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What does it take to save a golf course and keep it true to itself?
In this episode of The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf, host Matt Considine and cohost Dr. Kevin Moore (a.k.a. “The Professor”) sit down with Josh Beer, president and chairman of Hooper Golf Course, to explore how one beloved nine-hole course in Walpole, New Hampshire was nearly lost, then preserved through community passion, stewardship, and a clear sense of purpose.
Josh shares Hooper’s remarkable story, from its roots as a town course on donated land to the years of uncertainty that nearly saw it disappear. The conversation moves through the role of volunteers, conservation easements, thoughtful restoration, and why the best courses know exactly what they are and who they serve.
The conversation dives into:
⛳ How Hooper was saved after years of financial pressure, uncertainty, and a grassroots “Save Hooper” movement
🌲 Why stewardship, conservation, and restraint have shaped Hooper’s future both on and off the course
🏌️ What makes nine-hole golf so soulful, memorable, and perfectly suited to community
🏡 How Hooper balances public access, local identity, history, and hospitality in a modern golf world
🍻 Why a trip to Hooper is about more than nine holes, from the Watkins Inn & Tavern to the broader golf around Walpole, Vermont, and western New England
Connect with our guests
⛳ Hooper Golf Course — https://www.hoopergolfcourse.com/ — 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoopergolfcourse/ | 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooperGolfCourse
📚 Josh Beer — 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jlbeer8/ | 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-beer-618b8779/
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What is The Bag Drop?
The Bag Drop features weekly stories from the culture, community, and characters shaping golf today. Produced by NewClub Golf Society, each episode blends authenticity and expert insights for passionate golfers at all levels. Special guests from clubs, courses, and every corner of the changing landscape join us for thoughtful, in-depth discussions on all things golf.
What is NewClub?
Founded in 2017, NewClub is the premier private golf society in the United States. It blends the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, as well as signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is revolutionizing golf membership, making the game more meaningful for those who love it.
Creators and Guests
Host
Matt Considine
Founder of NewClub and our resident feel player. Matt’s junior golf career led him to the University of Akron where he met our co-host. During his junior year, Matt Studied abroad in Ireland and discovered golf societies. Subsequent trips to Scotland fed his passion for the history, ideals, and culture of accessible, affordable, and sustainable golf, a concept he would later bring to the U.S. with NewClub. Known for his interviewing style, quick wit, and compelling storytelling, Matt brings thoughtful, reflective conversations to The Bag Drop. His professional journey before NewClub included multiple leadership positions in growth-stage startups, where he managed teams responsible for more than $250 million in revenue. Matt actively gives back to the game as a Board Member of the First Tee of Akron and past chair of the Evans Scholar Foundation. Proudly based in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, Matt finds inspiration in family life with his wife, their three children, and their golf dog, Gypsy.
Host
The Professor
NewClub's Chief Ambassador and every golf sicko's favorite educator. Kevin is a thoughtful and deeply curious host. His studied, constructivist approach adds intellectual enrichment and balance to the show. As a professor of Math Education at the University of Georgia, Kevin's background in applied mathematics and cognitive psychology uniquely informs his insights on golf strategy and performance. Originally from Ohio, Kevin was a Division I collegiate golfer at the University of Akron, where his passion for understanding mathematical thinking began. After earning his doctorate from Arizona State University, he combined his analytical expertise with his love for golf by co-founding Golf Blueprint, an organization aimed at helping golfers optimize their games through data-driven strategies. Kevin enjoys balancing deep philosophical discussions with simple pleasures, such as indulging his sweet tooth, cheering on college football, and spending relaxed evenings with his friends, his wife, and their beloved dog, Nole.
What is The Bag Drop: Untold Stories in Golf?
Weekly stories from the communities and characters shaping the game. The Bag Drop blends thoughtful, honest perspectives of Matt Considine (Founder of NewClub) and Dr. Kevin Moore ("The Professor") with expert insights for passionate golfers at every level. Produced by NewClub and supported by our members, each episode welcomes guests from clubs, courses, and the lesser-known corners of the golf world for thoughtful discussions on all things golf and life.
Founded in 2017, NewClub is the first of its kind golf society in the United States; blending the community and access of a private club with the variety and affordability more typical of public golf. Members enjoy thousands of reserved tee times, competitions, and events at exceptional partner courses across our local chapters, along with signature trips and exclusive perks. NewClub is on a mission to revolutionize golf membership, making the game more meaningful for everyone who loves it.
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Matt Considine (00:03.018)
Welcome to the Bag Drop, Untold Stories in Golf. I'm your host, Matt Considine here with my co-host, fellow Akron Zip, the professor Kevin Moore, top of the morning to you, professor.
The Professor (00:14.853)
I to start out today's episode with a little nice little shout out to a new club member took care of me and my wife this past weekend up in Chicago the chef of Elska David Posey and his wife and I posey did a
wonderful job for my wife's 40th birthday. So I wanted to start out the show and just give both of them a shout out and the entire Elska crew just did a lovely event.
Matt Considine (00:33.978)
Ugh.
Michelin stars flying around that place. is, have you ever been to a Michelin star restaurant that felt more welcoming?
The Professor (00:45.07)
No, everybody there. We had about 30 of them up in the event space on their second floor. And obviously everybody raved about the food, maybe one of the best cakes we've ever had in our life and best desserts. But everybody left like just amazed at the people, just the attention, just the staff and just how nice and friendly they were all the way through. It felt so laid back, which we weren't quite expecting.
Matt Considine (00:56.863)
and it kills it.
Matt Considine (01:10.444)
I, you know, he's a lot of people's favorite chef. Look him up there. You know, he's a celebrity in so many ways to the food environment, right? But he's one of my favorite golfers to play with, David. And I've not spent as much time with Anna as him, but one of my favorite conversations, him and I've played, he kicked my butt at Band in Trails out in Band in, him and I've played all around Chicago together, but.
we got to play future hosts of the US Open, Inverness and Toledo, not that long ago. And him and I sat down and we talked about the parallels between the hospitality world of his world, Michelin star restaurants and fine dining and golf. And I'm telling you, there's so many overlaps in just particularly the private world when you get to kind of that, you know, really premier experience and.
The Professor (01:58.188)
Mm-hmm.
