Waterville Country Club in Oakland, Maine “was packed inside and out” during its four-day centennial celebration, which included a trivia night, lobster bake, pig roast, and various tournaments. Northport (Maine) Golf Club celebrated its anniversary with a scramble tournament and the release of a book, “Northport Golf Club, The First 100 Years.”
Knowing the history of Waterville Country Club paid off for 83-year-old Sid Farr, who won a trivia contest as part of the Oakland, Maine club’s centennial celebration, the Augusta, Maine Kennebec Journal reported.
Farr, a club member since 1960, won an aerial photograph of the golf course, which is now hanging in his Waterville home on the wall opposite his bed. “It’s the first thing I see when I wake up every morning,” he said.
Members and guests have been seeing a lot of the club since it kicked off the festivities last Wednesday. The club wrapped up the celebration Saturday night with a banquet that included a five-minute video of its history, live music and dancing, all taking place in a tent just outside the clubhouse restaurant, the Journal reported.
Despite persistent cool temperatures and occasional rain, the club has been abuzz since Wednesday for trivia night, a lobster bake and a pig roast. There’s been a lot of golf, too, with various tournaments that included an “Old Nine” tournament, which incorporated the club’s original nine holes in the scoring, the Journal reported.
“The attendance has been phenomenal,” said Mary Keller, who won the “Old Nine” tournament. “This place was packed inside and out (Friday).”
“We’ve had really great turnout the last three nights. We’re really pleased,” added Danielle Marquis, who is on the club’s board of directors. “A lot of work went into the planning, the committees, the boards, the staff, the volunteers. Plus, we’ve been getting in a lot of golf.”
“Four straight days,” Keller said.
“Me too,” Marquis said.
They weren’t the only ones. Special greens fees allowed guests and the public to play for $19.16, the Journal reported.
“I don’t think in my wildest dreams I thought we’d be this busy,” club professional Don Roberts said. “We’ve done almost 800-900 rounds in four days, which is unheard of for us.”
With 380 members, the semi-private club is thriving. But it used the centennial as an opportunity to get even more people on the course this week. “We’re hoping to get more public interest and get the community involved,” Marquis said.
The club’s history parallels much of the history of golf in New England. Interest in the sport exploded nationwide when Francis Ouimet won the 1913 U.S. Open. Ouimet became the most prominent golfer in the country and, being from Boston, was a hero in New England. He was the first to tee off at Waterville Country Club when it opened in October 1916, the Journal reported.
Farr is one of the few members who played on the same nine-hole course Ouimet and others played that day before it expanded to 18 holes in 1967, the Journal reported.
“I’ve never seen it better. Except for a few years, I’ve played here every year since 1960,” said Farr, who still gets out to play with friends on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Saturday’s on-and-off rain may not have made for the kind of day that ends up being commemorated on Farr’s bedroom wall, but many still teed it up and hoped to hit it straight, the Journal reported.
“That’s kind of how golf goes,” club president T.J. Smart said. “It doesn’t always have to be perfect to be good.”
Farr played Saturday morning before the rain arrived. He enjoys walking the course and appreciates how its retained much of its rustic charm, without a lot of the development that has popped up on and around a lot of courses in recent decades, the Journal reported.
“It’s just a wonderful club and wonderful people,” Farr said. “I think among all of the courses in the state, this is my very favorite. It’s a fair course. It’s challenging. It’s fun. But mostly, it’s the people.”
Endangered Penobscot River Salmon wasn’t on the banquet menu, but everything else at the Northport (Maine) Golf Club’s centennial celebration was much as it was when the course opened all those years ago, the Camden, Maine Penobscot Bay Pilot reported.
A ceremonial tee shot was hit by Nadim El-Jouradi, the great grandson of Ralph Flanders, who hit the first tee shot 100 years ago. Nadim out-drove his great grandfather by about 110 yards, straight down the middle. The ball landed in the lush green grass that only arrived with the complete irrigation system installed less than 20 years ago, the Pilot reported.
The layout has changed in small increments over the years as one generation after another has added its best efforts to improve the track, but it remains the classic par 36, nine-hole layout designed by its first pro, George Jennings, the Pilot reported.
The weather was perfect and the scramble tournament was won by the foursome of Scott Benzie, Steve Stanford, Jim and Lisa Desmarteau, shooting a sizzling 59. On the course you could find foursomes nattily attired in vintage golfing outfits that brought smiles to the faces of the visiting pros and attending celebrities, the Pilot reported.
Horses no longer pull the mowers and the summer residents don’t arrive by steamer, but the club remains a social focus for Waldo County golfing enthusiasts, the Pilot reported.
In the beginning the club and golf course was the idea of Ira Cobe and a circle of well-off Bayside summer residents, but the club has been preserved by the dedication of it’s local Midcoast membership. Even the Northport Bent Velvet Grass has it’s unique acquired character. The entire history of the course has been chronicled in Northport Golf Club, The First 100 Years, just released for the celebration, the Pilot reported.
PGA pro, Robb Herron, and his wife, Paula, keep the course and pro shop in top shape and the members are all friendly. The course is open to the public, the Pilot reported.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.