Renovation complete at Waterville Valley

Waterville Valley, N.H. – The Waterville Valley Golf Club, a 9-hole course in the mountain resort community of Waterville Valley, has completed a half-million dollar renovation and will open this spring. The course includes three new holes, the redesign of three existing holes, an irrigation system, new pro shop and a new half-acre pond.

“Guests can now use every club in their bag,” says PGA professional Bill Baker. “We wanted to create a course that would provide a good golfing experience for players of all abilities, and I believe we’ve done exactly that.”

Visitors to Waterville Valley started playing golf there in 1898. In fact, golf enthusiasts designed the first holes themselves, clearing rocks away by hand from the front lawn of the Elliot’s Hotel.

Eventually, the course became the 9-hole course that has been played by generations of visitors to the valley. But over time, the course had developed some quirks, including two holes that required shooting over a state highway. While the course was friendly to young golfers and seniors, more advanced golfers wanted something a bit more challenging and interesting.

While improving the 108-year-old course, designers worked to retain the character and tradition of the club. The columns at the entry to the club’s new pro shop are local timbers harvested onsite, hand-peeled and resting on rocks taken from a stonewall that was removed during the renovation. The pro shop features a screened porch with views of nearby Mounts Tecumseh and Osceola, and overlooking the new 9th green, which is nestled in the curve of a half-acre pond, which acts as a hazard, irrigation pond and safety feature.

The Waterville Valley Golf Club hosts about 16,000 rounds of golf a year to all ages and abilities. Residents and visitors are excited about the improvements, as is golf pro Charlie Wheeler of the Owl’s Nest Golf Course in Campton, N.H.

“The new design is a huge improvement to the Waterville Valley Golf Club and will benefit not only Waterville Valley, but the whole region,” says Wheeler.

The impetus for renovating the course came with a new development of adjacent land called Moose Run, one of the last subdivisions of single-family homesites in Waterville Valley.

“Moose Run provided the motivation for renovating the golf course,” says Bill Cantlin, president of the Waterville Company, which owns both the golf course and Moose Run subdivision, “and the golf course renovation added to the excitement of the Moose Run development.”