Guilford Lakes Golf Course Details - Guilford Golf

Karl Schmidt originally designed Guilford Lakes Golf Course in 1928 for the new summer community called the Guilford Lakes Estates. In the 1930's, Gardner Wheeler, a 16-year old student at New Haven's Hillhouse High School, thought it would be interesting to build a golf course. Mr. Wheeler was a budding engineer vacationing in Guilford Lakes with his family. The 14-acre property on North Madison Road, which was owned by a neighborhood association, already had a mini-course: two holes that went up and down the side of the street. With the landowner's permission, Mr. Wheeler planned a nine-hole course, hired a laborer to help him and began moving rocks and making fairways. The golf course and its clubhouse served as a hub for social events during the summers.

In the early 1980's, the Guilford golf course fell into disrepair. In the mid-1980's, the Town of Guilford purchased the golf course from the Guilford Lakes Association and incorporated this purchase as part of the Timberlands property. In an effort to keep the course open to the public, the town attempted to lease the facility to several outside organizations, to no avail. In 1989, the town closed the golf course. In 1993, the town appointed a five-member committee to study the feasibility of reopening the course. In July, 1996, the residents voted in a town referendum to re-open the golf course and to appropriate a bond issue to finance the reconstruction of the course. The Board of Selectmen created the Guilford Lakes Golf Course Commission to build, manage, and operate the golf course, which this Commission continues to do today.

The golf course re-opened to the public on July 28, 1999. Since it's reopening, the course has been a delight for golfers of all ages, for the residents of Guilford as well as the surrounding communities. Today, the course is a 9-hole challenging par-3 course, just over 1300 yards from the blue tees. It has been recognized by several state and regional industry publications as the #1 par-3 golf course in the State of Connecticut for its playability and its impeccable conditions.

The Guilford Lakes Golf Course Commission continues to make the necessary improvements to the course so that it retains its ranking of #1 in the State..

Guilford Lakes Course Details