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Knockdown Golf, Chebeague Island, ME (2026)

01/20/2026

Philadelphia Cricket Club - St. Martins - 307 Yd Par 4 9th Hole “The Inn” - Architect: Willie Tucker, Donald Ross - Few holes still in existence show how much the game has changed more than the 9th at Philly Cricket’s original St. Martins course. Tipping out at 300 yards downhill, the hole crosses Hartwell Lane just past its mid point before gently rising to the squared off green just 9 yards from the entrance road protected by a row of hedges with the sprawling clubhouse just beyond. Combined with the maintenance barn 10 yards off the right edge of the green, driver here feels silly and dangerous. The small green is protected by a false front with bunkers on both front shoulders sunken beneath the surface. A casual loop at this antique, museum-like course can quickly turn serious (and expensive) with a thin final wedge shot or skulled bunker shot, providing a different yet equal type of difficulty than what was originally intended.

01/14/2026

Great Chebeague Golf Club - 104 Yd Par 3 7th Hole - Architect: Spalding, Collins, Stiles - From the moment one steps foot on Chebeague Island’s Stone Wharf Landing, the 7th hole looms large. 100 yards from the ferry drop off, a small corner of the paved wharf parking lot functions as a tee box where a few paver bricks, a planter, a lobster trap now functioning as a trash can, and a turf mat serve as the only indications that this is not a place to park in the high-demand lot. Carved out of the coastal tree line and benched into the rocky hillside, the majestic green site attracts golfers like a moth to a flame. I could grab a trash can full of balls and whack approaches at it from sun up to sundown without stopping all summer long and die a happy man. The green drips off the slippery coastline from two high tiers down to the funnel pin on the front right corner with a lone bunker serving as the sole failsafe for approaches missed short and right. The mini Sitwell-style green perched above the wharf has one of the best views of Casco Bay on the island that makes turning your back and heading toward the 8th a more difficult task than hitting the green. An island, golf course, and hole more than worth the effort it takes to get there.

01/08/2026

Jeffersonville Golf Club - 235-350 Yd Par 4 10th Hole - Architect: Donald Ross - After the 8th hole that returns the golfer near the clubhouse, the 9th and 10th make a quick loop out and back before crossing the parking lot to the turn shack on the 12th tee. Playing directly toward the parking lot and brand new putting green, the 10th begins with a drive over a low creek with the fairway rising on an angle from the lower right side, creating a bit more risk of trickling into the rough for those pushing the ball up the right side of the hole. Large mounds with bunkers face the tee on the left while a large mound on the front right edge of the green bleeds into the putting surface to create a false front and rear right shelf. The high rear left corner of the green keeps low approaches from rolling over the elegantly contoured complex.

12/31/2025

Not my most productive season of golf but happy to have seen these 15 courses for the first time this year. Looking forward to a strong return in 2026!

12/18/2025

Amherst Golf Club - 2659-3075 Yd Par 35 9 Holes - Architect: Walter B. Hatch - First constructed in 1900 across the street from Amherst College, the course was redesigned by Donald Ross’ long time associate at some point in the golden age era. Working out of a satellite office in North Amherst as a graduate of the local Mass Agricultural College, Hatch was one of the top foreman for Ross, often walking, routing, sketching, and heading some of Ross’ biggest projects. Geoffrey Cornish also lived in Amherst and carried out a renovation of the course sometime in the second half of the century, but seemed to have changed little to none of the quirky Hatch design. Now run out of a small building beside the first tee, the stately original clubhouse with ornate columns still serves as locker rooms for members of the small club. Owned by Amherst College, the course is run by a small group of dedicated golfers.
Occupying a thin strip of land just south of town, parallel holes run almost exclusively in the East-West direction emanating from center of the saddle-like property with low points on either side. The 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 6th greens occupy a wonderfully concentrated area on the western portion of the course with the 3rd and 6th greens nearly touching one another. The par 5 7th is the only hole to play over the saddle, featuring a front-to-back sloping green blind to the golfer for the first two swings. Playing downhill toward the very busy Pleasant Street in the form of a 310 yard dogleg, the 8th is a nervy hole best played safely to the shared fairway and short of the reverse-benched green just 15 steps from the road. Conditions are excellent and greens fees are a modest $34.

Check out MassGolf’s newest edition of The Massachusetts Golfer (Volume IV) for more of my photos and writing by Stephen Hanjack about the unique property.

12/10/2025

Lookout Mountain Club - 274-390 Yd Par 4 5th Hole “Bowl” - Architect: Seth Raynor - The rollicking 5th is the first of 4 straight holes to play north along the eastern property line. From the high tee the canted fairway is still largely hidden from view with trees down the left side serving as a great aiming point to let drives leak to the right once they hit the firm and fast surface. Overly aggressive drives will need to navigate a large bunker hidden on the downslope in the right rough. Wrapped around a cavernous bunker short right, the bowled green is wide open on the left and allows for short approaches to trundle onto the front edge in a redan-like manner. The downhill, sidehill fairway complicates the approach and forces the golfer to hedge short left in fear of any type of hosel-adjacent contact that is sure to send the ball into deep trouble. Kyle Franz and Tyler Rae’s 2022 renovation (these photos are pre-reno) saw the fairway shift considerably to the left for improved playability and angles in addition to standard tee and green expansions and bunker renovations.

