Ellinwood Country Club

Ellinwood Country Club sits on the hillside along Pleasant Street in Athol, Massachusetts, about a mile south of the Millers River and just off Route 2. Today it operates as a semi-private, member-owned facility with public access, a modest clubhouse and banquet space adapted from an older farmhouse, a pro shop, and a basic practice setup anchored by a putting green. The 18-hole course measures a little over 6,200 yards at par 71 from the back markers, with play moving across a rugged, wooded site broken by slopes and rock outcrops that influence stance and bounce. Nine holes originate from Donald Ross’s 1929 design work; nine more were added decades later and are interleaved through the routing rather than segregated as a separate nine. The present sequence blends shorter par fours that ask for placement, a pair of reachable par fives that hinge on lies and angles, and a notably long par-three tenth, all on corridors that alternately run across and over the property’s folds. The experience remains local and unhurried: leagues, small tournaments, and community events frame most activity, and the entry sequence from Pleasant Street rises onto the higher ground where most of the Ross holes still lie. Amenities are simple rather than resort-like, but the setting’s elevation changes and the variety between the two eras of design are the central attractions.