Historic Moosehead area golf course under new management
GREENVILLE JUNCTION — Ah … spring – that elusive season is finally here, a time when thoughts turn to playing outside on green grass. And there’s nothing like a good round of golf to have some fun and exercise with friends or family. The Squaw Mountain Village Golf Course on Route 15 just north of Greenville Junction is open for the season and under new management.
The new managers, Tammy Rowe and Kirt Parsons, have deep roots in the Moosehead area.
Rowe’s family has lived on the East Road in Greenville for years and Parsons grew up in the area. When the couple was living in North Carolina, they studied and earned their degrees in all things to do with running a successful golf course. Both have degrees in horticulture and turf management and Parsons holds a business operations and a golf course management degree as well.
Observer photo/Shelagh Talbot
NEW MANAGEMENT — Kirk Parsons and Tammy Rowe, new managers of the Squaw Mountain Village Golf Course.
“I told Tammy that my five-year plan was to eventually work at this very place,” Parsons said. “But we made it here in less time – four and a half years to be exact.”
“He knows all about managing and maintaining a golf course,” Rowe said. “ I am learning hands on. There’s a lot that goes into the success of a good course. It’s not just mowing – you have to understand the soil as well and what it needs to produce the best grass for the fairways and greens.” Parsons has sent soil samples to the state in order to discover best management practices for the course.
The Squaw Mountain Village Golf Course has been around for just shy of 100 years. It was built in 1922 as part of the original Squaw Mountain Inn. Careful planning of this course has included terrific views of surrounding mountains and Moosehead Lake.
“The views from holes six, seven and nine are really majestic,” Parsons observed. When Julia and Philip Sheridan owned the Squaw Mountain Inn during the early days of the course, their business flyer boasted of a “splendid sporty nine-hole golf course, well designed and replete with natural hazards and excellently maintained. A competition Pro is always in attendance for instruction, mending of clubs and other golf sundries. Both amateurs and professionals agree that this is one of the best nine-hole golf courses in the country. For those who play for exercise it is an adventure and for those who play for the game it is paradise.”
Photo courtesy of Moosehead Historical Society
OLD TIME GOLF — Teeing off in front of the Squaw Mountain Inn, circa 1927.
On the night of June 30, 1968 the hotel was consumed in a fire and five people perished. Fourteen others were injured. After that tragedy, the hotel was never rebuilt. Instead, the Squaw Mountain Village condominiums were constructed on the property, along with another building to house the clubhouse.
It’s nice to know that almost 100 years later the course continues to offer challenging play for golfers at every skill level and families are encouraged to come for a round or two. “We welcome everyone to come and have fun this summer and fall,” Rowe said. “And, we have golf carts too, if you don’t feeling like walking all nine holes.”
With well-groomed fairways and greens, the golf course is difficult yet friendly, and Parsons and Rowe, both avid golfers themselves, can offer tips and tricks for playing your best round.
Squaw Mountain Village Golf Course, a par 34 course, with some 2,300-plus yards, is waiting for you to come and enjoy. You can play all day for only $20 and yearly memberships are very affordable. Walking is encouraged but carts are available as well, as are pull carts and of course clubs.
Find them on Facebook at Squaw Mountain Golf Course or call them at (207) 695-3591 for information and conditions. Look for their signs on the right side of the road, about four miles up Route 15 after you leave Greenville Junction. Special thanks to the Moosehead Historical Society for information about the Squaw Mountain Inn and use of the early golf photograph.