All Grown Up

From modest beginnings 12 years ago, Atkinson Resort and Country Club has developed into one of the premier venues in the entire Granite State

By Bob Albright

Sitting at a table outside of the bustling Merrill’s Tavern – just one of three restaurants housed in the sprawling Atkinson Resort and Country Club  – head golf professional Peter Doherty can only smile when asked about his prior office space.

“I look back and it’s hard to think that we were actually in a double-wide for five years,” he recalls with a fair share of bemusement of his initial years at the then brand new Granite State course which first opened its doors -- well, at least its fairways -- in the summer of 1996. The doors, enough of them to suit the 75,000 square foot clubhouse/banquet facility, came six years later.

“Now I get to work in a building like this,” Doherty continued.  “I could have never visualized this; it’s really exceeded all my expectations.”

It’s safe to say that last sentiment has been echoed by legions of golfers from Manchester to Boston and beyond, who have tackled the challenging 18-hole layout which weaves its way through 400 wooded and granite-laden acres in Atkinson.

Measuring a very deceiving 6,580 yards from the tips, Atkinson has alternately confounded and delighted even the most seasoned golfers for the past 12 years.  Doherty, a Methuen native who grew up a pitching wedge away from Merrimack Valley GC, fondly recalls the first time the course hosted the opening event for the North American Pro Golf Tour.

“I had one friend on the tour who said that they were used to shooting 12 or 13-under-par on courses that were 7,000 yards long and said that they were going to shoot 20-under at Atkinson,” recalled Doherty. “I made a wager and told him that they weren’t going to have five guys under par at the end of the week.”

Doherty collected on that bet as just two players were in red figures when the final putt had been holed.  In subsequent stops, the NAPGT, which features a slew of Canadian and Nationwide Tour players, made inroads into that mark illustrating one of the most valuable skill sets needed at Atkinson – course management.

“More than any other course I’ve played, this one requires course management,” Doherty said. “You can play this course and use all 14 clubs in your bag and shoot 100, and there’s times where you can take the driver and the long irons out and play with 10 and shoot 90, but who wants to do that?” Doherty adds with a chuckle. “We’re all heroes.”

Suffice it to say, few golfers leave Atkinson’s slick seventh green feeling like a hero. The par-4 and No.1 stroke hole on the course looks innocent enough at 410 yards from the blues, but a lateral hazard that cuts right across the fairway some 230 yards or so off the tee makes things awfully dicey. (This writer was happy to post a double-bogey on the hole and be on his way.)

“If you lay up before it, it’s more or less a three-shot hole and you are playing for bogey on a par-4. It’s definitely a risk/reward situation,” said Doherty.  “You can blast a driver and if you hit it solid, you can have anywhere from a wedge to a 6-iron into the hole.”

Along with the majestic clubhouse, the other tangible change to the course from its early years is apparent with the first wayward tee shot. The tree line has not changed, but thanks to some vigorous clearing over the last several years those misguided tee shots can now not only be found, but often played back onto the fairway.

Atkinson’s 12th, a par-5, features plenty of trouble.

“I still see pictures from the first couple of years we were open and I cannot even recognize what holes they were because it was just so thick,” remembers Doherty. “It has become a more user-friendly golf course – as long as you play the right tees.”

No argument here. Whereas on many a public course a 20-to-28 handicapper can get away with playing from the blues, here you are best served to swallow your pride, play the whites, and in turn spend a much more pleasurable day on the links.

One terrific feature that Atkinson offers to aid in that endeavor is a GPS system in all the golf carts. While the course is walk-able, it is worth getting a cart for this feature alone. Not only can you measure your drive, but for the first time golfer at Atkinson the eye in the sky is invaluable, alerting golfers to the plethora of meandering streams and other ball-swallowing hazards that always seem to be nestled before the green, but just out of eyesight.

The GPS system will not help you on Atkinson’s treacherous greens, however, which, along with the plush fairways, exude the feeling of a private club. They all seem to break the opposite direction, and if you get even a little aggressive, chances are you’re headed for the fringe… or beyond.

One of the prettiest holes on the course is the 200-yard par-3 11th, which features a forced carry over a large marsh.

“It’s just a scenic par-3, especially in the fall when the foliage is peaking,” enthused Doherty. “The tee box itself is cut out of the granite and if you look back from the green it’s just a postcard. It’s beautiful.”

While the resort complex, which includes guest suites, lockerrooms, a fitness facility and even indoor golf simulators, has already exceeded Doherty’s wildest expectations, the improvements are far from finished. Ground has already been broken on an adjoining par-3 course, and plans are in the works to expand the club’s practice area to accommodate a golf academy. As far as instruction goes, the club already boasts one of the area’s best players in Marc Spencer who was also named the state’s top teacher in 2007.

The ultimate goal, it seems, is not only to hook that wide-eyed seven or eight-year-old on the game, but to keep them coming back for a lifetime to the woods in Atkinson. Doherty feels that with the addition of the par-3 course to go along with a multitude of tees on the 18-hole course, Atkinson offers something for all swing types.

“What I like most now about the course is that it is a golf course that any level of golfer can play,” said Doherty. “In the beginning, in all honesty, you could not say that because it was basically fairways and trees.”

Fairways, trees, and one very crowded double-wide trailer.