Sankaty Head

Sankaty Head Golf Club - Nantucket, MA

Built by novice architect and local amateur golfer Emerson Armstrong. Sometimes when a first time architect is given a spectacular piece of land for golf, they do things a lot of other prominent architects would not, which makes these courses, like Sankaty Head, very unique. The greens and rolling fairways, reminiscent of the fairways at Shinnecock, steal the show here (along with the lighthouse). The flat bottomed bunkers which have steep lips and can be very penal, play similar to pot bunkers if you find yourself against a lip. The par 3’s, although not long, are extremely tough given the severe sloping greens, runoff areas, and penal bunkers which come in all different sizes. Not to mention, the constant winds which whip off of the Atlantic. 

There are some serious pin positions that can be put out here, and some greens even look like they can’t hold a lot of pin positions, but if you survey closely, you will notice the devilish pins that might be able to be placed and are reminiscent of a U.S Open, especially with the runoffs that are present off all corners of some greens. The different swales, shelves, and locations of some of the undulations are very unique, as some are around the edges of the green, and serve a purpose to give golfers fits if they miss in the wrong spots. The blind shots, links style golf, open playing corridors to the greens, rolling fairways, setting, and variety of greens make Sankaty Head one of the great golfing experiences one can have.