Waumbek Golf Club

Waumbek Golf Club in Jefferson is the oldest golf course in New Hampshire, a three-architect Golden Age routing with 19th-century bones still in play. Willie Norton (a Scottish professional) laid out the original routing in 1895, Arthur Fenn expanded it in 1898, and Ralph Barton executed a significant revision in 1928. The combination of three turn-of-the-20th-century designers (one Scotsman, two Americans) makes Waumbek one of the most architecturally-layered Golden Age courses in northern New England. The setting is what golfers remember: Waumbek sits in the White Mountain presidential-range foothills, with breathtaking views of the Presidential Range visible from essentially every hole and the Cherry-Dartmouth Ranges framing the backdrop on others. The design reflects Scottish sensibilities, excellent hole variety, small greens, wide fairways that allow strategic play, and an openness that keeps tree cover from overwhelming the routing (which also preserves those mountain views). For the Bretton Woods / White Mountains / northern New Hampshire trip visitor, Waumbek is the Golden Age architecture round, paired naturally with the Mount Washington Hotel Donald Ross course (Bretton Woods) and Maplewood Golf Club (Ross, Bethlehem) for a three-round Golden Age White Mountains package.