12/04/2025

Old Barnwell Golf Club - 4920-7095 Yd Par 73 18 Holes - Architects: Brian Schneider & Blake Conant - Combining Victorian styling, golden age strategy, and modern widths, angles, and green speeds, the team of Schneider and Conant managed to create a truly unique course at Old Barnwell that clearly lifts and separates from the stack of new builds constructed in both the immediate region and across the country. Outside of a 250yd wide valley that splits the course into north/south sections, consistent but small elevation change is present on either side of the basin for the 8-10 holes that do not directly use the main feature on property. The routing is simply a dream. Beginning from the clubhouse overlooking the expansive valley, the first 5 holes provide small glimpses of the ravine before the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th play directly through (and back out of) the lowland. A quick break from the valley for the inland masterpiece 10th, the course turns back to the open for the 11th and 12th before returning to the quiet trees for 3 more holes on the southern border. The epic 16th catapults the golfer back to the center of the property with the 17th and 18th greens set high above. A postage stamp par 3 and final drive over the wide hollow toward the clubhouse make for an instantly memorable rollercoaster of a loop.
The highlights are abundant, and with so many holes worthy of a full breakdown, it’s perhaps easier to mention the weaker points. Unrelated to their position in the round or property, the 1st and 18th stand out as less noteworthy - the 1st for its gentle handshake and below-average strategy, the 18th for its intentionally large, starkly subtle green and forgiving fairway.The course contracts and expands visually, strategically, and physically in a constant manner to create supreme variety and interest throughout the round. Hidden bunkers, bowled greens, hogsback fairways, devilish shelves, aggressive mounding, deceptive fairways - short, long, quirky, natural, stout, omnidirectional, and unforgettable holes - Old Barnwell has it all. Delectably firm conditions, stocked pro shop, friendly staff, and dialed clubhouse are just icing on this elite Aiken cake.

12/03/2025

Lake Merced Golf Club - 99-149 Yd Par 3 13th Hole - Architect: Mackenzie/Hanse - Originally constructed as the 17th hole in Mackenzie’s 1928 design at Lake Merced, the club went through significant changes in the early 60’s when Highway 280 was constructed and routed through the eastern portion of property. Robert Muir Graves was hired to redesign the course and turned the iconic short par 3 into an entirely new hole approached from newly utilized property to the east with substantially less movement and bunkering surrounding the surface. Played as the 5th hole from the start of Muir Graves re-routing through the Rees Jones renovation in 1997, the club hired Gil Hanse in 2020 to restore as much Mackenzie as possible in the presently reduced footprint. Today’s 13th was reconstructed with significant regrading of the complex and only the original teeing ground still intact. Using old images to approximate the scale of the bunkering and gathering contours, Hanse and team successfully recreated a Mackenzie gem. Set in a bowled saddle, the rear left corner hidden from the tees provides a false sense of heroism thanks to its large and forgiving backstop that funnels balls back toward the center of the green once the massive serpentine bunkers short left are covered. Take on the front or right sections of the green and you may find yourself falsely fronted with a pitch shot recovery.

11/20/2025

Brae Burn Country Club - 434-555 Yd Par 5 14th Hole - Architect: Ross - Playing directly through the middle of the southern paddock, the 14th at Brae Burn begins with a wide corridor that slowly narrows to a bottleneck at the front edge of the green. The second half of the fairway is lined with small, quirky mounds faced with bunkers and a few large trees that tighten the approach as the fairway gently rises to the spectacular green site. The entrance to the green feels like a highway cut through mountains with large, irregularly shaped mounds dotted with bunkers protecting from any lucky breaks on poorly struck approaches. Sharing some bunkers with the 12th green also cut into the plateau, the 14th green features a large gutter running across the middle of the surface and a high upper tier at the rear.

11/18/2025

Bayberry Hills Championship (Red) - 370-445 Yd Par 4 1st Hole - Architect: Brian Silva/Tim Gerrish - The opening hole at Bayberry provides a good introduction to the course. Some elevation change off the tee with scrub pines lining both sides of the fairway down to a moderately contoured green. Bending slightly to the right about halfway down the fairway, the green protected by a bunker on the front right corner is best accessed from the left side, especially to pins tucked around the contours that blend from the bunker into the green. Mounds on the left and rear add some interest to the recovery but otherwise offer a gentle and relaxed beginning to a pleasant round in Yarmouth.

Knockdown Golf

01/20/2026

01/14/2026

01/08/2026

12/31/2025

12/18/2025

12/10/2025

12/04/2025

12/03/2025

11/20/2025

11/18/2025

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