We’ll be writing the Open Championship at St. George’s in just three short weeks, but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak at some coming attractions for Golf News Net and Golf Course Trades – two of New Hampshire’s best private courses: Bald Peak Colony Club and Baker Hill.
BALD PEAK COLONY CLUB
In the shadow of Lake Winnepesaukee, Donald Ross’s Bald Peak Colony Club is one of his earliest masterpieces, one of several in New Hampshire all from the same period.
Ross was at Bald Peak shortly before his time at nearby Salem Country Club, Lake Sunapee Country Club, and Brae Burn, site of the 1919 U.S. Open. Ross carried forward many of the architectural ideas at Bald Peak throughout the rest of his career. Such places include Teugega, Irondequoit, Salem, and Country Club of Buffalo.
Bald Peak is a must play and makes a strong argument for best course in New Hampshire, along with its Ross brother from 1928, Lake Sunapee. We wrote about Lake Sunapee here.
BAKER HILL GOLF CLUB
Deep in the woods of New Hampshire and overlooking the aforementioned Lake Sunapee, Rees Jones designed one of his best kept secrets. Baker Hill has outstanding vertical movement in its fairways, but also terrific horizontal sweep as well. It’s also some of Rees’s most creative bunkering.
Baker Hill also features some of Rees’s best greens; the internal contours are especially interesting. But most of all, Baker Hill is eminently fair without being bland or watered down. Fairways are generously wide, yet the bunkers cunningly guard the greens, and there is a premium on both accuracy and distance control on the approaches.
One of the most sought after clubs for membership in New England, Baker Hill plays in a yearly Cup event against the aforementioned Bald Peak, Lake Sunapee C.C. and Lake Winnepesaukee Country Club, an event we hope to cover soon.
