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If you are in New Hampshire, this is just for you. After careful study and observation, you will be getting a review of the best and famous New Hampshire golf courses.
I bet that you will be out of your door as soon as you are through with this article to have an amazing golfing experience.
What is the golf course?
There is actually no golf without a golf course. Simply put, a golf course is the grounds where the game of golf is played. It comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, a fairway, the rough and other hazards and a green with a flagstick (pin) and hole (cup).
Asides these, a standard golf course is meant to have out of bounds, a bunker.
Features of a Golf Course.
In their design, there are traditional rules that must be followed. Although most gold courses follow the original landscape of the location they are, some modifications must still be in place.
A standard round golf consists of 18 holes and most golf courses follow this pattern. Although, there are golf courses with 9 holes which will be played in two rounds to achieve the total play.
Every other feature is fixed at appropriate positions like the greens being arranged closer to the tee box to minimize the travel distance while playing. Also, fairways are packed in a compact square or rectangular plot of land with the end result of an oppositional tiling being formed.
Different types of golf courses.
1. Links: They are usually located along coastlines. Open Championships are usually carried out on this type of golf course.
2. Executive: An executive course or short course is a course with a total par significantly less than that of a typical 18-hole course.
3. Pitch and putt: It is an amateur sport, similar to golf and is also known as chip and putt. Players may only use three clubs; one of which must be a putter. The game is played from raised artificial teeing surfaces using a tee and it has its own handicap system.
What is New Hampshire golf course?
A successful design is as visually pleasing as it is playable. With golf being a form of outdoor recreation, the strong designer is an adept student of natural landscaping who understands the aesthetic cohesion of vegetation, water bodies, paths, grasses, stonework, and woodwork, among other elements.
It has been discovered that New Hampshire is one of the most the undiscovered golfing states. Moreover, there are golf courses that are on par with the normal standard of golf courses that residents are not maximizing.
What is New Hampshire?
New Hampshire is known as the granite state due to its geology and the historical importance of quarrying in the region. The second most northerly state in New England.
New Hampshire is not a hotbed for top-ranked golf courses but there are enough quality tracks worthy of closer attention from a crop that extends to around one hundred golf clubs.
Listed below are a few of the top New Hampshire golf courses.
1. Mount Washington:
A Donald Ross design from 1915, Brian Sliva renovated the Mount Washington course at the 27-hole Omni Washington hotel in 2008 following the master architect’s original plans.
The facility has played host to four New Hampshire opens and the 2010 New England open championship won by Jason parajeckas. The new Mount Washington holes are located mainly on the front nine, where holes 3 to 6 were reworked by Sliva.
On the inward half, three Ross originals stand out; the 537-yard uphill 10th, the 242-yard ravine–dominated 14th and the 201-yard 16th, where Mount Washington provides the backdrop to the green.
2. Lake Sunapee-Hampshire-USA:
The club was founded in 1927 when a number of local residents met at the new London library to select Donald Ross as their golf course architect.
After surveying half a dozen possible sites for the layout, the current location was chosen and the first nine holes were ready to play the following year. A further year on, all eighteen holes were in operation.
Once renowned as the summer retreat of long-standing member gene Sarazen, the course at lake Sunapee is certainly not short of quality golf holes; on the front nine, the doglegged holes at the 3rd and 5th are particularly strong while on the inward half, the par threes at the 12th and 15th are very tough one-Shotters.
3. Bald peak colony:
The club was established in 1920, bald peak colony club had an 18-hole course in operation within two years of its formation.
Donald Ross is credited with the design of this layout, though at least one commentator has listed George Meredith, one of Ross’s Pinehurst staff, and Thomas plant, the club’s founder, as the co-designers of the course.
Laid out above Moultonborough bay in lake winnipesaukee, the course extends to a very modest 6,264 yards from the back tees and it occupies a heavily wooded site with lightly bunkered fairways- there are only twenty sand traps for the eighteen holes-running largely parallel to the lake shoreline.
On the back nine, the 138-yard 12th is another memorable par three, back-dropped by the Ossipee mountain range. The hole plays slightly downhill to a putting surface that not only tilts from back to front, it also falls away steeply in every direction.
