Cape Arundel Golf Club, Maine

The par four closer at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine. Now watch this drive.

I’ve discussed the serenity of northern New England in the last two posts, and today’s entry will be no different. If anything, Maine provides more geographic diversity than Vermont and New Hampshire given the considerable length of its coastline and overall larger size. Here you can see mountains, lakes, rivers, flatlands, forests, and the Atlantic Ocean all in the span of one day. There aren’t many places that can make that claim, but such is the nature of the Pine Tree State.

I spent a fair amount of time in a few of the state’s largest cities, including Portland, Lewiston, and Augusta, the capital. And yes, the lobster is all it is chalked up to be in the state’s most densely populated area. What I wouldn’t give for another chance to taste another lobster roll in Portland.

The Maine Book and Print Fest, a wonderful event in Waterville, and a Barnes & Noble signing in South Portland, may have been the foremost reasons for my visit to the state, but golf is always a nice side quest. I’m unbelievably lucky that, in my pursuit to be a national bestselling author, I get to spend a little time enjoying my second favorite hobby, golf. The golf scene in Maine is probably a little more saturated than most states its size. Belgrade Lakes, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River are all former top 100 public list dwellers, an astonishing feat for a state of 1.4 million full-time residents, and Cape Arundel and Boothbay Harbor are two very different Golden Age designs worthy of a visit. As far as private clubs are concerned, the best according to online lists seem to be Portland Country Club, Prouts Neck, and York Golf and Tennis.

With the aid of a friend, I had the honor of playing Cape Arundel, a golf course as steeped in history as any in the region. Renowned course architect Walter Travis, born in Australia during the American Civil War, put in place the layout that would become Cape Arundel in 1896. In the modern era, Cape Arundel has been considered the playground of the Bush family and is a place both the late George Herbert Walker and his living son are venerated. The first tee box, situated along Grist Mill Pond, was the site of George W.’s famous “We must defeat the terrorists…now watch this drive” quip. The private driving range and teaching facility situated in the northwest corner of the premises is called the 43 House. The main clubhouse is called 41. In short, Cape Arundel loves the Bushes.

Cape Arundel is a property full of quirks, perhaps my favorite being the way in which you make your entrance. Turning off River Road, one has to be mindful on the drive in. This is because the road leading to the clubhouse intersects three golf holes—seven, eleven, and eighteen, to be precise—and is situated a few feet to the south of a fourth, the sixth green. I have heard of places like Shinnecock Hills that deploy this feature but have never seen it in person due to my inexperience in the northeastern United States.

I was matched up on the first tee with a tennis teaching professional named John. If you see this, John, thank you for taking this post’s main picture and being a great dude to walk alongside for eighteen holes.

The course is a par 69 and plays from the tips to 5859 yards. It is an easy walk and should be played as such. There is one par five, the ninth, a slight dogleg left of 476 yards, and the longest par four, the twelfth, plays to a mere 399 yards. Be certain, however, that the golf course is no easy test. In fact, the defining feature of Cape Arundel is its difficult, perched, undulating green complexes. There is a lot of water and fescue in play as well, but nothing will affect your score as much as the greens. The front nine is relatively flat and uninspiring leading up to the putting surfaces, but there’s no question the lore of this golf course lies within the accuracy of approach shots and the putts that follow. I would recommend taking an extra moment or two over each putt. The swales of the eighth, ninth, and tenth proved to be the most strenuous portion of my round, as I required three, two, and three attempts to hole my golf ball. It took an up-and-down on the beautiful eleventh, a bite-off-as-much-as-you-can-chew 339-yard par four with a severe back-to-front sloping green, to restore my confidence fully. From there, the good times at Cape Arundel returned.

Considering the lack of elevation changes of the routing, the back nine is remarkably scenic. Its most notable views come from the eleventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth tee boxes, as well as the approach on seventeen and the drive on eighteen. All of these holes were built around the margins of Grist Mill Pond. The seventeenth is a wonderful, strategic 358-yard par four that plays into a hill you have to walk over to catch a glimpse of the green below. It is an absolute joy to play if your second shot lands on the correct shelf.

The term “fun golf” is overused these days, but few places embody the term more than Cape Arundel. The layout is proof that a golf course does not need to be 7000 yards or a par 72 to be considered elite. It’s no surprise that Golf Club Atlas has included Cape Arundel among their one hundred and fifty-three “Custodians of the Game”. According to their website, “the purpose remains to highlight courses whereby when you walk off the 18th (or 9th) green, you feel invigorated rather than exhausted, and the allure of returning to the first tee is strong.” Cape Arundel is a prime example of this type of golf course.

Being a relatively flat and sub-6000 yard par 69 design, the punchlines at Cape Arundel write themselves. The course goes against everything the modern golf world stands for, and a cohort of folks who prefer the shiny, new layouts would never head to Maine for the experience. That being said, I absolutely believe in and support the idea that Golden Age designs can and do thrive in today’s mad world. Better yet, the contemporary golf world never gets to be what it is today without places like Cape Arundel. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to go back to Kennebunkport, exit off River Road, and enter the fun once more.