Players sing praises of
Belgrade Lakes Golf Club
Picturesque course puts focus back on the game
by David DeTurk
Central Maine Newspapers
This July 2004 article is reprinted here in its entirety.
"It looks like the golf gods came down and built this course."
That was the reaction of golfer Greg Palmer of Houlton as he got his first look at the 9th and 18th holes at Belgrade Lakes Golf Club from the deck of the clubhouse.
Such a response is neither uncommon nor unwarranted. Belgrade Lakes Golf Club, carved out of pristine woodland overlooking Great Pond, is a marriage of nature and nurture that has produced a Golf Digest Five Star public golf course recognized as one of the finest golfing experiences in America.
Palmer's hyperbole aside, Belgrade Lakes Golf Club was actually created by mere mortals — with seeming god-like powers.
The driving force behind the project was Maine entrepreneur, philanthropist and sportsman, Harold Alfond and his partners, Kyle Evans, Pat Donahue and Gail Rizzo.
"Our product is golf," said Evans, managing partner and president of the club. "We learned a lot by watching other courses being built around the country. Most of them emphasize amenities — homes around the course, resort facilities and so on. We decided to focus on golf itself in a location that makes us special."
Most of all, Evans said, the founders wanted a course that was fully public, playable by all levels of golfers and a place where golfers could have fun.
"We had a senior event here and several players scored their age. This is a good indicator that the course meets our goals. We have also had professional golfers play here and they have not "ripped up" the course, so it is a fair test of golfing skill."
Building such a course is a challenge.
"When word got out that we were planning a course, we heard from a lot of golf course design companies.
"One call we got was from Clive Clark, a young British course designer. He has designed many courses in Europe, but had never done one in the United States. He spent 35 days here studying a location unlike anything he had ever seen."
Clark, a skilled artist who produces detailed drawings of every proposed hole before any ground is broken, submitted a plan.
"We knew immediately that he was the right guy for the job," Evans said. "He emphasizes variety, balance and playability in his designs and he gave us the kind of course we wanted."
Given the lay of the land, construction wasn't easy. Somehow, on the 240 acres of land, Clark designed and the construction crew built 18 holes, each of varying length to provide par 3's, 4's and 5's, each with its own character for play, all linked together to produce a par 71, 6,572-yard course that met the requirements of playable golf and preserved the integrity of the surroundings.
The result of these monumental efforts is a great, not ordinary, golf course that opened to acclaim in 1999.
In fact, it was voted fifth best new course in America that year by Golf Digest.
Belgrade Lakes Golf Club continues to be a golfer's course, Evans said.
"We are not a high-volume club — 15,000 rounds is a good season for us. However, we also have about 20,000 sightseers, people who visit Belgrade Lakes and come up here to enjoy the view! We welcome all of them.
"We have about 15 to 20 minutes between tee times so play moves along without pressure. Players can use carts, but we encourage walking the course, too. We want people to have a good time in an unhurried day of golf."
The club, Evans siad, is part of the community as well. Belgrade residents can play at reduced rates in Tuesday and Thursday evening leagues. Local youngsters interested in golf get special attention from the club, including free play.
"We do things differently here," Evans said. "We don't advertise or market, except for our support of a couple of local publications. We have only a small snack bar (no liquor license) and a modest pro shop.
"We do have an excellent staff to help our golfers and maintain our course. We are all about the game of golf itself, and our guests love it."
_________
To arrange a tee time, call 207-495-4653 (or call us at the Yeaton Farm Inn for assistance).
Here at the Yeaton Farm Inn, we are but five minutes from the clubhouse.
The course is absolutely spectacular.
