And not a moment too soon, according to new Apple Valley Golf Course owner Linda Kelley.

“We’re looking at as soon the snow melts and the golf course dries out, we’ll be open,” Kelley said. “I don’t know about you, but I like to play golf as much as possible. I have no intentions of cutting into anybody’s playing time. Personally I would like for it to be 50 degrees right now.”

Kelley, an Androscoggin County native who returned to Maine six years ago and lives in Mechanic Falls, has purchased Apple Valley from Gard Craw. She completed the paperwork March 1.

Craw announced in a letter to Apple Valley membership and in a Sun Journal story last summer that the 2012 season, his ninth owning and operating the nine-hole, par-35 layout, would be his last.

The former owner also indicated that the course would not officially go on the market but that he would entertain any offers.

After reading the newspaper article, Kelley and her husband, George Daddona, decided to give the property a late-season test drive, of sorts. They played the course, then contacted Craw to express interest.

“I think it’s a great place for beginners, women and seniors,” Kelley said.

Kelley said that Daddona, who is retired, plans to help out, but that she will operate the business.

She’s not a newcomer to the game. Kelley, who grew up in Lewiston, Turner and Livermore Falls, entered the golf industry in 1979.

“I was pursuing an engineering degree at the University of Maine in Orono, and then I went flat broke,” Kelley said. “So I never finished college, but I was fortunate to find something I really enjoyed doing and I stayed with it.”

Those aspirations did take Kelley back to school, briefly. She earned a certificate in turfgrass management from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Kelley was instrumental in the development of Sable Oaks Country Club in South Portland, then helped put the finishing touches on another course in Rutland, Mass.

There were stops in Florida, then Virginia, where Kelley met her husband. He was originally from Connecticut and was intrigued by the idea of settling down again in New England, a coincidence that led Kelley back to her home state.

Hers was a non-traditional career choice.

“When I started in 1979 there were only three woman course superintendents in the United States,” Kelley said. “Last I knew there were 67, so maybe there are 75 now.”

Although Kelley’s background is in developing and maintaining the greenery, she said that owning a course was her ultimate dream.

She plans to make that transition slowly, with no intentions of immediate drastic changes or notable capital improvements.

“We’re going to go in the first year and operate it the way Gard had been operating it,” Kelley said. “We will find out what the membership would like to see happen and get some information from the playing public and see what changes if any they are interested in.

“If we have to do anything differently or add anything, we will. We’re in it for the long haul.”

To local players of all abilities and budgets, those words are music to the ears.

koakes@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link