The Kittansett Club

A wind-exposed seaside course on Butler Point in Buzzards Bay, routed by William Flynn and built by member Frederic Hood, with a par-3 3rd played over water and beach.

Kittansett takes its name from Native American words meaning "near the sea." It sits at the end of Butler Point in Marion, a narrow peninsula reaching into Buzzards Bay across from Cape Cod. Residents formed the club in the early 1920s and play began in 1923. William Flynn's drawings guided the routing. Founding member Frederic Hood built the course and kept refining it for years, covering huge glacial boulders with soil to form the mounds that still line the fairways.

Hurricanes in 1938 and 1944, the Depression and wartime use all damaged the course, and members brought it back after World War II. Since the 1990s Gil Hanse has led a long restoration. He removed hundreds of trees, rebuilt bunkers and expanded greens, and later worked from Flynn's drawings for 13 holes found in the early 2000s. The opened-up course now has more water views and much more wind.

Wind is the main defense on a course of moderate length. The 3rd is the best-known hole: a par 3 of about 167 yards over open water to a raised green ringed by beach, where a miss can mean playing off the sand. Kittansett hosted the 1953 Walker Cup, won by the United States 9–3, and its second USGA event, the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.

Holes to know

3

Par 3 · 167 yd

A tee shot over open water to a raised green surrounded by beach; a missed green can leave a recovery off the sand.

17

Par 4

A blind, downhill drive toward a brook, then an uphill approach to a sloping green.

Championships

• Walker Cup 1953
• U.S. Senior Amateur 2022

Design history

• 1990s–present: Gil Hanse restoration program; hundreds of trees removed, greens and bunkers restored
• 2003, 2014, 2019: Hanse phases adapting William Flynn's rediscovered drawings