Source: VT Golf Magazine | Issue: Summer 2000 | Author: Bob Labbance
Synopsis: This article is about the Ekwanok country club. It delves into the history of the club as well as it’s status throughout the golf community.
For more than a century in Southern Vermont, Ekwanok has been synonymous with excellence. Despite pretenders- both old and new- in various enclaves around the green mountains, the Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester village remains Vermont’s most highly-regarded club, as well as our most direct connection with the history of golf in America. No other club in the state can hold a candle when you consider the following historical acts.
Ekwanok opened 100 years ago this June and, at 6,034 yards, was heralded as one of the longest courses in the country, outdistancing such highly regarded layouts as St. Andrews in New York by more than 500 yards. By comparison, a championship course today would tape at 7,500 yards.
But it was much more than length that elevated the Ekwanok course to the country’s top 10 list. Te layout had been planned diligently, with consideration given to carefully crafted bunkers, greens with unlimited variety in regards to size and shape and fairways that elegantly flowed and weaved across an undulating landscape. Many courses of the era were simply marched off in an afternoon with rote hazards and straight lines, while Ekwanok took months of planned development and fieldwork.