4. The Gold Club of New England:
The Golf Club of New England is an Arnold Palmer designed course situated on 450 acres of beautiful farmland. Where nature is embraced, not conquered, you will find old stone walls, fields lined with giant oak trees and tranquil flowing streams.
At over 7,600 yards long, this championship course is an imaginative blend of lush fairways, greens, and natural waterways. This world-class course will challenge, but not discourage average players while giving low-handicap or scratch golfers the chance to test their distance and accuracy in hitting from the intimidating back tees. The Golf Club of New England is always a pleasure to play.
5. Den Brae Golf Course:
Den Brae, located in the Lakes Region, is a third-generation family-owned golf course. With four sets of tees each hole, a grass driving range, and a practice putting green, Den Brae is perfect for all abilities.
The 9-hole course at the Den Brae Golf Course facility in Sanbornton, New Hampshire features 2,959 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 36. Established in 1958.
The course was originally the Den Brae dairy farm. Construction of the course started in 1957, and the course opened in August of 1958. Through the years the course has gone through many changes and upgrades. The third generation of the Craig family now manages the course.
6. Bret-wood Golf Course – North:
This golf course is located in Keene, is a Public course. From the back tees, the course will challenge even the best of golfers. Bretwood North was designed by Geoffrey Cornish and opened in 1968.
It has the following features: 14 tees driving range, 36 regulation holes and Par -72. It is a public course that occupies 6974 yards and a slope of 132.
7. Crotched Mountain Golf Club:
This is located in the rolling hills of New Hampshire; Crotched Mountain Golf Club exposes golfers to the true beauty of New England.
An 18 hole course, (the front 9 designed by Donald Ross) CMGC offers outstanding playing conditions accompanied by spectacular views of the surrounding Monadnock region. The course is joined with a driving range where golfers can practice their swing.
8. Montcalm:
Situated between the Green Mountain National Forest and the White Mountain National Forest in the upper valley section of the Dartmouth Lake Sunapee region.
It is an 18-hole layout and it is set within 350 acres of hardwood forest in the mountain area of Enfield. It debuted in 2004 after it took 4 years in making.
Some of the more memorable holes here include:
- the par-three 5th which plays to long offset green that tilts from back to front;
- the short par four 8th where the holes veer sharply to the left with bunkers all down the right flank of the fairway and
- the 415-yard 16th which runs uphill the entire hole.
Although the golf course is located in a secluded and remote location, it is built to be on par with every other standard golf. The location used to be filled with many hills and valleys with a very tricky terrain that challenged a pro golfer. The golf course is built in a way to meet the needs of every level of golfers.
9. Portsmouth:
It was formed in 1901 and moved to its present location on the shores of the Green Bay in the late 1950s. Semi-private but fully accessible, Portsmouth Country Club has to be among the most picturesque courses in the world.
It has a full 18-hole layout after 32 years from its onset from an original 9-hole course. Today’s course has been expanded to 7,153 yards from the black tees, playing to a standard par of 72. It defines the norm by lacking out of bounds on the course and the adjoining marshlands are played as lateral water hazards.
10. Manchester Country Club:
It has a unique design of tree-lined holes routed across 116 acres of a rather flat landscape where water impacts at eight of the holes on the scorecard.
The short par four 6th is a favorite hole for many golfers but the stronger back nine throws up a number of testing holes inclusions the 530-yard 11th (played as stroke index 1) and 447-yard 17th, where a creek crosses the fairway as it heads towards the green.
In all of its grandeur and top-notch features, this club has hosted the New Hampshire Open nine times since its inauguration in 1930. One distinguished golfer to win this was South African Bobby Locke, who claimed the 26th edition of the event in 1959.
No more should it be heard that New Hampshire in all her finesse lacks amazing golfing courses. The above is the best you will find there. So, whenever you want to, go there and check them out. Relax, train and have fun. You will not regret it.
If you don’t have a golf course nearby, then don’t worry you can also play golf indoor using a golf simulator and for this you need a good quality projector screen.
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