Matt Considine (02:07.468)
exclusivity, know, there's scarcity, there's only so many, it's hard to get access to whether it's restaurants or clubs, but where it like kind of came was that welcome and that feeling and how you can take something that's so great, but not make it feel unwelcoming. And that's like the warmth you get in his restaurant. just always, that always blew me away. know, maybe I had different fine dining experiences before that, but it really is to the point where, you know,
The Professor (02:19.49)
Mm-hmm.
The Professor (02:24.93)
Yeah.
Matt Considine (02:36.876)
a schmuck like me, brings over chicken nuggets, because he knows I eat like a child. And are they like chicken nuggets you get at McDonald's? No, they have caviar in them and something else. it's just fun stuff like that that they'll do. It's such a good lesson for golf. Golf could learn something from that.
The Professor (02:48.814)
That's right.
The Professor (02:56.908)
yeah, I we, I reached out to Renee about nine months ago and she was the kind of event planner and like her attention to detail. And as we changed things, just lovely as could be. But then your point about changing things up a little bit and all that, you know, he's been working on some, a meatball recipe for a long time and he kind of wanted to try it out with us and just even like put a little golf tees in. So that was the way you got them off the plate, right? Just using little golf tees, just cause he knew a lot, you know, myself and a lot of our group were golfers and yeah, the finer touches.
Matt Considine (03:23.85)
That's great, that's great. And I know it was around St. Patrick's Day, so I hope you guys were behaving, nobody was passing out at the dinner table or under the dinner table.
The Professor (03:33.23)
That's what we made that dinner Friday night. Everybody knows they die the river green in Chicago on Saturday. We did not choose that for the day. Despite that being my wife's birthday, actually technical birthday, we made sure to check out them Friday night and keep it appropriate.
Matt Considine (03:45.888)
And then they dye the street screen on Sunday because of how ill everybody is after that day in town. Don't walk around in sandals on Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. We got an awesome guest today. Great booking. Thank you, Professor, for teeing up who we're gonna have join us today. But Josh Beer from Hooper Golf Course is joining us. Tell us a little bit where that came from, because I've been excited ever since you
met and you told us told me that we were going to have Josh on. I know our audience is going to love our chat today but get us started with with more on him.
The Professor (04:25.004)
I mean, you know, I love a nine-holer. And we happen to be at a nine-holer up at Marion, Little Marion just outside of Plymouth, Massachusetts celebrating Patrick McSpadden's retirement. Shout out Slag if he's listening to this. He might be too busy recording his own podcast right now. They'll ever give us a listen anymore, hopefully our listeners go listen to his as well. But we're hanging out and Patrick introduced me to Josh and was like, hey, you know, with
Josh Beer (04:41.923)
Thank
The Professor (04:53.742)
your love of golf, nine-holers, just especially sort of community-driven golf courses that are focusing on everything that they focus on. You just want to meet them and talk to Josh for like 10 minutes, longer than that, but about 10 minutes in. like, well, yep, I got a podcast guest for us for sure. You know, I've been trying to record this for I think nine months now and I had to cancel one time for migraine, something else happened. So finally excited to get him on, especially because he's got to take time out of his day as a social studies teacher.
Josh Beer (05:15.843)
Thank
The Professor (05:22.446)
to make time in his schedule to match up with ours.
Matt Considine (05:25.888)
Maybe have some trivia for us. kind of wanted to grill them. I loved social studies as a kid. That was my jam. We'll get to that.
The Professor (05:32.139)
we're definitely going get into a little social studies. We got to do that just to, you know.
Matt Considine (05:35.34)
Any facts before we get there?
The Professor (05:39.343)
Yeah, as of release, I think we'll be celebrating a final four trip for the Akron Zips. I believe they're going to get through. Let's see, definitely the University of Georgia Bulldogs. I think that will be in the third round or whatever they call the rounds now. Do they still call it round zero, round one or play in round one? I'm out on the 68 teams. Guineas go back to 64, round one being, you know, the round of 64.
Matt Considine (05:57.854)
He he he.
Matt Considine (06:01.952)
Yeah.
The Professor (06:03.692)
Anyways, the Zips, you know, as we release this, we will be getting ready for their final four appearance. And then maybe just go dig out like, where do the Zips stand against the rest of the nation? because they've been a really good program since one.
Matt Considine (06:16.618)
That's That's addressed that there are literally three other Akron Zips basketball fans that listen to this show and no, none others before you go but continue please because you got my attention.
The Professor (06:28.846)
I mean, we've been good since what 2005, six was when Keith Danbrot took over the program. Um, think maybe 2004 he took over.
Matt Considine (06:34.378)
Yeah, yeah, they were a mid tier team prior to that and they had a couple good years under Bob Huggins, one or two under Hipscher. But yeah, they've been a mid, middle of a mid major and then they've been at the very top now for, yeah, since that time.
The Professor (06:49.038)
Yeah, I think 2004 was one day I took over and they were 19 win team and then 2005-6 season, they became a 20 win team. So since 2005-2006, 20 win club. So you had to win 20 games or more every season. You have a guess who would be the number one group in that? And I'll give you the numbers. So since 2005-2006, this does include COVID. I didn't do deep dive, look at everybody's schedule. I relied a little bit on AI and some articles here.
Matt Considine (07:10.928)
man.
The Professor (07:18.868)
People can fact check us if they want, I think triangulating sources, I'm pretty accurate with this. There's two teams that have done 21 seasons, or since 2005, sixth season, where they've won 20 games or more. This includes tournaments too, so conference tournaments in a similar way. There's two teams that have done it.
Matt Considine (07:31.272)
I, yeah. Okay, I was gonna ask. I think I got like the slam dunk for sure. No doubt my mind is Gonzaga.
The Professor (07:42.53)
Gonzaga is there. Yep, 21 seasons. They've hit it every single year in that span.
Matt Considine (07:49.546)
Yeah, and so you said there's another, there's a second one. And if it's not our zips, and I'm gonna go with, this is tough, because I got a couple on my mind, but I'm gonna go with St. Mary's.
The Professor (07:51.992)
There's another one, yep.
