Club organizers met at the New London town library in May 1927 and selected Donald Ross to design their proposed course. After reviewing multiple sites, Ross chose the present location for its soil, terrain, and scenery. Construction proceeded quickly: nine holes were completed for play in 1928, and the second nine followed in 1929. From its opening, the course was associated with touring professionals and summer residents; Gene Sarazen maintained a long seasonal connection to the club. The Tufts Archives/Ross Society directory records Lake Sunapee as a new Ross 18-hole course dated 1927, aligning with the club’s 1928–29 phased opening. No documented Ross “redesign” phase has surfaced in accessible sources, nor is there clear documentary evidence that Ross returned after completion.
In the early twenty-first century the club undertook an “extensive improvement plan” under architect Ron Forse to restore 1920s features for contemporary play. Work emphasized tree removal to reopen long views, expansion of greens to original perimeters, and the recovery or re-siting of bunkers to revive Ross’s angles, with the routing and walk kept deliberately seamless. Secondary accounts place this restoration in the mid-2000s.
Unique Design Characteristics
The course today remains a study in Ross’s late-1920s New England work interpreted through the specific Lake Sunapee property. On the front nine, the doglegged third and fifth are repeatedly singled out as strong, nuanced two-shot holes, using the natural turns of the land rather than manufactured hazards; their interest lies in positional tee balls that open (or close) approach angles.
Lake Sunapee’s par-3s are a defining element. The twelfth is a long, uphill one-shotter—described in modern accounts as roughly 240 yards—playing across a shallow valley to a longitudinally split, two-tier green; accuracy and trajectory control are essential. The fifteenth is another exacting par-3 on the inward half, reinforcing the course’s par-70 profile with only two par-5s to relieve pressure on approach play.
Several holes retain tactile features that speak directly to Ross’s construction at Lake Sunapee. The opener falls and then rises to a green fronted by a deception bunker placed well short of the surface, creating an optical challenge on the first approach. The second employs an uphill movement with a cross-bunker to interrupt a straightforward run-up, forcing a choice of line and carry. The seventh features pronounced “mounds” straddling the mouth of the green—Golden-Age shaping that frames the entrance and influences both the preferred angle and recovery shots. These features, reported by the club’s restoration architect and contemporary observers, appear to be long-standing characteristics revived and re-emphasized during the recent work.
The clearest surviving examples of Ross’s hand—based on accessible secondary descriptions and the overall continuity of the routing—are the opener (No. 1), the strategic two-shotters at Nos. 3 and 5, the shaped entrance at No. 7, and the long par-3 twelfth. Each manifests Ross’s use of natural grades and short green-to-tee connections that compress the walk and sustain rhythm, elements for which Lake Sunapee is still noted. Verification at the level of original plan-to-as-built comparison would require consulting any Ross drawings or tracings on file at Tufts or in the club’s archives.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s New Hampshire portfolio, Lake Sunapee is notable because club founders gave him a free hand to select the site from several options and because the construction sequence—front nine in 1928, full eighteen by 1929—came at the height of his northern New England work. The club’s long association with Sarazen (whose family remains connected and whose memorabilia are displayed in the clubhouse) contributes to the course’s cultural footprint in the state. In recent years, the course has appeared in independent course profiles and regional rankings discussions, often cited for its restoration and intact Golden Age character.
Lake Sunapee has hosted regional qualifiers and, more recently, an annual hickory-golf event that consciously leans into the course’s 1920s architecture. In 2019, for example, the New England Golf Association conducted New England Amateur qualifying at the club; the New Hampshire Hickory Open has used Lake Sunapee as host in 2023–2025. These uses reinforce the course’s standing as a historically sympathetic venue rather than a site for large-scale championships.
Current Condition / Integrity
Evidence available to outside researchers suggests the routing remains essentially the 1929 configuration, with modern work focused on recapturing scale and intent rather than altering hole corridors. The club acknowledges extensive tree removal (which reopened long mountain vistas), expansion of green perimeters to their original form, and the unearthing or restoration of long-buried bunkers; the course continues to present short transitions between greens and tees in keeping with the original walk. Contemporary narrative sources emphasize that much of Ross’s design at Lake Sunapee survived the twentieth century largely unmodified, which may have eased the path for a historically grounded restoration.
Playing characteristics today reflect both the Ross foundation and local agronomy choices. Reports from 2020 describe pervasive use of a historic bentgrass strain colloquially called “Lake Sunapee Velvet,” a cousin of the old “Vesper Velvet,” on most of the playing surface (with one green an exception). Because turf programs evolve, this detail should be verified with current course maintenance staff, but it aligns with the club’s broader presentation as a traditional, walkable course with firm-leaning, subtly contoured greens now restored to fuller edges.
Uncertainties and Attributions
A frequently cited anecdote attributes a bunker modification at the front-left of the eighth green to Gene Sarazen during his summers at Lake Sunapee. This appears in a 2020 profile that quotes the restoration architect; without minutes or construction logs, it should be treated as informed oral history rather than settled fact.
Sources & Notes
Given Memorial Library & Tufts Archives / Donald Ross Society. Directory of Golf Courses Designed by Donald J. Ross (Revised 2023). Entry for “Lake Sunapee Country Club, New London, NH—18 holes; New, 1927; PR 18.” Confirms Ross authorship and date framework.
Lake Sunapee Country Club – Club History. Notes the May 1927 founders’ meeting; Ross’s site selection; nine holes open in 1928, full eighteen by 1929; and ownership/operation history. Also references the recent restoration program.
Lake Sunapee Country Club – The Golf Course. Describes restoration aims (tree removal, green expansion, unearthed bunkers) and the compact green-to-tee routing.
Top100GolfCourses.com – “Lake Sunapee.” Summarizes foundation chronology (1927 founding; 1928 first nine; 1929 full eighteen) and notes Ron Forse’s restoration with tree removal and green expansion; identifies notable holes (3, 5; par-3s at 12 and 15).
Jay Flemma, “Lake Sunapee Country Club, New Hampshire’s Pin on the American Golf Map” (2020). Secondary narrative based on on-site play and interviews; details restoration timing (mid-2000s), specific features (illusory fronting bunker at 1; cross-bunker at 2; “mounds” guarding 7; long, tiered par-3 12th), tee-green proximity goals, and turf account (“Lake Sunapee Velvet”). Includes the anecdote that Sarazen altered the front-left bunker at 8. Treat as well-informed but secondary.
Lake Sunapee CC
New England Golf Association – “28 Advance From Lake Sunapee Qualifier” (2019). Documents use of the course for regional championship qualifying.
Hickory Golfers (2023) and Vermont/CT Hickory Associations (2024–25) – event notices for the Lake Sunapee CC Hickory Classic / New Hampshire Hickory Open.
Club History – Gene Sarazen section. Notes Sarazen’s long association and memorabilia display in Henry’s restaurant.