Over the Border

Windham Country Club, the newest feather in Bill Flynn’s cap, offers North Shore golfers all the amenities without a lengthy drive

By Bruce Hoard

North Shore golf king Bill Flynn has spread his empire beyond the Bay State to New Hampshire, where he rules over Windham Country Club, a 6,442-yard tract that puts a beautiful geographical face on 154 acres of scenic southern New Hampshire countryside.

It’s got hills. It’s got dales. It’s got pot bunkers, treacherous water hazards and come-hither views. Throw in some good old-fashioned New England rock walls and you’ve got one beautiful package. Golf Digest seems to agree. In 1999 and 2000, the magazine voted Windham as one of the Top 10 courses in New Hampshire.

The slide show starts on Country Club Drive, which winds its way through a development of sprawling, $600,000-plus homes as it enters the course. High on the upcoming hill sits a stately clubhouse that invites arriving golfers to admire the clean lines of its architecture before dropping their bags and heading back down to the parking lot, which is just across the road from a more than ample driving range.

All the facilities are conveniently close. Immediately adjacent to the clubhouse is an expansive putting green, which is only yards away from the first and 10th tees. Inside, there is a full bar and sandwich-style menu. It’s not difficult to see why Windham supports between 30,000 and 33,000 rounds per year - many of which are played by North Shore golfers familiar with Flynn and his local roots. Logistically, this is a no-muss, no-fuss operation. Wham, bam and off you go.

Flynn’s daughter, Joanne Flynn, is the club pro and she presides over an operation that includes a plethora of tournaments, outings, leagues and junior events. For example, the course hosted the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur in 2000 as well as several qualifying rounds for the U.S. Amateur Public Links tournament.

However, it is Joanne’s dedication to junior golfers that shines most brightly on the club’s agenda. In addition to offering junior golf leagues and a host of multi-day schools and clinics, Joanne has also instituted a Saturday program designed to unite golfing kids and parents. If an adult plays after 4 p.m., one of its kids plays gratis.

“We’ve got people who want to spend time with their family on the golf course,” she says. “This way, the parents can play without feeling guilty because they have to leave their kids behind.”

The club also hosts The Bill Flynn Open, which accommodates juniors from 4 years old to 17 and gives away scholarship money to participants. “It’s competitive, but it’s also fun,” the pro notes. “After they play, we have a big pizza party and give out trophies.”

Joanne, who along with assistant pro, Marc Spencer, gives lessons at the club, has also opened the club to golf teams from the Windham Middle School and Londonderry High. When no other course would allow them to play free, she said, “Yes.” It is this kind of generous attitude that led the New Hampshire chapter of the PGA to recognize her as 2002 Junior Golf Promoter of the Year.

Reviewing the course’s history, Joanne says it all started in the mid-80s by a group that intended to build the course as part of a housing development. The original designer was David Graham. After barely getting started, however, the group declared bankruptcy and dropped the project. Bill Flynn bought the property in 1982 and fleshed out the design with the help of a design-shaper named Steve Bowen, who had done work in Arizona and Australia. The course opened for play in April, 1995

The finished product features bent grass greens and a mixture of bent and rye grass in the fairways. The slope is 136 from the tips, 132 from the blues - which most men play - 128 from the whites and 123 for the ladies. Those correspond to ratings of 71.3, 69.1, 67.3 and 69.1. (All of the following distances are from the blues.)

After a benign par-5 opening hole, the course first bares its fangs The elevated tee at the par 5, first hole affords sweeping views of a spacious fairway. Playing 539 yards from the blues, the hole undulates its way to a benign green that is lightly bunkered to the left. Things change rapidly at the second hole, a 374-yard, par 4. The views of the expensive houses on the right and the clubhouse at the top of this uphill hole are nice, but the narrow opening to the fairway frames one of the many straight shots that this course demands. Beware of the water hazard just before the green and plan to hit uphill putts from below the cup.

There is only one word to describe Windham’s signature hole, the par 3, 158-yard third: intimidating. A large pond stretches the width of the narrow fairway, forcing all shots to carry the water or perish in its murky depths. The elusive green is shored up by boulders that protect it from the pond and its right side - a favorite pin position - falls off to the right. This means that, in order to stay dry, the ball must be driven some five yards further when it is hit to the right. Many a soaring shots have fallen short here. Keyword: Ker-plunk.

Reigning two-time course champion James Dufresne of Windham calls the third, “a gut check hole.” According to Dufresne, “it’s not a real hard shot even from the back tees, but you don’t want to miss it. So if the match is important, take one more club and keep it dry.”

Asked what he likes about the course, Dufresne, who has been playing Windham since it opened, emphasizes the importance of keeping the ball in play. “I like the difficulty,” he declares. “It’s tight and it’s kind of punishing, and I don’t hit the ball particularly long, so it’s just a course that suits my kind of game. If you can play at Windham, you can play anywhere.”

Starting with the 518-yard, par 5 fifth, the course takes to the hills. This is quite simply, a gorgeous hole, the kind that makes you look around, sniff the fresh air and feel very good about your choice of the day’s activities. At the 200-yard marker, there is a stone wall with a small cedar tree growing out of it. At the crest of the hill, a towering Pine stands over the hole and its surroundings. Take a moment here to turn around and enjoy the sweeping hillside vistas.

One hundred yards out from the green lurk two pot bunkers. And then another appears greenside right. Where in the name of St. Andrews did these things pop up from? “They were there from the original design,” Joanne notes, adding with a laugh, “It wasn’t my game plan.”

The tight and steeply downhill 280-yard 10th brings the course to a flat plane for most of the inward nine. Interestingly, when the pin is positioned on the front of this green, players descending the precipitous slope encounter a depth perception problem when they try to gauge their approach shots. Like all of the Windham greens, this one is in immaculate condition.If you hit it left to right, the 12th is just plain nasty. At 440 yards, this par 5 features a blind dogleg to the left and extensive water to the right. Words to the wise for slicers: Check your pride at the tee and throttle way back on the power.In Joanne’s opinion, the 382-yard 16th is the toughest hole on the course. Again, the word “intimidating” comes to mind. It’s a case of water, water, everywhere, including a small pond to the right, a much bigger one occupying the entire fairway, some 175 yards from the green, and then a menacing backup running along the remainder of the fairway from 100 yards out.

“At 16, you’re hitting it over the water into a long, narrow green with water on the left and woods to the right,” she says. “From a psychological point of view, I think it’s the toughest hole on the course because of the water”

At the end of the day, no one can say they didn’t get their money’s worth out of this course. Bad shots are not rewarded, but good ones are long-remembered. When all is said and done, Windham’s tough love will keep you coming back.