The Professor (08:04.846)
Nope. St. Mary's is all the way down to 18 seasons. This is a power program, one of the best storied programs ever. Not Duke, Duke had 20 seasons. The COVID season, did not get to 20 wins. Powerhouse, often you could claim they underperform in the, not in Kentucky, they underperform in the tournament unless they win a title. I think it's the way, Kansas, there you go.
Matt Considine (08:07.75)
jeez.
Duke. It's Duke.
Matt Considine (08:20.204)
powerhouse.
Kentucky.
Matt Considine (08:32.007)
Kansas. Yeah, there's the answer.
The Professor (08:34.51)
They underperform unless they win a title. You brought Kentucky. Kentucky has 19 seasons. There's a mid major powerhouse that's not Akron that has 20 seasons.
Matt Considine (08:46.86)
VCU.
The Professor (08:49.027)
Belmont.
Matt Considine (08:50.016)
Belmont, boy, as our guy Dylan, right? Wendler.
The Professor (08:51.726)
That's right. Now we got another mid-major powerhouse. They've actually knocked off the Zips once or twice in this run at 19 seasons. Middle of America, mid-major powerhouse.
Matt Considine (09:02.666)
Michigan?
Matt Considine (09:06.598)
Utah, Nevada.
The Professor (09:08.814)
Dead in the middle of America by a Counting Crows song is where they're located. What do you got?
Matt Considine (09:11.756)
gosh. I got nothing. Geography. need our guests to join us because geography was not my strength in social studies.
The Professor (09:19.488)
Coming.
Josh Beer (09:20.739)
you
The Professor (09:22.542)
Coming from the great state of Nebraska, the Creighton. No Creighton. Yeah. Who's I think they've knocked off the zips once in the NCAAs and then maybe once in regular season too. Now we get down to 18 seasons. got the zips. So 18 seasons in that run, 18 to 21, they're there. Um, they're two, two of the ones they missed were grosses first two from the transition from Dan brought over to him. Um,
Matt Considine (09:26.631)
the corn Huskers? No, Crichton, Crichton, Crichton. what a program.
Matt Considine (09:35.338)
Yeah, they got a great program.
Okay, okay. Wow.
Matt Considine (09:46.668)
Well, to round out on our Zips five minutes, I was there, which is a rare occurrence. I watch every game of my Akron Zips basketball. I have since I just love them. It's one outside of golf. It's one of my obsessions. And I pretty much know every Akron Zip that's played in my lifetime. But the story of Shama Scott, native Cleveland, Ohio, you know, these stories, I
The Professor (10:14.222)
Mm-hmm.
Matt Considine (10:15.436)
They don't really exist in the NIL era or we don't believe that kids like, you know, mature and stick with a program. And Shamad didn't stay four years with Akron, but I love it in the sense that he went to junior college out of his high school, know, top level guy, but probably wasn't getting the money and looks of bigger programs. So he went the Juco route, had a good season, gets picked up by
I believe it was Wichita State or one of the other states that isn't named after a state. I think it was Wichita and not great, right? Didn't perform, looking for other options, decides to come closer to home, 30 minutes from his childhood home at Akron. And now he's a grad student professor. He's what we would have called probably the fifth year now, but these guys, cause they move so often.
but he was a true six man for two years and he finally got this start now and he is so clearly the leader of that team. Well, he hits the game winning shot in front of, I'm telling you man, you could see the section of his family and his friends and all the kids he probably grew up playing with. It was emotional. It was incredible. And he had that moment to send the Akron Zips to the dance.
The Professor (11:20.376)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Matt Considine (11:42.454)
That stuff's pretty cool. Even in the NIL era, stories are there. You gotta dig a little deeper. know, turning a failure of having to come back or getting closer to home into such a success, I love that stuff.
The Professor (11:54.255)
I mean trailing basically most of the game too and then step back what that 30 some feet just dagger nothing. mean just pure arc nothing but net right didn't look like it was going anywhere but in we're watching it in the St. Patrick's Day bar you know surrounded by crowds of people car bombs flowing everywhere and that goes in and just yeah I erupted I don't know if anybody else did but I went nuts.
Matt Considine (12:21.196)
It's the beauty, the beauty of sports. Let's get to our guest, shall we? There's plenty other stuff we could, we'll talk later. I want to talk to Josh, let's do it.
The Professor (12:32.814)
We got a lot of hometown, a lot of hometown conversation that's going to occur here. I think that's going to connect well with the ethos of Hooper.
Matt Considine (12:41.558)
Josh Beer, welcome to the backdrop.
Josh Beer (12:45.261)
Hey guys, very, very excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
The Professor (12:49.262)
So Josh.
Matt Considine (12:49.516)
We're honored to have you. I'm with two teachers today, two academics. I'm always afraid that it's going to dissolve into a quick test and my anxiety levels raise. So don't hit me with too many trivia questions. Social studies was my jam though, back in high school. do enjoy, what's your favorite of all the parts of social studies? mean, history, geography, government, economics.
Where do you gravitate Mr. Beer?
Josh Beer (13:21.603)
Mr. Beer, yeah, probably history. Love geography as well. You know, it's interesting though, it's like, it kind of depends on either the course or the unit that we're going through. If we're learning about civil war, it's like, man, this is my favorite. And then you get to, you know, the Industrial Revolution or World War II. you know, it's almost like playing sports as a kid, whatever.
It's like, baseball season is my favorite or soccer, you know, at the time. But definitely more of a history guy overall, particularly U.S. history.
The Professor (14:01.806)
Do you have a good fact of the day for us? That's our opening theme, something that you can share with us that might stimulate our brain a little bit.
Josh Beer (14:10.211)
Yeah, well, do you guys know Evacuation Day in Boston?
The Professor (14:15.808)
Y-yes.
Matt Considine (14:16.757)
I don't.
Josh Beer (14:18.487)
So it's the, very, very fortunately lines up with St. Patrick's Day and that it's the day that the British leave. So you guys remember like, you know, Ballas of Lexington conquered. Boston was basically the headquarters of the British Army at the time. So after the Ballas of Lexington conquered, the British are forced back to Boston.
The Professor (14:29.102)
Mm-hmm.
