My wife and I spent two wonderful weeks in New England and Canada in July of 2023. Due to the amount of courses played, I have decided to split the trip into Canada and the US. This is the story of our wonderful multi-state adventure through New England.
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| Brae Burn Country Club |
Our time in New England began in Maine. Before we tackled the main reason for our being in this part of Maine, we had a warm up round to kill time at Fairlawn Golf course in Poland, Maine.
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| Fairlawn Golf Course, Par three 2nd hole |
We made a short drive to Poland Springs resort after our warm up round. Poland Springs is a 1913 Donald Ross design that retains the charm of the original design. The resort is very proud of its history, and has signs on every hole that tell you something about it from the past.
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| Poland Spring Resort, Par four 4th hole. A few more trees then the early days! |
Day two of our New England trip began at Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn, Maine. Designed by local architect Carol Myshrall Jr, the course opened in 2001 and traverses through some dramatic property, with some heroic carries thrown in to the mix.
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| Fox Ridge Golf Club, Par four 10th hole |
Next up on day two was Martindale Country Club, also in Auburn. This course began life in 1921 as a nine hole course designed by the pro at Portland Country Club, Alex Chisholm. A second nine was added by Phil Wogan in the 60's. Prominent New England architects Geoff Cornish and Brian Silva renovated the course in the late 1980's.
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| Martindale Country Club, Par four 10th hole |
We headed a few hours North after our round at Martindale to the Bangor, Maine area. The small town of Orono is the site of a wonderful 1923 Donald Ross design, Penobscot Valley Country Club. This is another well preserved Ross design with one of the best opening holes I have played in recent years. This was also my wife's 300th golf course. Very grateful to her for enduring my madness over the years!
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| Penobscot Valley Country Club, Par four 1st hole. Congratulations to my wife on her 300th golf course played! |
The theme of the third day of the trip was nine hole courses. We began in Lucerne, Maine at Lucerne Country Club, a Donald Ross design that has new owners who are committed to restoring and improving the course over time. I am excited by their passion, as this is a course with great potential to be one of the best nine hole courses in the country if properly restored.
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| Lucerne Country Club, Par four 3rd hole |
Next on the agenda on day three was a course that actually was rated as one of the fifty best courses in the world by Golf Magazine, Castine Golf Club. This course was designed by Willie Park Jr., most famous for his designs at Maidstone and Olympia Fields. Unfortunately, the extremely wet summer New England was experiencing resulted in my not being able to experience the course in any sort of normal form. I hope to return when conditions will allow the course to play like it normally does.
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| Castine Golf Club, Par five 7th hole |
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| Photo of Castine borrowed from their website to show it in better times. This is the wonderfully blind uphill par four 6th hole |
After our round at Castine, we headed North to Canada for a week so this narrative will resume when we returned to Maine. You can read about our Canadian adventures here: Canada Trip
Day four in New England began with a course featuring nine holes from Donald Ross, Biddeford-Saco Country Club. The Ross front nine, and Cornish/Silva back nine, blend together well, making for a very nice course overall.
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| Biddeford-Saco Country Club, Par four 1st hole |
We finished day four in Kennebunk, Maine. Summer home of two Presidents and the Webhannet Golf Club. The course was designed by Skip Wogan, who learned under Donald Ross as superintendent of the Ross designed Essex County Club in Massachusetts. The course is a wonderful walk less than a mile from the ocean.
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| Webhannet Golf Club, Par four 18th hole |
Donald Ross continued to be the theme of the trip on Day five as we began at Cape Neddick Country Club, designed in 1919 by the master. What really stood out to me at Cape Neddick was the par 5's. Each one was routed perfectly over the land and provided great strategy and fun.
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| Cape Neddick Country Club, Par four 18th hole |
Next up was our first course in New Hampshire on the trip. Atkinson Resort & Country Club is just over the border from Massachusetts near Andover. New England architect Phil Wogan designed the course in 1996. I had the thrill of holing out for eagle on the par five 6th hole.
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| Atkinson Resort, Par three 3rd hole |
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| Atkinson Resort, Par five 6th hole where I holed it for eagle from 100 yards! |
I finished playing the big course at Atkinson fairly quickly so I headed over to check out the nine hole par three course.
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| Atkinson Resort Par 3, 2nd Hole |
The final course on this day was another wonderful Ross course, North Andover Country Club. While only nine holes, this course really packs a punch. Every hole moves up or down, with a a bold par three 2nd hole that requires a shot over a busy road and through power lines!
