Favorite Holes in Golf: #4, Samoset Resort

I mentioned last week that golf is 80 percent window dressing—and I stand by that. Depending on the course, that window dressing can make for dramatically different experiences. At SoPo Muni, for example, it can lull a player into complacency. It only costs, like, $12 to play, it’s a 9-hole public course, sandwiched between 295 and old Howard Johnson, and the clubhouse shares space with a public library branch: there’s nothing too intimidating about it. But if a player makes the common mistake of thinking they’re good, and therefore, capable of shooting lights out at a rink-a-dink muni, they’ll likely shoot a million (maybe two).

Today, the spotlight is turned towards the Samoset Resort, in Rockport, Maine. It was a midsummer getaway spot for a few days with my parents when I was a teenager. When we stayed as a family, my dad and I would try to play 36 holes on the resort’s golf course. Located about 2 hours north of home, the Samoset is a hybrid coastal links course. The front 9 is light on trees and showcases the ocean view, while much of the back 9 is littered with picturesque ponds and dense woods.

I loved playing there when I was younger because it wasn’t hard to score well. The course was the resort’s selling point and much of the layout catered to the average golfer on vacation or in town on business. As long as I kept my focus, I had a chance at scoring in the 70s (mostly 80s). One hole, in particular, I would use as a litmus test: the par 5 fourth hole.

From the tips, the 4th at the Samoset plays just over 500 yards. It’s a slight dogleg left, hugging the rocky Atlantic shoreline. The tee is elevated and the absence of trees allows players to contemplate cutting the corner and having a mid-iron into the green for their second. But getting sucked into the view makes the hole more complicated than it should be. The fairway is one of the widest on the course, and as long as a player isn’t fixated on the water, their tee shot can go pretty much anywhere and still be in decent shape to make par.

In favorable conditions--especially during my competitive playing days--I considered the 4th a birdie hole. As long as I didn’t think I was Tiger Woods, at the very least, I’d manage par. On days I thought I was hot shit, well, I’d try to cut the corner off the tee, rather than hit it into the mile-wide fairway. That typically meant pull-hooking a little burner right into the Atlantic, reloading, then pushing a sky ball into the right rough, overcompensating for my first miss. Before I knew it, I’d be tapping in for an 8, when all I needed to do was use common sense for an easy-ish par. At least the view’s always nice.