The New England golf season begins early on Massachusetts’ South Coast, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. While inlanders shiver well into May, the temperate climate on the state’s famous, curling, outstretched arm lets many daily-fee courses remain open year-round. In April, May and June, golfers can actually zip across the Sagamore or Bourne Bridge and navigate around the quaint villages, miles of coastline from Bourne to the tip of Provincetown and lush golf courses redolent with the tang of salt air. By midsummer, they’re in prime shape and packed with vacationers looking not only for a round rife with history and charm but enough après-golf fun to keep anyone happy.

In fact, summer’s heat and long, languid days bring out the Cape region’s best stuff in terms of outdoor adventure. Stroll the miles of gorgeous beaches — including the windswept Cape Cod National Seashore — that stretch all the way to Provincetown. Bike or hike the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail through the towns of Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet or ride a horse along the trail’s wide, unpaved shoulder. Enjoy spectacular sunsets from Rock Harbor in Orleans.

Root for future major-league all-stars at Cape Cod League baseball games, which start in June. Drop a line almost anywhere off the Cape, in its many fresh-water ponds, or charter a boat to go deep sea fishing for bluefish, fluke and striped bass. Amble along the five miles of trails through salt marsh, beach and woodland of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It’s not Waikiki, but grab your board because surf’s up along the Lower and Outer Cape beaches in Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet and Truro. Or watch for whales off Stellwagen Bank.

Hungry? Crack a lobster or tuck into a plate of Cape fried clams (the real ones, with the bellies!) at any of the Cape’s many seafood joints, like The Clam Shack on Falmouth Harbor or fine-dining establishments such as Ocean House in Dennisport overlooking Nantucket Sound.

You can even back up golf with more golf, on a mini-scale at Yarmouth’s Pirate’s Cove, Cape Escape in Orleans or any of a number of beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained tracks laid out with waterfalls, streams and bridges.
Meanwhile, back on the golf horizon …

On your way to the Cape, tee it up at Pinehills Golf Club’s two 18-hole tracks. On 300 acres of rolling hills, these courses designed by Rees Jones and Jack Nicklaus offer modern, high-end golf — exquisite conditions, challenging and enjoyable play on flowing fairways and elevation changes offering dramatic views amid natural environments. Don’t miss the glacially carved kettles on the Jones course or the smaller, undulating greens on the Nicklaus circuit.

“There’s a higher premium on accuracy off the tee on the Jones course,” says John Tuffin, Pinehills’ director of golf. “The Nicklaus layout is more open off the tee, but angled greens make for tricky approach shots.”

Pinehills will put you in the mood for a sweet swing onto the Cape, and you need not travel far for more great golf. Cape Cod Country Club on Coonamesset Pond provides 18 holes of undulating fairways and subtly sloping greens. Water vistas, especially the pond in front and to the left of the No. 9 hole, are alluring. You’ll have all you can handle on the short but challenging finishing hole.

Olde Barnstable Fairgrounds Golf Course, one of two municipal courses in the town, was built on the grounds of the former Barnstable County Fair. The 18-hole, Mungeam/Cornish-designed course offers large chipping areas, formidable approaches and undulating putting surfaces.

“The greens are gorgeous,” says Wayne Malcolm Jr., the course’s division assistant.

Sandwich Hollows Golf Club is one of the only Cape courses with no houses lining the fairways. With 250 acres offering majestic views of Cape Cod Bay and bordered by 1,300 acres of conservation land, the town-owned course is one of the Cape’s best values. Golfers play for $30 on Wednesdays after 1 p.m. “We are the lowest-priced facility on the Cape,” boasts John Johnson, director of golf at Sandwich Hollows, which is also home to the Jane Frost Golf School.

Heading to the Mid-Cape region brings a surprising discovery — Blue Rock Golf Course, a nationally ranked par-3 layout. Well-bunkered greens, four water holes and distances ranging from 103 yards to 255 yards, this is no gimme (or gimmicky) track. One of the Cape’s best, the ninth (255 yards from the back tees, 113 from the front) presents a kidney-shaped green that requires a carry over water and two deep bunkers. “We are not your typical par-3 course,” says Patrick Fannon, head professional. “Almost any hole on the course would be the best par 3 on any course.”

The award-winning course is also a long-time member of the Audubon Society. “Our superintendent takes great pride in being as green-friendly as we can be,” Fannon says.

More than a century old, Bass River Golf Course in Yarmouth is “the only public-access Donald Ross course on the Cape,” says Jim Armentrout, director of golf operations.

With scenic views of Bass River, the open course exacts its revenge with thick rough. The greens are old-school Ross — small, multi-tiered, moderately quick and fronted by rolling and dipping chipping areas and pot bunkers.

The parkland-style layout of the Geoffrey Cornish/Brian Silva-designed, 27-hole Bayberry Hills Golf Course presents a different test from its sister course, Bass River. “It’s cut right out of the piney woods,” says Armentrout, also Bayberry’s golf ops director.
Built on 200 acres, Bayberry offers an unusually expansive feel for a Cape track, while trees provide an intimate setting on each hole. “It’s like you’re on your own course,” Armentrout adds. An Audubon member, Bayberry requires carts in season because of the long hike between greens and tees.

Cranberry Valley Golf Course prides itself on superior conditions, a championship layout and excellent practice facilities. The Mungeam/Cornish-designed tree-lined fairways provide 18 holes of competitive play for all golfers, says head professional Joe McNulty.

Now it’s time to go low, as in the Lower Cape, where Captains Golf Course offers 36 holes of well-rounded design and difficulty. A quartet of tee box options on every hole give this Brewster complex broad appeal for more serious sticks down to casual, holiday-only hackers. Start on the easier Starboard Course and graduate to the more demanding Port Course.

Despite locations by the ocean, water holes are unusual for Cape courses. So be wary of two kettle ponds that guard greens on holes 12 through 17 on the Port, says Director of Golf Mark O’Brien.

Now we’re getting into chief executive territory: Martha’s Vineyard. At Cornish-designed Farm Neck Golf Club, you can play a public course that’s a favorite of presidents Clinton and Obama. Indeed, the First Golfers have let regular golfers in on this scenic gem in Nantucket Sound.

“They have introduced more people to the course,” says head professional Mike Zoll. “A lot of golfers didn’t know it existed or thought it was more exclusive.”

With breathtaking vistas of the Sound and Great Pond, the well-bunkered, Audubon Sanctuary layout plays from 5,000 to 7,000 yards. Water comes into play on nine holes of this links-like course, and four sets of gender-neutral tees afford challenges to all golfers.

Finally if Nantucket is in your gameplan, make time for Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, a world-class, private, links-style course open for public play from October through May. Don’t expect a stuffy country club; you’ll find a relaxed, informal environment that mixes innovation and tradition at this 87-year-old track.

The No. 5 hole’s proximity to the historic Sankaty Head Lighthouse makes it the club’s signature.

Lighthouse? Sounds like a beacon of summer fun that should draw plenty of Cape Cod visitors this season.

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