Biddeford-Saco Country Club

Biddeford-Saco Country Club began in the early 1920s as a country club in the old, broad sense: the club's own history lists bowling, skating, tennis and shooting alongside golf. The course was laid out on the Kelly property between Saco and Old Orchard Beach, whose farmhouse became, and still is, the clubhouse. Only nine holes were built, and Donald Ross is credited with them. Maine Golf, the state association, dates Ross's design to 1921. The directory of Ross courses kept by the Donald Ross Society and the Tufts Archives, revised in January 2026, lists Biddeford-Saco as a nine-hole Ross course new in 1922 and notes that the Archives hold information on it; the course is not on the list of his work Ross published in 1930. The club's rolls of men's and women's champions begin in 1922, with A. W. Foss and Marjorie Garland, which fits a nine in play that year. No source found says whether Ross walked the site or worked from maps, and none records a return visit.

The course stayed at nine holes for more than sixty years, while the club dropped its other sports and became a golf club. In the mid-1980s it hired Brian Silva to complete what the club calls Ross's original design. The club says the back nine was finished together with a renovation of the clubhouse in 1991, and that the course held the Maine Amateur in its second year at 18 holes; Maine Golf's course page dates the 18 to 1986. GolfPass and Foretee credit the new nine to Silva with Geoffrey Cornish.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees (6,354 yards) the course is par 71. The front nine is par 35 and 3,209 yards, with one par 5, the 3rd, and two par 3s, the 2nd and 8th. The back nine is par 36 and 3,145 yards, with par 5s at the 12th and 17th and par 3s at the 10th and 15th. The two hardest holes by stroke index meet at the turn, the 9th at index 1 and the 11th at index 2, and the round ends on the shortest par 4.

The 348-yard 4th from the Black tees, stroke index 7, runs out between pines with a scrubby, sandy strip down the left of the drive zone, then turns right about 200 yards out. Its round green, about 23 yards across, sits in trees with a bunker behind it at the back right. A GolfPass reviewer in 2014 singled out the swale in front of this green and its false front.

The 184-yard 8th from the Black tees, stroke index 11, is the second of the front nine's long par 3s after the 196-yard 2nd. A creek crosses the line about 115 to 125 yards out between brushy banks. The green, roughly round and about 25 yards across, has a bunker on each side, the right one under trees.

The 434-yard 9th from the Black tees is stroke index 1 and brings the Ross nine back to the clubhouse. It runs nearly straight between a line of pines on the right and scattered trees on the left, with no fairway bunkers, to a long, narrow green with a bunker cut into each side. Foretee's course notes say it often plays straight into the wind.

The 443-yard 11th from the Black tees, stroke index 2, is the longest par 4 and the clearest example of the Silva nine. Pines close in on both sides, and a pond crosses the whole fairway about 125 to 150 yards short of the green. Past the pond the fairway narrows to an oval green with one bunker at its front right, a green Foretee calls severe.

The 330-yard 18th from the Black tees is the shortest par 4 but stroke index 4. A creek crosses about 130 to 145 yards out, and the hole bends right around 210 yards with a bunker on the outside of the bend. The green sits among trees, with a long bunker short and right, a small pond beside that bunker and another bunker at the back.

Ross's Design Here

The sources agree on which holes are Ross's: the front nine, holes 1 to 9, is the original nine, and it starts and finishes beside the clubhouse. Foretee's description calls the front nine fairly wide open off the tee but "devilishly difficult around the subtle Ross greens." The 2014 GolfPass reviewer, playing it as an old Ross design, pointed to carved-out swales and false fronts, and to the long par 3s at the 2nd and 8th, both calling for a full carry to the green. None of these sources dates individual features, and no published Ross drawing of the course was found, so which bunkers and green contours are Ross's own is not documented.

On the ground today the Ross nine has few fairway bunkers: the aerials show none on the 4th or the 9th, and most of its greens are guarded by a pair of bunkers at the sides, as at the 2nd, 8th and 9th. Water enters at the 3rd, where a creek crosses about 120 yards from the tee, and at the 8th. Green sizes in our mapping run from about 3,500 to 6,300 square feet on this nine, the largest at the 5th. A railway line runs along the edge of the property right beside the 10th.

Historical Significance

Biddeford-Saco is one of the Ross courses of southern Maine, and the Ross Society directory places it among his 1922 work. Its standing in Maine golf rests on championships. It has held the Maine Amateur four times: in 1930, won by Charles Webber II with Lee Abbott runner-up; in 1991, won by Sean Gorgone over Dan Ladd; in 2008, won by Ryan Gay with Mark Plummer runner-up; and in 2020, won by Cole Anderson with John Hayes runner-up. The club recalls that former President George H. W. Bush came to the 2008 championship to watch his friend Plummer, a many-time Maine champion, in the final group against the 18-year-old Gay.

The course has also held the Maine Mid-Amateur in 1997, shared with Prouts Neck; the Maine Senior Amateur in 2005 and 2010 as co-host and in 2016 on its own, when Ronald Dery won; and the New England Golf Association's Senior Amateur on September 17 and 18, 2019. It has held the Maine Women's Amateur four times, won by Laura Gagnon in 1998, Mary Brandes in 2006, Staci Creech in 2015 and Jade Haylock in 2024, and the 2023 Maine Match Play Invitational, where Caleb Manuel beat Mike Arsenault 2 and 1. In September 2026 it hosted the Maine Senior Women's Amateur and the Maine Senior Match Play Invitational. On Golf Club Atlas, Brad Tufts has used it as an example of a New England course with a good old nine joined to a later and lesser modern nine. No current national or state ranking was found.

