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Trull Mill Was Many In Area  |  New 18-Hole Public Golf Course Taking Shape On Trull Farm

New 18-Hole Public Golf Course Taking Shape On Trull Farm

By George McGuane
written in 1962

LOWELL — Many Greater-Lowell golfers won't believe it but they're going to get to play a brand new beautiful 18-hole golf course next spring. If we hadn't seen it Friday with our own eyes, we wouldn't have believed it. Someone told us Bailey Trull of 60 Stafford Road, Lowell, and his son, Bailey, Jr. of River road in North Tewksbury planned to convert the famous Trull truck farm to a golf course.

We didn't doubt it could be done but thought like the dream the city of Lowell had of building a public course it could be talked about for a long time and then fail to materialize.

IF A MIRACLE is supposed to be something unbelievable then what we saw Friday is in the miracle class. This new course is located just over the Lowell line on River road in North Tewksbury. River Road branches off Andover Street at the Lowell line. The new course is about a half mile from the Lowell line, beyond the new St. Mary's cemetery.

Usually it takes years to in-stall a new 18-hole course. Take Indian Ridge in Andover for example. It's been under construction for a couple of years and so far only nine holes are open for play. The Trulls, however, only started to work on their course last May and estimate they will have it in operation by Memorial Day of next spring.

Young -Bailey Trull, who gave this writer and Sports Editor Frank Sargent a special tour of the course Friday, said the course will be 6400 yards playing the long tees and 5740 yards via the short tees. It will be par 72, with the front nine playing to a par 36 and the same with the back nine. Number one is a 350-yard par four; two a 540-yard par five; three a 415-yard par four; four is a 160-yard par three; five is a 400-yard par four; six is a 115-ward par three; seven is a 530-yard par five; eight is a 365-yard par four and nine is a 335-yard par four.

On the back nine number
10 is a 345-yard par four;
11 is a 200-yard par three;
12 is a 470-yard par five;
13 is a 335-yard par four;
14 is a 330-yard par four;
15 is a 200-yard par three;
16 is a 375-yard par four;
17 is a 470-yard par five and
18 js a 414-yard par four.

THE LAND ON which the course is constructed covers some 127 acres. It is bounded on the north by the scenic Merrimack River, with several of the holes, tees, greens or fairways overlooking the river.

The miracle of this course is that of all this rich farm land only about 10 acres had to be cleared. When the Trulls first got the idea of a golf course they knew they had to get topflight golf construction engineering know-how. So they affiliated themselves with Geoffrey S. Cornish, the famous golf architect of Fiddler's Green, Amherst. Cornish is presently building a 36-hole course in Montreal; the Indian Ridge course in Andover has one under onstruction in Dover, N.H., one in Sharon, one in North Reading, two in Connecticut and one in Tennessee.

Cornish was actually amazed at the natural layout of the Trull farm and how easily it converted from tanning pastures to golf folks. There is so much rich foam on the land they have It in surplus. Since the land was already irrigated for farming they have no trouble getting all the water they need from the Trull brook that runs through the course and from the ever-abundant Merrimack River.

What's more, when they went looking for sand for their sandtraps they uncovered almost a hill of a fine plaster sand so good that Cornish suggested the Trulls sell some of it to other courses.

WHY DID the Trulls suddenly decide to forsake farming and turn this outstanding truck farm to golf? Young Bailley answered the question simply. "Over the past several years with the rapid transit system of farm produce from the midwest and other parts of the country, farming became impractical. We could grow things here and yet be undersold at the market. He said, so the famous Trull farm that once grew as many as 24 different products but which was well known for its wonderful sweet corn will now only produce "golf bugs."

According to present plans, it will be a public course and will be known as the "Trull Brook Golf Course." The original Trull barn on the land which you see just as you turn onto the course from River Road, will be converted into a temporary clubhouse.

Right now the Trulls are in the process of seeding fairways and greens. How they ever got as far as they did in so little time is attributed to a thorough knowledge of the land. For you see this land has been in the Trull family, one of the pioneers of this area, since the mid 1700's. Over eight generations of Trulls have worked on these fields. They know every inch of the ground; the spots that dry up in the summer and those that stay fertile. Part of the land was once a King's grant and for a while the Trulls were thinking of calling the new course the 'King's Grant Golf Course." However another course in Connecticut had the same name in mind thus it was dropped.

FOR A public course, it will be one of the plushest in New England. With all of the natural terrain, plus the foresight of Architect Cornish they have gone in for large greens and large grass tees. The average tee will run over 200 feet long and 40 feet wide. There are three different tee layers or shelves or what have you to the scenic number 15 drop hole. On this one you hit from atop of a hill, out of woods over a little pond and the brook to the green situated near the banks of the river. Cornish said this is one of the most beautiful par three holes, covering 200 yards he has seen and declared it will become well known as one of the most sporting holes on the course. It's a beauty, but has to be seen to appreciate. The same could be said of most of the other holes but time and space won't permit us to go into a full account of the course right no. Suffice it to say Lowell golfers will be in for a rare treat come next spring. A brand spanking new 18 hole course, not quite yet born but presently in Mother Earths incubator.

Trull Mill Was Many In Area  |  New 18-Hole Public Golf Course Taking Shape On Trull Farm