The Club prides itself on the diversity of its membership, drawing on a wide range of Nantucket’s population, from summer residents to year-round Nantucketers. As a friendly refuge from everyday life, the Club and its camaraderie play an important part in the experience of its members. The Club sees itself as an island resource and seeks to be a responsible member of the Nantucket community by sharing its facilities with Island charities and other organizations.
The Club’s primary focus is golf. The course is renowned as an outstanding example of links style golf architecture and is surrounded by open land and wildlife. The membership values its natural beauty and serenity as much as the golf challenge it presents. Golf at Sankaty is enhanced by the Caddy Program that is supported by members of the club through the Sankaty Head Foundation. This program, which benefits young people from all over the country with its recreational activities and scholarship program, is the last of its kind and is a fundamental part of the Sankaty golfing tradition.
Sankaty seeks to provide activities in which an entire family may participate. While golf is primarily oriented to members and their spouses with limited play by below-college-age children, tennis and swimming facilities at the Beach Club offer a variety of activities for younger children, teenagers and adult members. In recognition of the Island’s many varied alternative activities, the Club’s social activity schedule is limited to specific events spaced throughout the summer season. Up to date, but not given to current vogues, the services and staff convey congeniality and competence. The restaurant fare is pleasing and the parties are fun.
Important to the members, Sankaty has an open and informal atmosphere unfettered by excessive rules and regulations. The Club seeks to preserve the best of its past traditions while moving with the demands of modern times. The Clubhouse and Beach Club facilities are functional and comfortable and their maintenance and modernization are provided for in budgeted steps that preserve their historical character.
Although limited by its facilities to an overall membership of 550, the Club has, historically, maintained open admission to qualified sponsored new member applicants. In a period of great demand, this policy has served the Club well and has earned the confidence of its members that admissions to membership are democratically and fairly administered. To maintain the family orientation of the membership, properly sponsored legacies are given some priority toward membership. However, the Club believes that it is important that a constant flow of new members are admitted to membership and attempts to avoid becoming inbred by the applications of a legacy policy.
Sankaty is an affordable club, not because of the economic limitations of its membership, but by preference. A strong effort has been made to keep the Club from being financially exclusionary. To preserve this characteristic and to maintain the high quality of its facilities and services, the Club has spread the costs of its operations and capital improvements evenly over its membership.
In summary, Sankaty seeks to be an outstanding family golf club with a unique layout and active social program in a summer recreational setting. The goal is to strike the right balance between innovation and tradition, and in so doing, to increase the enjoyment of the membership year after year.