The Old Ghosts
Sunday Scaries: Old Sandwich GC
Jun 28, 2026 - 3 min read

Sunday Scaries: Old Sandwich GC

The Coore & Crenshaw masterpiece that forced its way into New England’s top tier.
by Nick Sapia

Photos by Omar Rawlings and Nathan Limbach

In the early 2000s, amid all the talk of “Tiger-proofing” and the rise of Big Rough, a quieter architectural renaissance was taking shape. Led by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, a new blueprint for modern golf was emerging: find a sprawling expanse of sandy ground, build a course rooted in links golf and Golden Age architectural principles, and pair it with understated on-site lodging that would draw a national membership eager to immerse themselves in the full experience.

If that blueprint began on the Nebraska plains with Sand Hills, the first true modern masterpiece, it continued at Chechessee Creek Club before reaching perhaps its fullest expression with the opening of Old Sandwich Golf Club in 2004.

Greater Boston has long been one of America’s great golf regions. Crenshaw himself has said that seeing The Country Club as a teenager sparked his interest in golf architecture, so opening a modern course alongside timeless clubs like The Country Club, Myopia Hunt Club, and Essex County Club was no small undertaking.

More than 20 years later, Old Sandwich has more than justified the ambition. It has firmly established itself among the best courses in Massachusetts while cultivating both a devoted local membership and a strong national following. The experience remains understated and intimate, tucked among the pines and sandy soils overlooking Cape Cod Bay.

From the moment you arrive, it’s clear that no detail has been overlooked.
The day begins with a walk across the bridge spanning Whipple Reservoir. With the first tee tucked well away from the clubhouse, there are no galleries watching your opening drive, just a preview of the quiet intimacy that defines a round at Old Sandwich.
A detail of the Principal’s Nose-esque bunker on the second hole. Old Sandwich was one of the defining projects in the meteoric rise of Coore & Crenshaw, cementing the firm as one of the leading voices in modern golf architecture.
The par-3 seventh is the course’s signature hole for many, its green seemingly floating in a sea of sand.
The fifth is one of the course’s standout holes, a brilliant modern interpretation of the classic Cape template.
The fifth hole, left, from above.
The kind of natural scruffiness that gives Old Sandwich so much of its character.

Cape Cod Bay sits just beyond the property, but aside from the sandy soils and windswept pines, you’d hardly know the ocean is so close.
The Old Ghosts

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