Lake Winnipesaukee

“Winnipesaukee” is the Abenaki Indian name for “lake around islands” and the course at Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club became another “island” in the New Durham area when it opened for play in 1990. It’s a Clive Clark layout, one of several that the former Walker and Ryder Cup player has designed in the USA, with scenic fairways carved through dense forest and routed around extensive wetlands.

The front nine plays substantially longer than the back nine, thanks mainly to three par five holes (two of them back-to-back at the 7th and 8th) each measuring in excess of 550 yards. Both par threes at the 4th “Slick” and 6th “Turtle Shell” are terrific holes, played to tricky greens that rarely ever yield a birdie.

On the back nine, the 159-yard 15th “Rockslide” is another fine short hole, where the small, bunker-ringed green sits 80 feet below the level of the tee, and it’s followed by a trio of woodland par fours that bring the routing back to the clubhouse.