Hooper Golf Course

Hooper Golf Course traces its roots to George Levi Hooper, whose will left his Meeting House Farm at the top of Prospect Hill Road to the Town of Walpole in trust, to fund youth programs in agriculture, forestry and the natural sciences through what became the Hooper Institute. On June 26, 1926, local golfers formed the Hooper Golf Club, named for Mr. and Mrs. Hooper, and that July the selectmen, acting as trustees, agreed to lease part of the farm for a course. The firm of Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek designed the nine holes, and the course opened on July 2, 1927, with the old Watkins Tavern serving as clubhouse. For years the state Attorney General's office questioned whether the lease served the trust well. In the late 2000s the course was put up for sale amid fears of development, and community donations let the Monadnock Conservancy protect the land with a conservation easement. A local resident bought the course in 2018, and in 2019 a group of community members took it over. It is widely ranked among America's best nine-hole courses.