The Vesper Country Club, founded in 1899, is located on the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...

Tyngsborough, Massachusetts Tyngsborough (also spelled Tyngsboro) is a town in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Tyngsborough is from Boston along the Route 3 corridor, and located on the New Hampshire state line. At the 2020 census, the town popula ...

. According to the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

, and ''

Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the world' ...

'', its golf course is one of the first in the United States, and was home to the first

Massachusetts Open The Massachusetts Open is the Massachusetts state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by Mass Golf (formerly the Massachusetts Golf Association). It has been played annually since 1905 (except for wa ...

in 1905, won by golfer and course designer Donald Ross.

History

The Vesper Country Club is the merger of the Vesper Boat Club, founded in 1875, and the Lowell Country Club, founded in 1892.Over One Hundred Years of Tradition
/ref> In the 1880s, Wickasee Island (former home of Chief

Wannalancit Wonalancet (16191697) also spelled Wannalancet and Wannalancit and probably Wanaloset and Wanalosett — was a sachem or sagamore of the Penacook Indians. He was the son of Passaconaway. Biography Wonalancet was born 1619 after one of the worst ...

who left in 1686), now known as Tyngs Island in the Merrimack River, was a favorite recreation spot for the area. People would gather for outings and picnics, as well as an amusement park was built, but in 1887 a fire destroyed most of the buildings. A few years later, in 1893, the Lowell Country Club purchased Tyngs Island in the Merrimack River for $7,123.00, and built the original club house. The following year, 1894, a 1/3 mile oval bicycle track was installed, circling two baseball fields, and that is when the two clubs, the Vesper Boat Club, and the Lowell Country Club voted to merge. In 1895, the island was developed with six links golf course as the game of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

became popular. Just two years later, golf became the club's main attraction, as the course expanded to 9 holes. The two clubs officially became the Vesper Country Club in 1899. In 1903, Vesper became a charter member of the

Massachusetts Golf Association Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and in 1905 as the new clubhouse was complete, the first

was held at Vesper, won by Donald Ross. In 1908, the 550 ft long, steel cable, suspension foot bridge was installed. In 1914 Ross returned as a course designer, and the golf course was expanded to have 18 holes, with the other 9 being on the mainland. In 1923, the Clubhouse burned to the ground, but was rebuilt by the next year. The Great Flood of 1936 destroyed most of Vesper, as the Merrimack river overflowed its banks, but the club rebuilt, despite losing 50% of its membership. In the late 1990s into the early 2000s, Vesper underwent another major renovation of its golf course. In 2008, the membership voted to completely rebuild all 18 greens to

specifications and to restore the bunkers on the course. The rebuilding of the greens and the restoration of the bunkers was overseen by architect Brian Silva, Golf Course Superintendent Chris Morris and Assistant Golf Course Superintendents Chris Hans and Christopher Orlich. The restoration attempted to be faithful to the original design and plans of Donald Ross. This rebuilding project was completed at the end of 2009. In the March 10, 2011 issue of

Golf Week ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Flori ...

magazine, Vesper's golf course was ranked as one of the top 100 classic golf courses in the U.S. The course record for Vesper is 62 shot by a professional. (Score Card Is In Paul Boland`s Desk)

Facilities

* Private 18 hole championship golf course. The par-72 course stretches over 6,700 yards from the back tees. There are five sets of tees. Black, Blue, White, Green, and Red. * Club house with formal dining * Two swimming pools * Four tennis courts

Events hosted

*2019

*2005

*1979

Massachusetts State Amateur Championship The Massachusetts State Amateur Championship or Massachusetts Amateur is a golf championship held in Massachusetts for the state's top amateur golfers. The tournament is run by the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) in mid-July each year. The ama ...

*1963

*1951

*1905

References

{{Coord, 42.654, -71.396, display=title 1899 establishments in Massachusetts Golf clubs and courses in Massachusetts Sports venues in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Sports venues completed in 1899 Tyngsborough, Massachusetts