A Golfer's Travel

I have been dreaming of getting the opportunity to play Sankaty Head Golf Club for years.  The golf course is located on Nantucket, a beautiful island thirty miles off the coast of Cape Cod.  A New England summer-time destination for thousands of people around the world, Nantucket is an absolute picturesque dreamland that continues to have families return every summer.  I visited the island last year with a friend, and we rented bicycles to explore. While peddling down the bike path, Sankaty Head Lighthouse appeared over the horizon with the golf course below it, and I was hooked.  I knew right there I had to play this historical, and breathtaking golf course.

It was my buddy Andrew's 40th birthday, and I wanted to get him something special.  He is a huge golfer, and I knew that Sankaty would be a tough get, but took a chance and got lucky enough to be invited to play the special track.  His selected foursome turned into a threesome real quick when one of the guys had to drop out due to work.  An absolute tragedy as he would be missing a real treat.  Luckily, my favorite wife of my friends, let her husband, Ryan, attend.  She's cool, and she adores me (and I can't blame her), so I can usually take Ryan wherever I go. 

The travel alone would be fun.  The four hour car ride, followed by a one hour fast ferry would provide great conversation with our excitement building the entire way.  We got to the ferry so fast that we were able to have a fantasic breakfast at The Dockside.  Hot coffee, eggs, sausage, and homefries covered the table as we waited for our ferry.

We boarded the Steamship Authority's Fast Ferry from Hyannis at 11 a.m., and it left exactly at 11 a.m. sharp.  Equipped with an onboard bar, I thought the birthday boy would have taken part in a Bloody Mary, but he restrained himself knowing that it would be a long, but fun two days on Nantucket.  We had no time to spare, as we had a tee time at Nantucket's only Public 18 hole golf course, Miacomet, at 1 p.m.  As we arrived at the island, we had a short 4 minute walk to the Periwinkle Inn, who allowed us to check in early, and grab a taxi to Miacomet.

Roger's Taxi shuttled the 3 of us over to Miacomet, and we were blown away how gorgeous this golf course was.  Even with the winds reaching 30 MPH, the course was in spectacular shape.  Do not think this course is beneath the private clubs on the island, as it is right there.  The links style is special and a must play.  After having a beer, we went back to the Periwinkle to get cleaned up for a nice Nantucket dinner.  We took the Taxi driver's advice and went to Seagrille, and I am glad we did.  We each started with Scallops wrapped in bacon.

I then had Chicken Milanese, Andrew had Filet Mignon with Foie Gras, and I can't remember what Ryan had, but my goodness, we enjoyed every bit of it.  

We lit cigars for the walk home, and stopped into a great restaurant/bar for an after dinner drink.  Ventuno is known for its Italian food, but we were treated to excellent customer service as the bartender and friend had us laughing all night.  To be honest, I thought I was going to get lucky with this gorgeous girl who was flirting with me all night, which really would have made my trip to Nantucket 🤩.  It wasnt meant to be, and I knew we needed to get some sleep for the 10 a.m. tee time at Sankaty tomorrow morning, so we left and hit the hay.

After having breakfast at the hotel, Roger's taxi picked us up and took us on the 20 minute ride to the eastern shores of Nantucket.  As the car turned into the Sankaty Golf Club, we knew we were in for an unforgettable day.  While setting up this day, we knew that we needed a 65 degree day in late October for this day to work.  My friends call it, "Hank Luck", and we recieved it with a 70 degree, sunny day.  It was October 20th, you can check the records, but it was the last warm day of the year, and we were lucky enough to get it!  

The staff greeted us before we even had the car doors shut.  They were fantastic, making the check-in process as easy as possible.  We were set up on the range to hit a few balls, and drop a few putts on the practice green, but the excitement was too much for me.  I had to get to the first tee as soon as possible.  Finally, we teed off and I was able to relax.  The front nine is a gorgeous set of holes that are stalked by the famous Sankaty Light House.  You can't miss it, as it is in every backdrop of every picture you will take.

The greens were in incredible shape and were some of the most difficult greens I have ever played on.  They are undulating, with false fronts, and some are even turtle-backed.  They are fair, but true.  I thought the wind coming off the ocean would blow in the same direction, but I was horribly wrong🤪.  It changed direction momentarily and reaked havoc with my wedges.  This did make the course so much more fun and difficult.  A normal 90 yard wedge sometimes had to be played 130 yards if you were into the wind.  The same 90 yard wedge 20 minutes later could be down wind requiring a three quater knock down swing, trying to keep the ball on the green!  I can't empasize enough how awesome the experience and challenge of playing at Sankaty is.

This is me trying to hit the ball over the lighthouse at the time I was down wind.

When we made the turn, a very nice young lady helped us with a few snacks and we were on our way.  The back nine had a little different feel becuase we were on the opposite  side of the clubhouse the entire time.  You do not feel the presence  of the lighthouse as much as you did on the front.  The drive on 10 requires a long shot to clear enough fescue area, so that your second shot isnt too far into the green.  The green slopes away to the left leaving little to no bail out area.  The further you get into the back nine, the feeling of sadness gets thicker and thicker as you know the round is almost over.  I remeber standing on the 18th tee box feeling awful that this special day was coming to an end.  My drive only went 220 yards into the wind, when I can normaly bomb it 290-300 yards.  I needed to hit one last nice iron onto the green to say I played this course well enough for me to be satisfied.  Sure enough a stronger wind knocked my approach down and I fell short of the green😋.  I did get up and down to save par which gave me a good feeling after shaking hands with Ryan and Andrew.

The round was over, but we still had plenty of time to hit up the Sankaty Golf Shop.  I wasn't  leaving without a Sankaty-Logo Peter Millar Polo, Ball Marker, Golf Towel, you name it😋.  The Golf Pro and Pro Shop Manager were so accomodating helping us find whatever we wanted.  Andrew was in heat with all the great items that we could buy.  After they rang us up for all of our souvenirs , it was time to call Roger's Taxi.  The car came and drove us back to town, where we had a huge burger at The Rose and Crown while waiting for our ferry to take us back to Cape Cod. At 6:15 p.m. the ferry pulled away from the shores of Nantucket with a very tired passenger.....