011 by Golf Magazine as one of the top ten par 3 courses in the U.S. Blue Rock is part of Red Jacket Resorts.
An aerial view of Blue Rock Golf Course.
Kings Way Golf Course has tweaked its name several times since opening in 1988. The executive course was designed by Brian M. Silva and is 4,023 yards from the longest tees for a par of 60. One hole is par 5 and five are par 4. It offers Scottish bunkers, undulating greens, and some magnificent views of Cape Cod Bay and its marshes. One interesting fairway has a 19th century smallpox cemetery located by it.
Small pox cemetery near Kings Way golf course.
The Bayberry Hills Course was first envisioned by town golf committee members who saw 200 acres just west of Old Townhouse Road as being a possible golf course. It was designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva. There was thought of trying to make 27 holes, but ended up with a “roomy 18.” The design is not the typical straight, flat, back-and-forth track. It has some serious challenge with a par of 72 on 7100 yards. Built in 1986 and opened July 1988, the original course offers 18 holes with a water hazard on the 4th hole.
An additional 9 holes, The Links 9, was opened in 1999, officially in 2000. Until 1991, the area where the Links course ended up was the town dump. Drivers on Route 6 remember all the seagulls between Exits 7 and 8. When the course was built, it was called the largest recycling project in the state. The state helped with a one million dollar grant in 1996. The 50 foot tall landfill which covered 57 acres contains 40 wells which collect methane gas. On top of the trash is a six inch layer of sand, covered by durable black plastic sheets fused together. Another 18 inches of sand covers the plastic and it is capped by eight inches of topsoil. More than 240,000 cubic yards of sand were used. In some cases, more sand was used to provide better contours for the course. Being a Links type course, it is treeless.
A view of Bayberry Hills, built over the former landfill.
Building this course was part of a $17.5 million dollar project that included two soccer fields, two softball fields, bocce, horseshoe pits, a play yard, and a bike trail, all located in the area of the former dump.
The layout of Bayberry Hills now includes three 9-hole courses, The Red Course, White Course and Blue Course. The Red and White were the original Bayberry Course, and the Blue was the Links course.
The next time you’re with a local golf expert, ask them if they can name the seven golf courses in Yarmouth. Chances are they can’t, and won’t know that golf was first played in Yarmouth, before Highland Links or Cummaquid Golf Course.
P.S - Part of the Cummaquid course is in Yarmouth and their legal name until a few years ago was “The Cummaquid Golf Club of Yarmouth and Barnstable, Inc.” Should that be counted as our 8th course?
As a side note, you might also be interested to learn that the first miniature golf course on the Cape was in Yarmouth too! At the Englewood Hotel in West Yarmouth.
Researched and written by Duncan Oliver.