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| North Andover Country Club, Par three 2nd hole |
I honestly don't know why this course isn't ranked as one of the best nine hole courses in the country, as every hole is solid and it's a ton of fun to play!
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| North Andover Country Club, looking back on the Par four 4th hole. |
Massachusetts would be our home for the next couple days of our trip. Day six, like most, had a Ross theme, but there was also a side trip to check a course by another one of my favorite architects, Seth Raynor. First up was the municipal facility at Ponkapoag with two Ross courses. I played the #2 course.
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| Ponkapoag #2, Par four 18th hole |
Next we headed to Dedham Golf & Polo Club designed by Seth Raynor. The course benefited from a recent renovation by Brian Silva that improved the bunkering and emphasized the Raynor template holes. The course is much more undulating than your average Raynor course, and the view from the first tee is one of the best in New England.
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| Dedham Golf & Polo Club, Par four 1st hole |
After my wonderful round at Dedham, I resumed my Ross quest with a round at Weston Golf Club in Weston, Massachusetts. Ross designed nine holes in 1917, and added nine more in 1922.
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| Weston Golf Club, Par five 2nd hole |
The third and final Ross course on day six was Concord Country Club. After already playing three rounds on this day, I was given an unexpected physical challenge as the course was walking only that day because it was still recovering from rain several days before. I normally like to walk and carry, but lucky for me, I decided to take a push cart. Having never played the course before, I didn't realize the first three holes climbed straight uphill. I was not prepared for that, but I endured and had a great time with the wonderfully undulating holes.
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| Concord Country Club, Par four 5th hole |
Day seven around Boston was all about . . . you guessed it, Donald Ross! Are you sensing a theme yet? I started the day at Belmont Country, a 1910 Ross design. The course starts with the hardest hole on the course, a 447 yard uphill par four. Normally Ross likes to make the first hole "A gentle handshake" to use his words, but that wasn't the case at Belmont!
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| Belmont Country Club, Par four 8th hole |
One of the best courses on the trip was up next on day seven. Brae Burn Country Club was renovated by Ross a couple times, and has hosted several USGA Championships. It will be hosting the USGA Women's Mid-Amateur next year.
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| Brae Burn Country Club, Par four 2nd hole |
The pace at Brae Burn was good enough that I had time to check out the nine hole Highland course designed way back in the 1890's by Alex Findlay. The course is fairly short, but provides a great contrast to the bigger Ross course. If I were a member, I would spent a lot of time on the Highland.
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| Brae Burn Country Club Highland Course, Par three 9th hole |
Another Donald Ross redesign was next up on day seven. Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead was orignally designed by Skip Wogan. The course crosses a public road several times with the holes worked on by Ross being on the far side of the road.
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| Tedesco Country Club, Par four 16th hole with an interested spectator |
We headed to Vermont and New Hampshire for the final day of the trip, and to change things up, I only played one Ross course on this day! The day began with one of the best nine hole courses in the country, Hooper Golf Club in Walpole, New Hampshire. It was designed by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek. The opening hole is all world, and the course maintains it's momentum throughout the round.
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| Hooper Golf Club, Par five 1st hole |
We headed over the border to Woodstock, Vermont for our final day. Woodstock Inn & Resort was designed by Robert Trent Jones on a tightly routed piece of property with a creek that meanders through most of the holes. This was my wife's first round in Vermont. She has now played golf in 45 states!
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| Woodstock Inn & Resort, Par three 7th hole |
We headed back to New Hampshire for our next round. Carter Country Club is a nine hole Ross course with some short and quirky holes that run up and down a big ridge.
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| Carter Country Club, Par four 8th hole in background with 7th green in foreground |
The last round of our trip was one of the rare modern-era courses we played. Baker Hill Golf Club in Newbury, New Hampshire was designed by Rees Jones, son of the designer of Woodstock. Baker has always been ranked as one of the best courses in New Hampshire and was a great way to end our epic two week adventure.
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| Baker Hill Golf Club, Par four 7th hole |
So that ends our epic 14 day trip to New England and Canada. I played 40 golf courses in 14 days, a new record for me. The depth of quality golf in New England is amazing, and I think we will be returning several times in the next few years, if I don't end up working somewhere up there in the future.
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SCORECARDS
