New England Golf Course is a 9-hole executive length golf course is nestled along the Cannonball River about a mile north-west of in New England, North Dakota,
New England golf course first opened in 1969.
The course plays to a 9-hole par of 34 and maximum 9-hole distance of 2,485. The course has oiled greens.
The course closed in 2012.
The tee boxes were cement slabs with a rubber pads and tees for footing. The greens were made of sand.
There is planning and community backing to reopen the course, which may happen as early as 2017. Plans call for the course to be expanded to a regulation length 9-hole course playing to a par-36. And yes, the greens will be grass and up to USGA standards.
The sand greens will be replaced and holes extended. Some of the existing sloping hills that made for challenging fairways and approaches will remain.
Brad Tomlinson is in charge of redesigning and improving the course. Tomlinson, who came to North Dakota because of family and a lack of work in Florida, works for Schwartz Construction after spending 26 years of his career building golf courses around the world.
“It’s a great piece of land and piece of property,” he said.
Tomlinson’s plan includes lengthening two holes into par 5s, raising and seeding the greens, using the existing ponderosa pine trees that separate fairways, adding a dogleg hole, increasing the overall yardage, creating three tee boxes for each hole and incorporating the Cannonball River into the final three holes — including making the No. 9 tee box an island.