Josh Beer (14:42.755)
And they're basically kind of holding there as great and there you have a couple other battles, Battle of Bunker Hill. And then at Dorchester Heights when George Washington, like in the middle of the night, they set the cannons up overlooking onto Boston. And the British realized we need to get out of here. So on March 17th, they left. So it's evacuation day. And so people in many people in Boston, I'm pretty sure like
kids don't even have school on St. Patrick's Day. So yeah, there's our fun fact for the day.
Matt Considine (15:17.674)
There it is. Thank you, Professor, outsourcing your work to our guests. That's not kind.
The Professor (15:22.574)
Hey, and I think there's a good excuse for us Americans to partake in St. Patrick's Day, right? That we're actually celebrating an important moment in American history. Good fact, Josh. So Josh, want to rewind, you know, our listeners might not be familiar with your name. I want to rewind back a little bit in terms of who Josh Beer is. Social studies geek as a kid, golf geek as a kid, you know, which started first in your life?
Matt Considine (15:27.136)
That's right.
Josh Beer (15:28.108)
Indeed.
Josh Beer (15:52.174)
Definitely history, though. I mean, I loved it, like it wasn't, you know, sophomore year of college, my professor's like, what's your major going to be? I I don't, you know, I don't know. I like history, so I'll do that. But golf was not really on the radar at all as a kid. You know, my grandparents belonged to Hooper. And then later on, my
grandfather moved to Keene, so Keene Country Club, and I would occasionally go there and, you know, occasionally play and, but more concerned about, you know, drinking root beers and club sandwiches or whatever. So yeah, definitely history first, but I didn't really catch the golf bug until probably early 30s.
The Professor (16:40.088)
Where did that start? What was the first, you know, maybe time that you're like, hey, this golf thing isn't so bad.
Josh Beer (16:46.655)
Yeah, because it was really bad as a kid. I was terrible. But it wasn't particularly good starting. But I don't know if there's anything in particular. the older you get, I'm not really playing club soccer anymore. Playing basketball isn't not really happening too much. And you're kind of looking for outlets.
And then particularly, it's a way to keep in contact with your friends as well. And then I started playing more and more and then getting into those around like Jordan Spieth when he's taken off. He's still my favorite golfer. And then it just kind of, the ball gets rolling and then you get hooked. And then here we are.
The Professor (17:39.982)
So I gotta dive into that.
Matt Considine (17:40.15)
You're a Spieth adrenaline junkie, aren't you? There's like a cohort of Spieth fans that just love the stimulus of watching that guy. Who knows what's gonna happen? Where's he gonna get it up down?
Josh Beer (17:51.735)
Yeah.
Exactly. And unfortunately, these moments are not quite as common. But I have feeling there will be some times where we'll have quite the roller coaster ride to a victory or epic collapse, one of the two.
Matt Considine (18:06.644)
Hang in there. I think it's coming. I agree with you. this Hooper golf course is a fascinating place and I've, done, you know, my basic research, but before, before we asked you to tell that story of Hooper, what's your story with Hooper? Like take us beyond, you said your family are members there. You, but, beyond that, how did you get connected and what's that connection today?
Josh Beer (18:36.939)
Yeah, so well today I'm the, I guess technically the president and chairman of Hooper. So yeah, my family kind of connection, all grown up. And then about, holy cow, this is I think our seventh year, a ownership group comes in because the former Hooper Golf Club went under, which is a whole
Backstory, I don't know how much we want to get into but essentially the club is run by volunteers for about three years lot uncertainty so 2015 was the last year that the Hooper golf club as it was structured for you know, the first 90 almost 90 years
Matt Considine (19:14.314)
What year was that, Josh?
Josh Beer (19:31.583)
it went under for again various reasons that maybe we can get into later or not. then our ownership group came in at the end of 2018, beginning of 2019. And so I got in kind of a little bit. I wasn't there at the very beginning, but kind of been there ever since we took over beginning of 2019. So we're now into, yeah, I guess our seventh season of running Cooper.
And so from the beginning, was chair of the Greens Committee and then vice chairman for a little bit. And now I'm in my second year of being the president.
The Professor (20:11.852)
What, I don't remember if I'm Josh, but think about 25 people came together to help, you know, resurrect or keep Hooper going. What was it about Hooper that drew 25 people in to give a not insignificant amount of money to keep that thing going?
Josh Beer (20:30.261)
Yeah, think Hooper is truly a special place. We're in a small town of Walpole, New Hampshire. It is a beautiful town. have maybe 4,000 people. It's just a quintessential New England village. And Hooper has been kind of a community spot where people go and play golf, where people take their kids to learn to play golf.
our old clubhouse is where you would go up and you would have dinners or lunches on the porch, which overlooks the first tee and down onto the fairway. And it's just a place that people really, really love. And when you get here, you fall in love with it. And so we had our old president, guy, David Howell.
He was really kind of the one to kind of put the group of people together. He's very good at encouraging people and getting them to do things that maybe they'd be a little reluctant to do, such as invest a lot of money. But yeah, I think the community realized, we need to save this. And it was really actually in 2011, trouble started.
And so it was a long time of kind of uncertainty of what's going to happen to the course. The land could be sold. There's a whole Save Hooper movement. Like I still have a Save Hooper sign that people put on their lawn. So it's just, it's a really special place. It's an incredible golf course, but it's a true part of our community. And we are truly, one of our taglines is we're internationally ranked, community driven, perfectly playable.
And the community driven is really, I mean, what it's about. so we're still run by people by community, right? Like I got a regular job. So we are fueled by people who love Hooper and love Walpole.
Matt Considine (22:44.684)
It's really what it takes, isn't it? Just the added passion from a small group can go a really long way in this.
The Professor (22:44.696)
So how?
Josh Beer (22:52.259)
Yeah.
The Professor (22:56.216)
So how close did it get to going under or disappearing from what it is? Because I was reading a lot about the history, know, what originally placed in a trust and the land kind of emerged out of that and the golf course emerged out of that. Then that stuck around for what almost 90 years until this moment came. So maybe do go a little bit more into how it almost disappeared. And we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation if that had happened.
Josh Beer (23:20.579)
Yeah, so the land was donated to the town of Walpole by the Hooper family in 1926. the town realizes, and it was donated to the town to promote agriculture, sciences, education. And the town kind of realized, OK, well, we don't need 200 acres to do that.
