New England Trip

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Castine Golf Club, Par five 7th hole

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.

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.

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.  

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.

Atkinson Resort, Par three 3rd hole

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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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Canada Trip

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.  First up is our time visiting our neighbor to the North.

Cabot Cliffs.  One of the best courses in the world

Our time in Canada began in Saint John, New Brunswick.  We drove up from Maine and headed to Riverside Country Club which was designed by Donald Ross, and therefore was a mandatory stop for me.  The course is implementing a restoration master plan a few holes at a time and the execution so far is very well done.

Riverside Country Club, par four 9th hole

We spent the next few days of our Canadian adventure in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but our day two began about ninety miles southwest of Halifax.  I made this side journey to play White Point Golf Club, a nine hole Donald Ross course.  White Point is full of character and has maintained it's original routing from when Ross built it.  It falls into the category of courses that could be truly exceptional with a mega dollar restoration, but what is on the ground now is very good.

White Point Golf Club, par three 3rd hole

We headed back to Halifax for our second round on day two.  We managed to dodge the rain showers to get most of our round in at the New course at Ashburn Golf Club.  The New course is about ten miles north of Halifax and was designed by Geoffrey Cornish in the 1970's.  The course is on some wonderfully undulating property next to a large lake.

Ashburn Golf Club(New), par four 10th hole

Day three of the trip began at one of the biggest surprises of the trip.  Brightwood Golf & Country Club in Halifax was designed by Donald Ross and packs a punch in it's 5600 yards.  The site is very small, and the holes very close together, but because of Ross routing genius, you never notice.  

Brightwood Golf & Country Club, par four 7th hole

We continued our day in Halifax at the Old course at Ashburn Golf Club.  This almost hundred year old course was designed by the king of Canadian golf design, Stanley Thompson.  Thompson designed most of the best courses in Canada, and I will play one of his best later in the trip.  This delightfully short par 67 course features some great par threes, and goes up and down the hilly property with great execution.

Ashburn Golf Club, par three 7th hole

We headed north after our round at Ashburn to begin our journey to the Cape Breton Highlands.  Before we headed to the highlands, we played an early morning round at Antigonish Golf & Country Club.  Antigonish is a charming small town and it's golf course matches the town.  The course was expanded to 18 holes in the 1980's and a very pedestrian and flat first hole doesn't give you any hint of what you are in for in terms of dramatic elevation changes.  I highly recommend a stop here for anybody driving to Cabot from points west.

Antigonish Golf & Country Club, par three 13th hole

We made the hour and a half drive to the town of Inverness after our round at Antigonish.  Inverness is the home of Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs.  This was the destination that was the point of this two week trip.  After Covid caused us to postpone our journey to the North, we were very excited to be here to experience two courses we had heard so much about. 

Cabot Cliffs

Before we tackled the big courses, we checked out the newly opened Nest par three course at Cabot.  This ten-hole course designed by Rod Whitman, designer of Cabot Links, can be played from the forward tee with just a putter if desired.  

The Nest, par three 9th hole

After our fun round on The Nest, we made the short walk down to the first tee of Cabot Cliffs.  I will admit that I was a little skeptical of the greatness of Cliffs before I teed off.  The course has the unusual makeup of 6 par 3's, 6 par 4's, and 6 par 5's.  I have played several courses that have tried this, but nobody has come close to pulling it off because most architects simply can't design 6 interesting par 5's.  Most can't design 4!  

Cabot Cliffs, par five 10th hole

I obviously underestimated Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, designers of Cabot Cliffs, because they pulled off a course with six amazing par 5's!  I probably should have known the designers of some of my favorite courses would be up to the task, but I was stunned by just how good the course was.  It is one of the best courses in the world and a mandatory journey for anybody interested in golf architecture. 

Me playing the par five 15th hole at Cabot Cliffs

Something else I was very impressed by at Cabot was the tee placement.  The Royal Blue tees, at only 3700 yards allowed my 35 handicap wife to break 90 for the first time in her life.  The firm conditions, coupled with the yardage, allowed her to hit wedges into short par 4' and par 5's.  This never happens for her, as a typical par four for her is driver, 3 wood, mid-iron.  Cabot is the rare resort that understands that higher handicappers deserve tees that allow them to play the game like everybody else.  I really wish more courses would do this.  

The fifth day of the trip began at the original course at Cabot, Cabot Links.  Designed by Rod Whitman in 2012, Links is on less dramatic land than Cliffs but is still a top 100 in the world golf course.  The course offers a genuine links course experience, something that lots of courses claim, but few actually deliver.  As at Cliffs, the tees were well thought out and my wife had another wonderful day experiencing true links golf without having to travel to the UK! 

Cabot Links, par three 14th hole

We left Cabot and took the world famous Cabot Trail into Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  The trail is one of the most dramatic drives in the world and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Cabot Trail

Me on the Cabot Trail

We emerged on the east side of the park and made our way to the original championship course on Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Highlands Links.

Cape Breton Highlands Links, par four 4th hole

Designed by Stanley Thompson, Highlands Links has always been considered a top 100 in the world golf course.  It is that rare course where you experience several different styles of architecture.  You start out near the water for several holes, then you venture into some mountainous property, before finishing on some great parkland holes.  Massive tree removal and drainage work could transform this course into something very special, but with the government owning the course, I doubt that will ever happen.  What is there now is a great representation of the architecture of the Golden Age of golf design.

Cape Breton Highlands Links, par five 16th hole

We began day six of the trip in the eastern part of Nova Scotia at Bell Bay Golf Club in Baddeck.  The course was designed by Tom McBroom, who is probably the biggest Canadian golf architect of the last thirty years.  

Bell Bay Golf Club, par three 8th hole

We made a three and a half hours drive west after our round at Bell Bay to the town of Wallace and the Fox Harb'r Resort.  The course opened for play in 2001 and was designed by Canadian architect Graham Cooke. The front nine is parkland in nature, while the back is links style right on the water.  The resort is in the process of turning the existing course into what will ultimately be 2 courses.  The ocean back nine will be combined with another oceanside nine that is being built now, and after that nine parkland holes will be added to join the existing front nine.

Fox Harb'r Resort, 11th green in foreground with 15th hole and 16th tee in background

On the seventh day of the trip we visited Prince Edward Island.  We began on the Northeast part of the island in the town of Morell.  The Links at Crowbush Cove was designed by Tom McBroom and opened in 1993.  While not really a links course, Crowbush does have several wonderful ocean views and a very interesting set of greens.

The Links at Crowbush Cove, par four 15th hole

We headed thirty minutes south to Carrigan for a round at Dundarave.  This Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry design is part of the Brudenell River resort.  The course works its way through the trees but makes occasional use of the land by the river, most interestingly at the par four 8th hole.

Dundarave Golf Course, par four 8th hole

On the last day of our Canadian adventure we returned to New Brunswick.  The Algonquin Resort golf course is in St. Andrews and sits on the water very close to the US border.  Unfortunately for us, heavy rain the night before resulted in very severe fog during our morning round.  I still enjoyed the course and experience but did lose several balls that I thought were hit towards the fairway, but it's hard to judge when you can only see a hundred yards in front of you.

This was my view when I played the wonderful par three 12th hole at Algonquin.  Look below for what you are supposed to see.

The 12th hole at Algonquin on a normal, fog free day.

Our first Canadian adventure was a great success and we hope to return soon.  I really hope that Cabot is successful in finding land for another course, as I would love an excuse to return to Cabot Cliffs!  If you enjoy spending time in the car, then driving the Cabot Trail should be on your bucket list!

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