Mt. Hope Golf Course

Mt. Hope Golf Course was developed by the Poly and Smith families. Merle Smith, who spent 26 years selling golf course maintenance supplies, purchased his childhood home in 1988 — a 75-acre tract bought from his mother, Ila Poly Smith — both to provide her a lifetime home and to design and build a nine-hole course.

Smith designed the layout with input from his family, fitting it into mature woods and open meadows that still show the character left behind by a century of farming. The ground slopes gently, and the routing is core in design and strategic in play. Hazards include water, sand and grass bunkers, trees and meadow areas. Greens average about 6,300 square feet and were built to USGA recommendations, with greens, tees and fairways originally seeded to bentgrass. The variety among the holes puts a premium on club selection.