Massachusetts Golf Destination Guide
 If
the only time you ever thought of golf in Massachusetts was during the
1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline Country Club west of Boston, then think again.
It used to be that public golf here was divided into three distinct zones.
There was Cape Cod, in the east. There were the Berkshires, in the western
part of the state. And there was everything in between. But golf's recent
course building boom has blurred the Bay State equation entirely, most
certainly for the better.
Boston is one of golf's birthplaces, so there have always been a ton of great old public courses close to The Hub. But today they're complemented by the I-495 corridor west of Boston, otherwise known as Central Massachusetts, where a dozen deliciously upscale daily-fees now draw golfers from all over New England thanks to their, well, central location. With superb tracks situated between the Central and Western sections of the state, like the established Crumpin'-Fox and newcomers like The Ranch, basically you can't swing a three-wood in Massachusetts without hitting a great place to play.
On the Cape there are more than 50 public courses to choose, but there are a few the locals might not tell you about, if only to prevent the summer hoard from invading.
One is Olde Barnstable Fairgrounds Golf Course in Marston Mills, one of the state's best kept secrets.
Cape Cod means access to The Islands, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket,
each of which offers one (and only one) excellent public venue. On Nantucket
it's Miacomet Golf Course, where an old nine was recently made whole by
a spectacular new loop from architect Howard Maurer, who will soon renovate
the old loop, too. Next door, so to speak, on the Vineyard, Farm Neck
Golf Club makes the 45-minute ferry ride from Woods Hole a very small
price to pay.
 With
the advent of layouts like Waverly Oaks and the 36 holes at Pinehills,
Plymouth has rapidly emerged as one of the country's best new golf destinations.
Closer to Boston itself, inside the beltway of Route 128, there are, of
course, scads of world-class private clubs designed by the giants of Golden
Age Architecture, like Donald Ross, William Flynn and Wayne Stiles. But
there are a dozen tracks, many of them laid out by the same fellows, which
survive today as municipals.
Today, this suburban land is too expensive for the development of anything but housing - unless you find land that no one wants. Cases in point: the Granite Links in Peabody, where John Sanford has crafted 18 dramatic holes (on his way to 27) on a former quarry site in Quincy, using several million cubic yards of fill generated by Boston's Big Dig highway project.
But these are notable exceptions. Most of Greater Boston's new tracks have been built near or beyond I-495, Boston's outer beltway, where the land is cheaper. The pick of this litter might well be the youngest, Red Tail Golf Club in Devens, 40 minutes northwest of the city.
 The
hits keep coming in Western Mass., more remote from Boston but convenient
to golfers traveling from New York, Connecticut and Vermont. Check the
license plates in the parking lot at Crumpin'-Fox Golf Club in Bernardston,
north of Springfield. South of Springfield, in Southwick, The Ranch Golf
Club has developed a similar, regional following, even though this Damian
Pascuzzo design is only three years old.
New course development hasn't taken hold in the Berkshires with nearly the same fervor as elsewhere in the state, but it hardly matters because there several classic venues here that have thrilled golfers since the 1920s, like the Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown (a semi-private club owned by Williams College).
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