Changes Since Ross

The main change since Ross is the second nine. Silva's holes, 10 to 18 on today's card, are the half a visitor reads as modern: Foretee calls the back nine "much tighter and more modern feeling," and the 2014 GolfPass reviewer described it as short and tight, "squeezed into a space better suited for about 7 holes," with heavily contoured greens. Most of the water on the course is there, from the pond in front of the 10th green and the pond across the 11th to water on the 14th and 17th and the creek across the 18th. The clubhouse was renovated as part of the same project.

No source found describes a restoration or rebuild of the Ross nine's greens or bunkers since then, and none dates changes to its trees, bunker shapes or mowing lines.

Uncertainties

• Opening date: Maine Golf and Foretee give 1921 (Maine Golf as the design year); the Ross Society directory and GolfPass give 1922, and the club's champions begin in 1922. This listing has Ross's design in 1921 and the nine opening in 1922.

• Completion of 18 holes: Maine Golf and Foretee say 1986; the club and the NEGA say the back nine was finished with the 1991 clubhouse renovation, and the club calls the 1991 Maine Amateur the course's second year at 18 holes. This listing says Silva was hired in the mid-1980s and finished around 1990.

• Back-nine architect: the club and Maine Golf name Silva alone; GolfPass and Foretee add Geoffrey Cornish, and GolfPass also lists George F. Sargent without a date or role. This listing credits Silva.

• Ross's routing: the club describes Silva's work as completing Ross's original design, but no Ross plan for 18 holes was found and the Ross Society credits Ross with nine holes. This listing treats the back nine as Silva's.

Sources & Notes

1. Biddeford-Saco Country Club, "History," https://biddefordsacocc.com/history/ - early country club activities; nine holes built first; Kelly farmhouse clubhouse; Silva hired mid-1980s, back nine and clubhouse renovation 1991; 500-member by-law; dining room over the 1st and 9th; 2008 Maine Amateur and George H. W. Bush; club champions from 1922; Thornton Academy.

2. Biddeford-Saco Country Club, "Practice Facility," "Rates" and "Membership" (2026), https://biddefordsacocc.com/practice-facility/, https://biddefordsacocc.com/rates/, https://biddefordsacocc.com/membership/ - range, practice green, lessons, public booking window, membership waiting list.

3. Maine Golf, "Biddeford-Saco Country Club," https://www.mainegolf.org/course/biddeford-saco-cc/ - designed by Ross in 1921; 18 holes in 1986 under Silva; walkable.

4. Maine Golf, past winners of the Maine Amateur, https://www.mainegolf.org/past-winners-of-the-maine-amateur-championship/ - 1930, 1991, 2008 and 2020 at Biddeford-Saco, winners and runners-up.

5. Maine Golf, past winners of the Maine Senior Amateur and Mid-Amateur, https://www.mainegolf.org/past-winners-of-the-maine-senior-amateur-championship/, https://www.mainegolf.org/past-winners-of-the-maine-mid-amateur-championship/ - 2005, 2010, 2016 and 1997.

6. Donald Ross Society and The Tufts Archives, Directory of Golf Courses Designed by Donald J. Ross, January 2026 revision, https://www.rosssociety.org/resources/Documents/Ross%20Course%20List/Final%20Ross%20Directory%20of%20Courses%20Jan%202026%20website.pdf - nine Ross holes, new in 1922, Tufts information on file, not on the 1930 list.

7. New England Golf Association, 2019 New England Senior Amateur preview, https://www.negagolf.org/ne-senior-preview.html - 2019 championship; club history; back nine by 1991.

8. Sven Nilsen, "Reunderstanding Ross," Golf Club Atlas, February 23, 2018, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65481.msg1565650.html - not in Ross's 1930 booklet.

9. Brad Tufts, Golf Club Atlas, August 29, 2017, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,64983.msg1549112.html, and January 2018, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65473.msg1561963.html - old Ross nine with a later Cornish and Silva nine.

10. Foretee, "Biddeford Saco Country Club," https://foretee.com/courses/maine/saco/usa/biddeford-saco-country-club/6372/ - character of the two nines; notes on the 9th and 11th; Cornish and Silva.

11. GolfPass, "Biddeford Saco Country Club," https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/courses/6875-biddeford-saco-country-club - architects listed; bentgrass; reviewer's account of the 2nd, 4th, 8th and the back nine (June 2014).

12. Greens Visited scorecard, course-tour geometry (OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and hole aerials (Maine GeoLibrary orthoimagery) - pars, yardages, stroke indexes, shapes, hazards and green sizes.

13. Maine Golf, past winners of the Maine Women's Amateur and the Match Play Invitational, https://www.mainegolf.org/past-winners-of-the-maine-womens-amateur/, https://www.mainegolf.org/past-winners-of-the-match-play-invitational/; Maine Golf, 2026 championship schedules, https://www.mainegolf.org/news/2026-championship-schedules/ - 1998, 2006, 2015 and 2024 Women's Amateurs; 2023 Match Play; 2026 senior events.