Written by John Day, Times Sports Writer

Carlowden ‘Family’ Completes Expansion from 9 to 18 Holes

DENMARK — Carlowden Country Club entered a new era Friday as a four-year labor of love” — expanding the course from nine to 18 holes

 

— was officially completed just in time for Member-Guest Weekend. Past and present Carlowden members, including Roscoe Reeder of Lyons Falls, the only living charter member, were on hand for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The Carlowden unveiled Friday includes the new “upper” course — holes 10 through 16 above the clubhouse and pro shop — and the redesigned “lower” or original course layout—holes 1-9, plus l7 and 18.
Not only was the redesign and expansion completed on time, it came in well under estimates. The original price tag was $350,000. The cost of the entire project will be less than $200,000.
‘That’s a tribute to the thousands of hours donated by Carlowden members,” said current club president Jim Wilton. ‘These are people who love the game of the golf and were willing to donate their time to make this one of the best courses in the North Country.”
The new layout was virtually an in-house project. Advice was solicited from Rochester architect Archie Craig, and the United States Golf Association was continually consulted so the redesign met USGA specifications. Otherwise, members or friends of the club did all of the design, layout and construction work.
After a survey during the presidency of Sam Villanti Jr. disclosed Carlowden, founded in 1925, owned an additional 50 acres of land, members and directors voted to go ahead with the project.
In the presidency of Ben Renzi, land was cleared and logging began in the fall of 1988. Nearly 70,000 board feet of lumber was harvested, netting approximately $10,000. Stumps were removed in the summer of 1989 and construction of fairways and greens began last year. Seeding of fairways and greens was done last September.
Heading the project for Carlowden was Larry Costa, a former club champion and member for 21 years. He headed the “New Nine” committee and also did the original design work.
“I’d actually been pushing for this for about 17 years,” Costa said Friday during a tour of the new upper holes. “A lot of members didn’t even know we owned the land, but they were very supportive when we finally decided to go ahead.”
Costa said although he and his committee had no hands-on experience in design, “we’re all golf addicts and thought it would be the thrill of a lifetime to design a course we could all call our own. Although we were a little apprehensive at first, things have gone almost too smoothly.”
Bill Brown, director of athletics at Carthage, supervised the construction and laid out most of the greens and fairways. Brown, who joined Carlowden three years ago, worked summers during high school and college at golf courses in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and was at one time assistant superintendent of Fernwood Golf Club.
“I had experience in maintenance and that was an important factor,” Brown said. ‘The contractor wasn’t in the golf architect business, per Se, so someone had to oversee most of the work and become clerk of the works.”
Quality control on the greens was especially important, said Brown. “If they aren’t built to exact USGA specifications you can have trouble down the road. We had a little trouble with disease on a couple of greens but we’ve taken care of that,” he said. “With two or three years to grow and some finishing touches, this will be one of the premier courses in the area.”
The new irrigation system, designed by engineer Joe Thesier, will allow Carlowden to automatically water its greens. Water for the entire course is pumped from a creek below Carlowden to a reservoir on the upper level, and then to all greens. Several new ponds also serve as a source for water.
The new holes present a marked contrast from the old lower course. Whereas the original layout is wide open with sloping greens, the new holes are quite a bit tighter through the woods with mostly flat greens.
“Players are used to just pulling out the driver and letting it rip,” Costa said. “Now, they'll have to think a lot more and use a lot of different clubs.”
The most interesting new hole is the par-5, 486-yard (blue tee) 12th hole. “It probably has the only double dogleg (left then right) in the north country, requiring placement of two different shots,” Costa said.
Carlowden’s new signature hole is the 173-yard 16th — a picturesque par-3 with elevated tees overlooking the distant mountains. The fairway slopes severely down to a saucer-shaped green with a pond just behind and trees on all sides.

Carlowden will now play to a par 72 (36-36).
Yardages are 6,187 (blue), 5,801 (white) and 4,874 (red).

The following article appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on Saturday, August 10, 1991: