Lighthouse makes Sankaty's fifth
A Masterpiece 
by steve sheppard Independent Sports Editor
It's the signature hole on one of New England's most scenic golf courses, and it's been recognized as perhaps the single best golf hole on Nantucket.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Neal Whelden lines up a drive off the 5th tee at Sankaty Head Golf Club last Sunday. The lighthouse's new location is seen in the background, with a ghostly approximation of where the light sat since 1849.

It's the fifth at Sankaty, of course. Over the past month, however, there have been some, let's say, alterations to the course layout.

Somewhat of a sizable hazard has been moved close to the fairway, a hazard in the form of a 70-foot-high lighthouse.

This is a good thing for the Sankaty Head Golf Club, of course. The lighthouse forms its logo. Can you imagine the signature hole without the signature light?

Working with the 'Sconset Trust, the golf club endorsed Sankaty Light's move away from the eroding bluff. "I have to say that where it's located now, it looks better than it did in the past," Sankaty Head pro Mark Heartfield says. "It's more visible on quite a few holes, and you get a feeling of being closer to it."

But Heartfield said the shadow of a lighthouse doubt did flicker through his mind.

"I was a little skeptical at first that it might be too close," he admits. "But even from the clubhouse it just stands out more; it's more attractive."

Where the light was once high and wide to the left and pretty much removed from the reaches of a driver, it now hugs the left side of the fairway, a beacon sprouting from the scrub oak. Before, the light was part of a beautiful vista; now it is more of a presence.

"It definitely never came into play before, it was 250 yards off line," Heartfield noted. "Right now from the ladies' tee it's probably about a hundred yards away; from the men's tee it's 150 yards."

Closer doesn't necessarily mean nearer, however. "The lighthouse is way left of the center line, where you should be aiming," said Heartfield. "Now somebody could hit it, but it would involve a very errant shot. If it does hit and comes back into play, it would be playable." Amore likely scenario, he said, is that a ball hit at the lighthouse, because of the surrounding shrubbery, will be "just the same as hitting it into the scrub oak - it will be a lost ball."

The club's recent pro-am put the new placement to the test. "The lighthouse was not in play," Heartfield said. "We used the original tee boxes. Really, nothing has to be adjusted."

Except, perhaps, for a golfer's perspective.

"Oh, it's there," says veteran golfer and Sankaty Head

champion Ken Hammond. "Just don't aim for it." I