And there is actually an old golf course kind of on the other side of town called the Homestead Golf Club that had actually just folded a couple of years before. So Wobblen needed a golf course. So the Hooper Golf Club was founded in 1926 and then we opened in 1927. So next year will be our centennial. And the land is actually owned by, was owned by the town. It was under this charitable trust.
And so for the longest time, everybody's happy, everything's good. The club is playing, paying rent to the town, very minimal rent. And however, every once in a while, the attorney general of New Hampshire, who's kind of in charge of overseeing the charitable trust would kind of check in and say, you guys aren't getting nearly as much money as you should into this trust. You're not generating enough revenue.
In the mid-90s, they kind of revised the charter, the trust to make it a little more favorable for Hooper. But then later, rent goes up a considerable amount because the attorney general is applying even more pressure. And so in 2011, the attorney general comes in and the golf course is labeled a wasting interest.
that basically the town needs to get rid of it or somehow find a way not necessarily get rid of it, but somehow bring in a lot more revenue. So the troubles begin about 2011. And at that point in time, the town is tasked with finding out, well, what are we going to do with this? And so it takes a little while for them to kind of figure out.
The Professor (25:22.648)
Mm.
Josh Beer (25:47.905)
what direction do we want to go? And they start looking for buyers, people who will buy the course. And during that time, by 2015, the club has folded due to members not returning, right? Because who knows, will this course be sold? Will I even be able to finish out the year or will it be turned into a housing development?
And then, like I said, by 2015, the club's under, it's run by volunteers. And kind of that whole time, the town is looking for buyers. And again, it could be perhaps a whole bunch of different housing developments. One group of people or a family, think, maybe want to turn it into an organic farm. All along the town wanted to keep it as a golf course, but by no means was it guaranteed for that to happen.
There's a major interest from somebody else kind of in the golf world of coming in, buying it, and kind of turning it into not a private club, but kind of almost a private kind of outpost sort of for his crew. And that fell through. And another local, a couple other local groups kind of throughout the years proposed things. And they all fell through. So we're talking.
years of uncertainty, which obviously uncertainty in business is never a good thing. And finally, towards the end, well, here's another key step. The land actually gets placed under an environmental conservancy in early 2016. And so by that happening, that kind of helped
Not necessarily preserved to be a golf course, preserve. Okay, like it's not gonna become a housing development And so that happened in 2016 and people going back to the community aspect The community raised over four hundred thousand dollars to help put that land under conservancy And that goes into effect in early 2016 so Yeah
Matt Considine (28:10.102)
So Josh, we're gonna stop real quick, because Kevin's getting feedback on his end. We gotta figure this out, because it was affecting the recording there.
The Professor (28:19.202)
What are you hearing? it like echoing feedback or?
Matt Considine (28:23.924)
Yeah, it's just when Josh is speaking, actually it might be when I'm speaking Josh when I'm speaking. It looks like Kevin. you lighting up? Yeah, you are. It looks like are you hearing me through Kevin at all? Josh. Yeah.
Josh Beer (28:37.345)
Am I? No, I mean, you guys feel fine. At one point in time, like, Kevin, you got super loud. And then it kind of went away. the last, know, however long, well, I've been talking the whole time. It sounds good to me now, but I don't know about on your end.
The Professor (28:50.412)
Yeah.
The Professor (28:54.636)
And when you talk Matt, go ahead and talk real quick, Matt.
Matt Considine (28:56.876)
Yep, checking one, two, three, just trying to figure out what it is. Talking a little louder, talking a little louder, talking a little louder.
The Professor (29:01.966)
Do that again, talk a little louder.
The Professor (29:07.438)
I've got nothing on my gain showing either. Only when I talk, that's the only time I'm seeing anything on my gain showing up.
Matt Considine (29:16.214)
Yeah, I wonder when it's the recording. for me, was when Josh was talking, it was coming up on your, that you were also, I had two Josh's. I had Josh here and I had Josh coming from Kevin, or the professor. So I think wherever.
The Professor (29:32.034)
weird.
Because I'm definitely through my mic and checking all my things and through my headphones.
Matt Considine (29:39.35)
Cause you're hearing them in here, shouldn't be catching your mic unless it's sneaking out around. This never happens, Josh, I promise.
The Professor (29:43.849)
Yeah, and there's nothing.
Josh Beer (29:48.944)
That's okay.
The Professor (29:49.224)
This yeah seriously this is this is for
Yeah, I wonder. trying to think. I mean, I can just mute myself other than when I'm going to jump in and say something.
Matt Considine (30:03.402)
Well, it's weird now because...
Let me see if I talk even louder, is it coming through you? No. And then Josh, if you don't mind, say a few things again.
Josh Beer (30:18.113)
Yeah, is this any better?
Matt Considine (30:21.034)
See it's coming through Kevin.
The Professor (30:24.046)
makes no sense because definitely, let me do this. Oh wait, we're, oh you're back to recording right now, aren't you?
Matt Considine (30:32.948)
I'm actually, yeah, this is, was going to try something new here with the editing, Kev. is, we needed this, Josh. Thank you. Whatever our technical difficulty is, we needed this because I wanted to try something.
The Professor (30:38.633)
Can you turn off my echo cancellation and see if that helps out at all?
Matt Considine (30:46.444)
Not while we're recording. Yeah.
The Professor (30:46.848)
I can't turn it off right now.
I could pop out and come back. no, that won't let me turn down.
The Professor (30:56.494)
Stop recording and let's turn that off.
Matt Considine (30:58.86)
Try just switching your Shure MV7s in your, the mic and the speaker, yeah.
The Professor (31:09.646)
You want to just go to something different and come. Let me go into the speaker. I'm going to do the mic first. I can't switch my mic right now. Let me change the speaker though. Hold on a second. I'm going switch to.
The Professor (31:26.635)
I've changed my speaker.
Josh say a few words
Josh Beer (31:32.671)
I am still here.
The Professor (31:35.534)
Still the same problem,
Matt Considine (31:37.185)
it didn't light up that time.
The Professor (31:39.98)
Let me go back to, OK, try again. Josh, go ahead.
Josh Beer (31:40.141)
That's good.
Josh Beer (31:44.161)
Me? Yeah. Can you guys hear me any better? Maybe.
