First, a disclaimer: I may be a bit biased in this review, because while I’m newer to being a true golfer, Scituate Country Club and I have history.
I sat on their porch scarfing down hot dogs and Fanta Oranges when I was a little girl and my mom was playing a couple of practice holes. One year my mother – whose name graces championship plaques there – endured my hack golf when she graciously hosted me as a partner in the mother/daughter. Generations of family members have been champions there. So, yes, my heart beats a little extra for the place.
Now, playing it as a true golfer, I know my love is not only well-placed, but enduring.
SCC (https://www.scituatecc.com), a private club that opens to the public each Monday and offers a wide variety of private membership options, is a marvel of a nine-holer, going up and down and up and down again on the steep ledge that leads up to Scituate’s Third Cliff.
You tee off from lofty heights looking out over bluffs. Osprey and sea spray scent pop up from time to time, and while you may have some slower play here and there on the busy public days, you won’t mind. The view itself eggs you on to stop and just savor it all. And it’s ever-changing: the tides roll in and out creating a new vista every hour, every day.
The par 35 (slope 121, rating 34.9) comes in at just over 3,000 yards from the blacks, and packs a lot of challenge into that yardage, no matter your tee box.
But let’s start with the history, because while it may feel personal to me, it’s not just mine. SCC sits on what was once the Welch family farm. Much of the current clubhouse was the family’s home there. In 1919, residents of Third Cliff, which lays out just above the club itself, purchased the land and built the golf club.
When World War II came, as was the case at many clubs (and particularly for women), SCC thrived. To this day, it remains busy, beloved and beautiful.
All that beauty is laced with challenge as well. Holes run up and down the hilly land, with some long, lush fairways demanding power drives and smart fairway play, and some surprisingly challenging par 3’s tucked in.
Their No. 2 par 3, where you tee off up high and hit to an elevated green, is considered one of the toughest par 3’s in the region. The reward is mighty though: Hit that green or eventually find your way to it and you feel on top of the world. Views all the way to the Spit and North River await.
The next hole sends you way down below for a long, straight fairway past the clubhouse and along the marshes of the North River.
Across the street some lovely condos tuck up alongside the holes but the foliage shields them; you feel totally in nature. Those holes require some deep thinking: lay-ups before marshy areas to hit over and another tricky par 3 mean you’ll use all those clubs in your bag.
It’s a walkable course, but carts are available and do be aware: the hills can be steep. Our day we played a combo, two of us in a cart and me on foot. We were able to stay together easily and savor the play, the view and the company as one.
Post-round, whether you choose to play 9 or loop back around for a total of 18, set aside time to grab lunch or a drink in their classic New England clubhouse. They still have hot dogs, but the tall glass Fanta Orange of my childhood is but a memory. I replaced it with iced tea. Perfect.
Years ago, when my now adult daughter was a little girl, we were driving up Old Driftway, the road that cuts through the middle of SCC, on our way to the post-funeral lunch at the home of my deceased grandfather, former Superintendent of Boston Schools William H. Ohrenberger, a Third Cliff resident and long, long, long-time member at SCC.
“Hey Mom,” she said from the back seat as we drove past that beautiful view on our way to his home. “Didn’t you say we are going to where Grandpa lives?” I affirmed. She smiled, eyes wide at the lush green fairways, white clubhouse and ocean views.
“Oh! So then: This is heaven!”
She wasn’t wrong.
