VIDEO: Kyle Smith hits a shot at the Stark Amateur Golf Championship
Kyle Smith hits a tee shot on No. 10 at Ohio Prestwick Country Club during the final round of the 2025 Stark County Amateur Golf Championship.
Five finishing holes on Cape Cod golf courses offer memorable experiences for golfers of all skill levels.These courses feature unique designs, including forced carries, island greens, and picturesque views.The finishing holes range from challenging par 5s to shorter, more accessible par 3s.
Sometimes in golf, it’s not how you start your round, but how you finish it.
The Cape and Islands offers some of the most picturesque, yet challenging, 18th holes for golfers headed back towards the clubhouse ready to laugh off a new high score or to celebrate a round you’ll be reliving for eternity, saying, “Remember when…”, in a conversation that never even called for it.
While every course can lay claim to the best finishing hole, some live in the memory for longer. That said, we’ve compiled five of the top last holes on golf courses on Cape Cod and the Islands that any weekend golfer, or serious enthusiast, can manage to get a tee time at.
If you come across these golf holes, may you be afforded the opportunity to play them in quintessential Cape Cod conditions.
Here’s our list.
The revamped back nine at Farm Neck Golf Club has been well-received by golfers and that includes the closing hole at the Par 72 course on Martha’s Vineyard. Designed by Geoffrey Cornish—an icon of New England golf course architecture—the course was created out of a territory that used to be a farm and is located on a peninsula or neck, hence the name Farm Neck. The prestige of the course is further heightened as United States presidents have walked its fairways. What makes this hole a real test is forced carries from tee box to green. The way the pond is situated across the front of the green gives it the feel of an island green.
Golfers get their first look of the 18th hole as they play the ninth, which runs parallel to The Cape Club’s closer. Both greens play around a pond that is ready to swallow approach and layup shots. The par 5 plays as long as 563 yards and as short as 455 yards from the forward tees, and is the fourth hardest hole on the golf course. It’s a slight dogleg right that favors a cut compared to the ninth hole, which welcomes a draw or cut shaped shot. Golfers get a great look at the mammoth clubhouse as it sits upon a hill to the left of the green. That visual makes an otherwise sizable green look even smaller.
It’s bombs away off the tee on this long par 4 closing hole that tips out at 413 yards from the championship tees. If the tee ball catches the downward slope, it could set up a favorable short iron shot into a downhill green for the mere mortal golfer. The approach shot is hit into a green protected by bunkers front left and right. The right side of the green gets plenty of action as the fairway slopes toward the right-hand bunker. A par from the fairway can easily turn into a bogey or worse. What makes this a visually appealing hole is the tree-line fairways and narrow corridor to play into.
About as pure as it gets on the Cape and Islands, and it’s a hole that’s so good, golfers can play it twice if they so choose to play 18 holes at the nine-hole Truro-based course. The hole plays away from the Truro Historical Society Museum and towards the backdrop of Highland Lighthouse. It is a unique and picturesque shot. At 136 yards on the first pass and 105 yards on the second, it plays as the two easiest holes on the course. With views of the water across the course, take time to enjoy every step.
The closing hole at Miacomet is a straightaway par 5 that plays back towards one of the prettiest clubhouses at a public/semi-private golf course on the Cape and Islands. At 492 yards from the tips and 419 yards from the forward tees, it is reachable for the long hitters, but an undulating green is protected short by a native area and a false front. The layup is guarded by a shallow bunker that splits the fairway, which if found, could make the approach even that more difficult. It is rated the fourth hardest hole on the course and can be a gentle reminder that golf isn’t easy—not like one is needed anyway.
Allen Gunn covers high school sports for the Cape Cod Times. You can contact him at agunn@gannett.com and follow him on X at @allentgunn.
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