Matt Considine (31:49.206)
Sound good?
The Professor (31:50.446)
Did it sound good there?
The Professor (31:57.656)
Can you hear us,
Matt Considine (31:58.698)
Yeah, I'm
Matt Considine (32:03.948)
Check one, check two. I almost wanted to see if Josh will change his speaker away from.
Matt Considine (32:21.246)
the sound core to like his computer and see if that helps.
Josh Beer (32:26.915)
All right, how am I, is that something on my computer or on Riverside that I would do?
Matt Considine (32:32.949)
You should be able to do it on Riverside, but while we're recording, you might not be able to, it doesn't look like we can. So I do need to stop. Shoot.
The Professor (32:37.358)
He should be the speaker. The speaker he should know the speaker he can do. If at the right below our heads, Josh, you'll see you should see speaker. If you click that, it should give you a couple options in there.
Matt Considine (32:51.806)
I don't think so,
Josh Beer (32:53.633)
Yeah, it does. mean, do want me to go to like my MacBook? Try that.
The Professor (32:53.955)
H-
The Professor (32:57.479)
Try that on the speaker. Yeah, the mic you can't change, the speakers you can't change.
Josh Beer (33:02.315)
Okay, can you guys, is that any better?
The Professor (33:07.182)
I hear you 100 % good.
Matt Considine (33:10.11)
But now we're coming through your laptop, aren't we?
Josh Beer (33:14.283)
Yeah, you are. I can't hear you on here, but if you guys say something, I think I can hear you.
Matt Considine (33:22.11)
Yeah, I wanted it the other way, professor.
The Professor (33:24.696)
No, you want the mic you want his microphone to go through the MacBook not the speaker.
Matt Considine (33:28.542)
Yeah, yeah, because we want you to hear us up here, but the speaking we could have somewhere else because I think that could be it. I'll stop and then we'll switch it and we'll try. Is that OK?
Josh Beer (33:30.759)
Okay. Yeah. Okay, so Mike. yeah.
The Professor (33:38.349)
Yeah, go and stop it.
Matt Considine (00:01.651)
Josh, the environmental conservancy aspect of that designation. I've been involved in a couple of different courses, Canal Shores, mainly in Chicago, Illinois, which is an 18-hole golf course that had a similar trajectory to you guys or a similar arc of the storyline. And I always knew conservancy was important to the people involved and really they...
made me an environmentalist and got me into a lot of the ecology stuff, but I never really understood what that designation truly means to the outcome of a golf course and in your guys' case, the saving a golf course. Tell us like specifically, what does that designation do for the course, the land, the future of it?
Josh Beer (00:53.194)
Yeah, great question. So we have actually two different easements on our course. So we've got, it's about 130 acres total. About 75 of them are the forest surrounding the course. That's under one conservation easement. And then the course is under another conservation easement. And so there are limitations on what you can and cannot do on those. So
The Professor (00:53.526)
Yeah, great question. So we have actually two different easements on our course. So we've got, it's about 130 acres total. About 75 of them are the forest, surrounding the forest. That's under one conservation easement. And then the forest is under another conservation easement.
Josh Beer (01:22.734)
For example on the course we can do anything as long as it is golf related right You know if we had to build a new maintenance barn or something we could do that But we couldn't we couldn't do things we couldn't build a house on it and then sell it Right we couldn't do that within the the forest. It's actually even more restrictive on what we can cannot do For example a few years ago
We had a timber harvest, which that was a hole other process. We had to hire in professionals who came in and kind of managed it and everything. But I was thinking, it's like, maybe we could put in solar panels or something like that. You can't do that, at least in our use of it. So there is very little we can do in that other than kind of maintain it. There was actually talk about maybe putting like a disc golf.
right frisbee golf course in the In the forest and that never never really went anywhere, but we could have done that as long as we didn't alter it too much so it probably all depends but You know the good thing for us is that it preserved the land to make sure that it wasn't going to become You know again, not necessarily a golf course, but not a housing development or a target warehouse or what?
Matt Considine (02:47.475)
protecting from the concrete jungles encroaching all of us, right? Yeah, keeping it green.
Josh Beer (02:50.158)
Yeah, yeah, indeed.
Matt Considine (02:57.287)
What's changed most since your time involved in the golf course? mean, I know you guys make great strides in the course itself, but what do you feel is, is it the same course it was 10 years ago? What's changed?
The Professor (03:06.934)
But what do feel is the same course it was 10 years ago? What's changed? It's the same course, just a lot better in terms of conditioning. so we've been very conscious of we've got a classic old-natured course that people love.
Josh Beer (03:12.654)
Uh, it's the same course. It's just a lot better in terms of conditioning. Um, and so we, we've been very conscious of w we've got a classic golden age course that people love. Um, you know, the, the, rankings and the ratings have been very kind to us. So we want to, we want to keep what we have, but just invest and improve.
The Professor (03:32.233)
and the ratings have been very kind to us. So we want to keep what we have, but just invest and improve prudently and get the right places. Probably the biggest change might be our bunker renovation. So we brought in MAS construction around Massachusetts. They're the same group who went in and renovated the bunkers at the country club.
Josh Beer (03:40.91)
crudely and in the right places. Probably the biggest change might be our bunker renovation. So we brought in MAS Construction. out of Massachusetts. They're the same crew who went in and renovated the bunkers at the Country Club of Brookline prior to the US Open. And they came in, they did a phenomenal job because the bunkers hadn't been touched for like 95 years. So that part.
The Professor (03:58.909)
and they
Josh Beer (04:11.038)
And but other than that, really, it's not too much at all. Just it's kind of we've we've actually cut down a decent amount of trees. So that's been good. And but we've been, again, I think, hopefully prudent and selective in what we've cut down. So it's it doesn't look radically different. I think just. A lot better in terms of the playability and aesthetics and quality of.
The Professor (04:22.774)
I'm ready to dive into the course a little bit more. So when I was doing my study on it, some quotes I heard.
Josh Beer (04:39.254)
from the bunkers to the greens.
The Professor (04:48.662)
where something along the lines of the property fit like a hand in the glove with the course. It's short, but you wouldn't know it. Or even Tom Doak, he included it into his sort of feature 18 at the beginning of his summer destinations for the Americas, that I rack my brain trying to think if I'd ever seen a better pair of opening holes than in the moment anyway I could think of none. Those are pretty complimentary quotes. So tell us a little bit about the course.
