The Gendron family plans an extensive irrigation system

to improve

18-hole play.
By Doug Fletcher
Staff Writer

AUBURN – Prospect Hill Golf Course, known for its friendly front nine and challenging finish, has changed hands.

The Gendron family of Minot – Gwin, Georges and son Price – bought the course earlier this month from Ron and Bev Vaillancourt of Auburn. The Vaillancourts had owned the course for the past 20 years.

Gwin Gendron said she and her husband and son will continue the course’s operation as a family business, adding that she hopes a second son, Lucien, might eventually join them. The course’s employee base will remain largely the same, she added, although a grounds superintendent will join the staff.

The most obvious change planned by the Gendrons, she said, will be the installation of an 18-hole irrigation system that will keep fairways and greens “lush” throughout the season. Work on the irrigation system is set to start in early spring, “weather permitting,” Gendron said.

The family also plans to remodel the pro shop, she said, but otherwise, golfers familiar with the course should see little change in operations.

A limited number of memberships will be available, she added, and tee times will also remain available to the public.

The Gendrons are avid golfers, but this is their inaugural venture in running a course of their own. She previously taught pre-school classes; he ran Gendron Oil Co. in South Paris.

“We just love and adore golf,” said Gendron, explaining the family’s decision to buy the course. She noted that her husband’s handicap is quite respectable. Georges is well-known locally for playing defense and left wing for the old Maine Nordiques hockey team.

Prospect Hill was developed by the Chapman family from its farm holdings in 1957, Gendron said. It has been family owned and operated ever since, with the Gendrons the fourth in the course’s line of ownership.

When do they plan to open? “That’s up to Mother Nature,” Gendron noted.

dfletcher@sunjournal