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by John Shimer, Newburyport Daily News
ATKINSON, N.H. — Turning onto Country Club Drive, greeted
by the meticulously maintained Atkinson Resort and Country
Club sign, the grandiose nature of the awe-inspiring course
starts to sink in as you wind your way up toward the clubhouse.
The five-star service taking care of your clubs upon parking
your car, preparing a luxurious GPS golf experience for your
pleasure, and giving you a token metal ball-marker as you
venture out for your round only makes you ponder the question
more profoundly: "How can this possibly be a seven-day-a-week
public course?"
Although the rates may be slightly pricier than your average
run-of-the-mill course — and by pricier meaning only
$3 more than Ould Newbury Golf Club for nine holes and $6
more than Far Corners in Boxford for 18 — the southern
New Hampshire extravaganza more than makes up for expense
in presentation as perhaps the best public course north of
Boston.
With rich, vibrant foliage, perfectly trimmed bent-grass
fairways, bettering the best cut greens at Evergreen in Newburyport,
gorgeous wood bridges and walkways, water coolers waiting
at every hole as well as beverage and snack carts making their
rounds, and a classic rural New Hampshire terrain, the Atkinson
experience is worth every penny.
"We don't consider ourselves your standard public course.
We get that a lot — the wow-effect when people walk
in and ask, 'How can you be a public course with a facility
like this?'" said head pro Peter Doherty, whose course
also offers tremendous practice facilities, including a large
driving range and putting area, and soon will host a junior
academy. "We started out as golf first and built it to
what it is today.
"Obviously we attribute a lot of the success of the
conditions to our superintendent and his staff," Doherty
repeatedly said. "They put a lot of time and effort into
keeping this course in great shape, and with the amount of
rounds we have, that is no easy task."
Then there's the course design itself, a challenging test
of golf that should not leave golfers feeling over-matched
with four separate sets of tee boxes to match ego with ability.
Tight fairways, thick ruff, casually placed hazards and fast-paced
greens are staple points throughout the course. Hauling off
and whacking the driver right out of the shoot on each hole
would certainly be a mistake, as Atkinson definitely rewards
the thinking man's player. But the GPS golf carts really give
newcomers and veterans a great feel for how each hole plays
out.
"Whoever designed this course really knew what he was
doing," said Haverhill resident John Brady, a regular
player at Far Corners and Granite Fields, after playing his
first round at Atkinson. "If you don't have your golf
game you're not going to find it here, but there's not a bad
place to be on the entire course. I've got nothing but great
things to say because I'm leaving with a smile on my face."
And the layout between the front and the back is distinctly
different.
"I think we're unique in that the back nine is almost
completely different from the front to the point that they
are almost two different courses," Doherty explained.
"With the back being as much about terrain, cut out of
granite, it's the typical New Hampshire course. The front
is more straight forward, though, with everything right in
front of you."
It's hard to imagine a better setting, but according to
Doherty, if the decision were to be made to make an improvement,
whether it be cutting down a tree or undertaking a bigger
project, the ownership group has the means to do so.
"The best part of working here is at the end of the
year we evaluate the facility based on feedback from our players
and what is best for us, and then make the necessary changes,"
Doherty said. "We're spoiled as a staff because our ownership
Lewis family has the necessary means to make what the course
needs happen, whether it's cutting down trees, adjusting a
tee box, or just generally making the course more player-friendly."
If there is such a thing as can't-miss players in sports
like Tiger Woods or Peyton Manning or Evan Longoria, then
Atkinson Resort and Country Club is the can't-miss round of
golf you won't want to miss before you put your clubs away
in the shed to collect dust until another season.
As we wrap up the 2008 season, I would also like to extend
a special thanks to all the courses, club pros and players
that made this series possible and so pleasurable over the
past six months.
TEEING OFF
Course: Atkinson Resort and Country Club,
founded 1996 (back-9 1998)
Rates: $28 (9), $52 (18) weekdays; $33 (9),
$62 (18) weekends
Memberships: bronze $600, silver $845, platinum
$2,800 (more info available online)
Tee times: available 5 days in advance to
public
Par/Slope/USGA Rating/Distance: from blues
72/135/73.1/6,580 (4 sets of tees)
Course Record: 64, Geoff Sisk
Club Champion: Angelo Battani (2007-08)
Architect: Lewis Builders (also owners)
Head Pro: Peter Doherty
Specials: After Columbus Day the course offers
a 20 percent discount on your round of golf.
Top Holes: No. 7 is the No. 1 handicap with
a brook that comes into play approximately 240 yards from
the pin with the classic risk versus reward debate. With a
narrow fairway, and two bunkers adorning the right side, bogey
is not a bad score. Hitting on top of a giant boulder off
the par-3 No. 11, the view is spectacular from the radiant-colored
marsh to the picturesque wooded surroundings of the green.
But perhaps the hole that tops them all is the par-4 finishing
No. 18 in which casual observers from the back patio of the
clubhouse can watch golfers pitch their balls up over the
beautiful brook and fountain in front of the green. |
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