Matt Considine (05:09.704)
Woo.
Josh Beer (05:15.328)
Yeah, and by the way, think we owe Tom Doak a lot. I think those words are pretty powerful. And I think that's something that's really kind of helped get the word out about Hooper. But yeah, the first toll when you walk up, it's up on a hill. You have kind of right behind it. You have our...
18th century old clubhouse that was built when George Washington was president. You have, you know, this beautiful view from on top of the T heading down into the first fairway. You see the hills of New Hampshire, a little bit of Vermont off in the distance. And then you see the first green there and it's a shorter part five. And it's just, every time I step on the T.
It's just like, man, what a view, what a place. And you tee off and then you walk down the hill and then you're off. Second hole is, yeah, go ahead.
Matt Considine (06:18.978)
Yeah. Wait, wait on the, on, no, I want to, I'm curious on the view, Josh, was it, you mentioned some tree management and removal. Obviously you're amongst, uh, what's the native tree there? What's the most native of the bunch?
Josh Beer (06:33.198)
We got a lot of pines, but we got a lot of Some oats.
Matt Considine (06:36.671)
a of pines, a lot of maple, and did it take, what did it take to, did you have to open up some of those views or were they always there even with those massive pines and maples? Was there some tree management to bring in some of that aesthetic?
Josh Beer (06:53.678)
The view is certainly up top was always there. Though we did have, you know, as you head down the hill, the first green is kind of up on a hill a little bit. And there is a huge oak tree to the left of it. And the danger on one is you've got this rolling bank that can go down to the hill. So if you go left, it's kind of hard to not keep going left.
But there is a huge oak tree there and you had one big bunker in front of it then the oak tree then another bunker and another bunker and we made the somewhat controversial call to cut down that oak which was it was very very old and its health was very very questionable and by cutting that down We really kind of opened up the view to that not only the green but beyond it
It's not quite a volcano hole, you see the hills beyond that. It is funny, the amount of people came up to me and said, did you guys add like a new bunker on one? It's like, no, it's always been there. You just never saw it. And so it was that. We've cut down some trees behind there along to, there was a hole bunch of pines. We cut probably half of them down.
So that opens up the view a little bit more. And there are some, like behind the sixth green, which is a part six or part three, we cut some of those down because they're old, they're dying, they're ugly, but we replaced it with new maples. So it kind of offers some protection for the green. And so we've been, you know, kind of the hole experience, guys, I think we've really tried to find
a balance. If I've used a word more than Hooper, it's probably balance. We don't need to cut down every tree, but there are trees that do need to be cut. And so we've attempted to find that balance as we've gone along.
Matt Considine (09:04.809)
great. Yeah. Yeah, there's I, you know, I had experience at places I've been a member of places I visited that they're sitting on these majestic views that were covered up by hundred year old trees and not that I'm pro tree to cut down a tree, you know, I I'm definitely about the golf, which clearly you guys are too, with the the care of of the course above all else and making, you know, playability of priority.
But there is just something about a view in the game of golf. It's a unique strength that we have of our golf courses provide us that beauty. And it's something I don't think we say out loud all the time, that when you give yourself that, puts you in a certain state of mind, a peaceful place almost. yeah, looking at the imagery of what you have from the clubhouse and the course, I could see myself drifting into that space.
Does it help me avoid a bogey? No, probably not. But it might actually distract me too much to provide more bogeys, but it's definitely a sense of place. It's so cool. It's such a unique thing.
The Professor (10:16.042)
So Josh, one thing I was wondering about as I was reading about the course, a lot on the courses out there, but I kept seeing the walk-ins in and Tavern come up over and over and over. That sounds like just a cool spot to spend a day in addition to the nine holes that you got. Am I right on that?
Josh Beer (10:33.742)
It's incredible. Yeah, so it is. And that's an interesting kind of story that when the land was eventually sold, you know, not to totally go back to the history part, but how the course was saved was actually before our ownership group bought it. Local businessman Fred Dill, he came in and he bought the hole thing.
which was of course the Watkins Tavern. And then there's a small little cottage by the seventh grief. And he sold off into each different part. So the Watkins Tavern for a little while was kind of separate from us, though it's still obviously there. But then recently some of our co-owners have bought Watkins Tavern. we've kind of like, you know, so we're all basically sister companies. And the people before them did an incredible job of
renovating it. I don't know if you guys have seen pictures on the inside but it is it is just beautiful. Again it's this yellow speaking of Brookline right it probably you know a beautiful yellow old clubhouse and it is it's got the view of the porch right so the porch overlooks the first green and then it kind of curls around to the side you can look at
down to the ninth green. And yeah, it's just from the food to the beer selection to the incredible rooms that like look out onto the course. It's truly a special place. yeah, we are so lucky to have that, have a phenomenal golf course, incredible 18th century old clubhouse as well as we're very fortunate.
The Professor (12:28.96)
So I think a lot, hope a lot of people listening to this episode or, you know, they weren't familiar with Hooper before are now familiar with Hooper and are adding into their list, their bucket list of places they want to go. Tell them a little bit of how they should do the trip. You know, they're going to look at it and be like, okay, that's in the middle of Hampshire. Like how, where am going to fly into? What else am I going do? I think our listeners are often like, where else am I playing? You know, if you had to...
build up the best trip they could do to come up there and see a Hooper and spend a couple days. What would you suggest to them?
Josh Beer (13:00.494)
Yeah, so Walpole is, we're like right on the Vermont border. So like I'm looking out like Vermont's right there. So we're probably like maybe a seven minute drive off of Interstate 91. We're about 45 minutes from, or actually more like half an hour to the Massachusetts border. So if anybody ever flew and do Bradley in Hartford, it's like an hour and a half drive from Boston. It's a two hour drive.
And, you know, in in Walpole, we're a small town, but you've got Keene, Keene State, small state school, part of the University of New Hampshire system. They've got a number of golf courses, including Brettwood, which is a 36-hole public course, which is pretty cool. But the Queechy Club up in Vermont is like 45 minutes away. Woodstock, which is also in Vermont, is like 45 minutes away.
