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Alex Elias  Founded in 1897 by Scotsman John Reid, known as “The Father of American Golf,” Hyannisport Club (Hyannisport, MA) began as a six-hole course laid out on the “port side of the marsh,” now known as Sunset Hill. In 1902, Alexander Findlay expanded it to nine holes, and in 1913, Donald Ross redesigned it into an 18-hole layout. Seventeen years later, in 1930, Ross returned to redesign the course into its present form. Known for routing and designing from the land he was given, Ross combined two holes originally laid out by Findlay to create the Par-4 3rd and used the same glacial deposit to shape the Par-4 4th. Weaving around the tidal marshes of the Nantucket Sound, these consecutive dogleg-left Par-4s show how similar holes can play very differently. “From a bird’s-eye view, it’s difficult to imagine two holes next to each other that could look more similar, but on the ground, play entirely different,” said Charles Mallo, Senior Assistant Golf Professional at Hyannisport Club. On the ground, the two holes demand different strategies because of their greens. No. 3 features a flat, island-like green, while No. 4 has a small, severely right-to-left sloped green—each set at slightly different angles, creating distinct strategic lines of play. “Off the tee, on No. 3, you want to be on the interior of the dogleg to avoid a hook lie with a predominantly right-to-left headwind, a penalty area left, and a bunker right,” said Mallo. “But on No. 4, you want to be on the exterior of the dogleg.”
As for the benefit of playing to the exterior on No. 4, Mallo said, “If you don’t play to the exterior of the dogleg, then you’re faced with only one option: fly the ball directly over the marsh (Image 1). But if you do play to the exterior, then you have a plethora of options. You can play your approach high or low, and if low, you can use the kicker forty yards short of the green (Image 2),” as Ross often encouraged the ground game.
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