Sakonnet began as a late-19th-century seaside course at the southern tip of Little Compton. Donald Ross, who kept a summer home and office in Little Compton, took on the course’s improvement early in his career and—according to the club—reworked holes progressively over roughly two decades, using the site as a laboratory when he was in residence. In 1922, Ross and associate Walter Hatch expanded the layout to a full 18 holes, appending new holes to an older 9-hole core and tightening the routing to exploit exposure along the water and higher ground inland. Club materials now list the course as par 70 / 6,337 yards, reflecting tee extensions over time but preserving the Ross-era hole sequence.
From 1999 onward, Hanse Golf Course Design has maintained a master plan for Sakonnet, with a significant restoration push realized around 2004. That work lengthened the course by 400+ yards (still modest by modern standards), re-expanded greens toward their original perimeters, re-established fall-offs, and—critically—built two holes shown on Ross’s original drawings but never executed in the interwar years. Ongoing, smaller-scope projects (e.g., fairway work at No. 10, greenside bunker refinement at Nos. 2 and 9) have continued to tune features in line with the plan.
Research note: A definitive, primary-source timeline (plan dates, as-builts, contractor records) is preserved in the club’s centennial history volume Where Stone Walls Meet the Sea: Sakonnet Golf Club, 1899–1999; that book is cataloged with the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Little Compton Historical Society but is not publicly digitized.
Unique Design Characteristics
Coastal opening run (Holes 1–5). The round begins on open ground immediately adjacent to Church Cove and the Sakonnet shoreline, where wind orientation shifts hole-to-hole. Ross sited the par-3 2nd and the long par-4 4th with greens set close to the water, creating early decision points about trajectory and ground use into firm targets. The sequence establishes the course’s defining theme: use of exposure, not only bunkers, to create hazard.
Greens with pronounced edges and fall-offs. On both the seaside and inland stretches, the green pads are the defense: perched or slightly crowned surfaces with steep perimeter fall-offs that shed indifferent approaches into short-grass collection. Restoration enlarged several putting surfaces back toward Ross’s original lines, re-exposing false fronts and edge plateaus that had been lost to shrinkage over time. Contemporary accounts of the work emphasize that this brought back demanding recoveries without modernizing the style.
Bunkering that cues line more than penalizes indiscriminately. Post-2000 work focused on re-locating or reshaping select bunkers to re-emphasize angle control rather than sheer carry yardage—especially on No. 10 (fairway contouring) and Nos. 2 & 9 (greenside refinements). This aligns the hazard scheme with the course’s wind-first strategy and the ground approach options Ross favored on this site.
Clearest surviving Ross examples. The opening seaside holes (especially 2 and 4) and several green pads inland (e.g., 9 after its rebuild to an unexecuted Ross concept) read as the strongest windows into Ross’s Sakonnet intentions today: low-profile targets tied to natural grades, with strategic variety driven by exposure and green-edge contour, not mounding or heavy sand.
Historical Significance
Sakonnet is unusually important within Ross’s body of work because he lived and worked in Little Compton each summer, maintaining an office there and reportedly using Sakonnet for iterative improvements across many seasons. As a result, the course embodies Ross’s long-form tinkering rather than a single, one-and-done commission. Within Rhode Island, the club stands alongside Ross’s other 1920s projects (e.g., Wannamoisett, Point Judith, Triggs, Warwick) as part of a dense regional portfolio, but it is the seaside exposure and stone-wall vernacular that gives Sakonnet its distinct identity. The course does not appear frequently in national rankings; regionally, however, it’s regularly cited by connoisseurs as a classic coastal Ross under 6,400 yards that still scales in difficulty with breeze and firmness. Occasional professional-association and elite-amateur events have used Sakonnet (e.g., NEPGA pro-pro, New England amateur series), underlining its ability to test higher-level play without compromising member set-ups.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing & length. The 1922 18-hole framework remains; modern back-tee yardage sits at 6,337 yards (par 70). The 2004 restoration added 400+ yards chiefly through selective tee work and the realization of two previously unbuilt Ross holes, rather than wholesale rerouting.
Greens. Enlarged toward original perimeters during the early-2000s work, the greens now reclaim lost corners and restore fall-offs that intensify short-game variety. The putting surfaces are central to the course’s integrity and embody the site-appropriate subtlety of Ross’s coastal work here.
Bunkers & fairway features. Targeted greenside and fairway projects (documented examples include 2, 9, and 10) refined scale and placement to re-establish historical playing angles. The overall sand volume remains restrained relative to many seaside courses, which keeps the focus on wind, stance, and landing zones.
Trees, vistas, and walls. Tree management has been used to recover coastal vistas and cross-winds, particularly in the opening stretch, while the fieldstone walls remain a signature cultural landscape element that shapes lines on several holes. (
Facilities & access. The club remains private; guest play is by member invitation.
Sources & Notes
Sakonnet Golf Club — Guest Information (official): par, yardage, access policy; club-stated history of Ross’s iterative work.
Top100GolfCourses — “Sakonnet Golf Club” profile: 1922 completion to 18; 2004 Hanse restoration; “two holes on original Ross drawings” built; coastal hole descriptions. Secondary but detailed.
Hanse Golf Course Design — Projects: Sakonnet Golf Club: “Golf Course Master Plan – Ross, 1999–ongoing.” Primary for scope/timeline of consulting.
NMP Golf (contractor) — project notes: fairway #10 renovation; greenside bunker improvements at #2 and #9. Useful for recent implementation specifics.
Northeast Golf Company blog (2012): on-course observations of restoration effects (green expansions, fall-offs) and detail on the “new” 9th inspired by unbuilt Ross plans. Secondary, but feature-specific.
Little Compton Historical Society & RI Historical Society catalogs: Rawson, Chris (ed.), Where Stone Walls Meet the Sea: Sakonnet Golf Club, 1899–1999 (1999). Identifies the comprehensive club history volume for primary verification.
RIGA “Donald Ross” page: notes Ross’s Little Compton summer base and Sakonnet connection within his Rhode Island portfolio (context for on-site presence).
NEPGA news and New England Series event page: examples of recent competitive use (Pro-Pro; amateur series).