A COURSE HISTORY

Formed in 1896 by 14 professors, students and towns- people—including President William Jewett Tucker, class of 1861—Hanover Country Club established its permanent home in 1899 with a nine-hole course. The College, which had been fielding golf teams since 1904, bought the club and grounds for $12,000 in 1914. The land on which the first hole had been located was sold for home sites along Rope Ferry Road, and additional land was acquired from the Pine Park Association. The course was extended northward to the vale of tempe, now referred to as “the Gully.” A relocated barn became the clubhouse. In 1922 the College hired Orrin Smith to expand the course to 18 holes, and Tommy Keane became the club’s first head professional. A decade later, ralph Barton, class of 1904, who had worked on the grounds crew and taught math at Dartmouth, returned to Ha- nover to design an additional nine holes, donating his work to the College. It would remain in play until 1970, when Lyme Road was upgraded and pressure for more housing began to consume some of the holes. The most recent tweaks occurred in 2001 when Ron Prichard added almost 600 yards to the layout. At one time HCC was administered by the Col- lege’s business office, but former athletic director Seaver Peters successfully advocated to have the course run by the athletic department. In 1967 Bill Johnson replaced Keane as head pro and Dartmouth golf coach. In his 36 years as coach Johnson brought Dartmouth golf to prominence, winning two Ivy League team championships, the 1970 Eastern Championship and coaching four All-Americans. his wife. izzy, a fine golfer in her own right, put together dartmouth’s first women’s golf team in 1981. two years later her team won the ecAc championship behind All-American sue Johnson bower ’85, who grew up in hanover. Other notable HCC golfers include Austin Eaton iii (son of Austin eaton ’62), who won the u.s. mid- Amateur in 2004, Jeff Julian and current men’s golf coach Rich Parker, both of whom played on the PGA tour. more recently hanover native peter Williamson ’12 won the north-south Amateur and was the eighth- ranked amateur in the world before turning pro. —R.S. photograph by liz Dente

Dartmouth golfer,