Peter, congrats and best of luck going forward. Do you have any information on how the course got the name?
Good question, Bob. Hooper GC is unusual enough a name to raise a few eyebrows and ask “WHY would people name it that?”
There’s a mansion built in the 1860s (I could be wrong on this decade) on the property that used to be known as Watkins Tavern, a place for dinner and drinks on the porch and enjoy the view of the Connecticut River valley beyond the farm on the property. It was owned by a man named George L Hooper. I’m told my great great grandfather, C. W. Houghton was good friends with him and he helped write the Hooper Trust. When Hooper passed, he donated his property to the people of Walpole. The following is an excerpt from the Hooper GC webpage
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George Levi Hooper’s will left his property at the top of Prospect Hill Road, known as Meeting House Farm, to the Town of Walpole. The trust he established stipulated that an institute be formed to provide programs in the fields of agriculture, forestry, botany, soils and environmental science for Walpole’s youth. A new Colonial-style building, The Hooper Institute, was built on the site of the old meeting house, across the street from the old Watkins Tavern.The Hooper Golf Club (named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Hooper) was formed June 26, 1926. The club proposed to the selectmen (Trustees of the Trust) to lease part of the property to build a golf course. A special meeting was held July 10, 1926, and the proposal accepted.The old Watkins Tavern became the clubhouse when the course officially opened at 10:00 am July 2, 1927. Dinner was served at the clubhouse to 130 guests, who then danced away the evening. Recently, Ron Whitten, Golf Digest Architecture Editor, ranked the Hooper Golf Course as number 11 on his list of the twenty-five best 9-hole golf courses in America.”
My grandfather used to say I’m a descendant of George Hooper, but I don’t recall the details. I’m not a born native of Walpole, but my roots go deeeeeep back to about 1820. I had the misfortune of growing up in Stockton, CA, but I was fortunate that my grandfather decided to buy and rebuild his grandmother’s dilapidated Victorian mansion in 1983. It belonged to her father-in law, C.W. Houghton. I visited almost every year. He got me hooked on golf at 15 at Hooper and I’ve been golfing ever since. Sad thing is my dad was a golf course Super and now he’s in turf supply sales, and I just couldnt gain interest in golfing at his courses he worked for. But something about Hooper was very different
Fast forward 22 years and I love and practice dentistry in Walpole like I always wanted. Not only own a share of the course I love so dearly, but I own the mansion now, and my wife and I are making improvements to it before we move in and sell our current house. That’s 7 generations in my family that have had the privilege to visit the house and 6 generations to live in it.
Talk about dreams coming true!