Trump and Fox, which is this phenomenal course about half an hour south of here. Takonic, maybe you guys have heard of Takonic before. So Hooper is a Wayne Stiles and John Van Cleek design course, but Takonic is probably their most, his most famous design. That's where Williams College plays out of. And that's like.
an hour, maybe a little bit more away. So there's, you know, we're a little bit in the middle of nowhere, but if you're willing to make a couple hour drive, there are phenomenal places around here to play and just even the town of Walpole, Burdick's chocolates. I don't know if you guys have heard of Burdick's. There actually might be a Burdick's in Chicago, actually. There's some in New York.
in Boston, but Walpole is the original one. So you've got Burdick's restaurant right in downtown. Again, it's like Walpole is just your classic New England town. So and you could stay at the Watkins Tavern. So there's a decent amount of golf if you're willing to drive, you know, half an hour to an hour from here.
The Professor (15:14.102)
think most of our group are maybe more excited when they hear drive an hour or two hours than they would be like just having a back door or backyard place. So I think that will excite our group. Now, after they spend a couple of days with you there at Hooper, know, let's they stay at the Walkins Inn and Tavern, spend a day or two, you know, looping your nine hole or I know our group would probably try to get 36 a day and something like that. When they're pulling out of Waffle there, what do you hope sticks with them?
Josh Beer (15:43.498)
I hope they had fun. Right. I hope they had fun. I hope they found it challenging. Again, kind of one of our taglines is perfectly playable. Beginners can play it right. We don't have any forced carries. We don't have water you have to get over. You you could use your putter on every hole. It take a while. But I think it's incredibly
challenging too for the scratch golfer, right? Our greens are kind of our calling card. They are tricky, but they're a lot of fun. I think, again, of the just being like, man, I had a lot of fun and I wanna go back, right? I wanna go back. And isn't that kind of how you rate golf courses of?
you know, like, would I like to go back to this place? And I think more often than not, people are always saying, man, I really hope I can go back to
Matt Considine (16:44.809)
That's so true of these places. And I think particularly true and special about some nine hole courses. I think it's the phrase that the Kaisers might have made it famous. It's like one course is a interest, is a destination, or whatever that saying goes. And you name some great duos, you can tag team with Hooper to make it a destination.
But isn't there something so mystical about nine hole golf courses? I can only speak from my own experience and how we've built our golf society new club. The Dunes Club is where we get to host our match play club championship. They go round and round in the same nine until we have a champ. The same is true in our Atlanta chapter now with Bobby Jones golf course. It's a reversible nine, so there's some fun things you can do there, but that's another one. Culver Academies is a place that just
blew our minds when our Chicago chapter went down there. And the list goes on and on and on. And I have asked myself this number of times, and what is it about nine hole golf courses? And I actually think, and as I was doing research for our chat with you today, Josh, I did stumble upon this quote that kind of solidified a big piece of it for me, because I always thought about maybe it's not what
the opportunities it affords us as golfers, maybe it's actually what it doesn't afford. And this quote, I thought made a lot of sense. It's from Mike Dutton talking about nine hole golf courses in Golf Magazine when you guys were ranked in the top 50 in the world, number what, 13 I believe? A good nine-holer knows what it is, intimate, local, welcoming, and avoids what it isn't, pretentious, punitive, and grand.
Josh Beer (18:28.782)
13, good.
Matt Considine (18:40.083)
I almost think that's it. That's the heart of what I was circling around, which was, it just knows what it is. There's no unnecessary flexing. There's no trying to keep up with the championship course. It's almost the limitation of land or being a nine hole course. You really have to accept and be proud of who you are. And I can feel that viscerally from you, Josh. You're just very proud and know exactly what Hooper is.
and you're not seeking out something that it's not. Is that something you guys ever talk about with Hooper? mean, do people come to you with other grand visions of things, but you've had to say, no, we know who we are.
Josh Beer (19:22.406)
Yeah, definitely. Definitely people have come in and you know that as we know, mean golfers are you got a million opinions, right? We got probably close to 300 members. But yeah, I think you know, your nine hole comment from Mike Dutton, which I know Mike, we actually brought him in a few years ago because he's kind of like a nine hole kind of guru.
And that's such a great quote. And we have tried to remain who we are and just make, I think I said it before, make prudent investments and improvements where we needed it. And yeah, we're not gonna add in a water hazard somewhere. We're not gonna break the bank on getting the...
You know, one time somebody said, hey, you guys need like the, you know, the skateboard kind of golf cart things that you could go along. And like, for some courses, I'm sure that's great for us. It's like, no, that's not the direction we're going. So we've really just tried to kind of identify here's who we are. How can we, how can we make it better? How, how can we grow? And, you know, our, our, our mission statement is, you know, to
preserve the historic legacy of Hooper Golf Course while providing exceptional experiences of golfers of all abilities. And when you have something like that, it's like, OK, whatever idea we have, does it fit with this mission statement? Does it stick with what we're trying to accomplish here? And I used the word balance earlier.
And now some people may disagree with how we've done it, but I think for the most part, we've really tried to remain true who we are. And I think that is why so many people take to Hooper and other nine-pole courses as well.
Matt Considine (21:28.531)
The accessibility is a thing we talk a lot about on this show and we're big fans of the UK culture, which in my opinion is golf culture. It's the original accessibility of the game that clubs and courses were somewhat separate and they would balance to use your world, the balance of a membership, member play, member benefits with public play and accessibility. How does that work into your guys' world? I'm sure you're a busy place, 300 members, nine holes.
Golf nerds like the professor and I coming from who knows where to check it out. How does that work out in day to day life at the course?
Josh Beer (22:08.758)
Yeah, so we are fully public course though for a while. We're actually semi-private, which like as we're kind of somewhat humorous side note, as we're getting ready for Centennial, we're doing a hole bunch of research. I always assumed Hooper was always semi-private, but it was around in like, I think the 70s or 80s. Some of the people on the board were tired of people greens fees taking their tea time.
In the morning, so they turned the club into semi-private so Which people could still play but they couldn't play before 10 o'clock in the morning, but You know when we took when we took over it was not Cooper golf club but Cooper golf course and that that was intentional to make it as welcoming as possible and
You know, eventually we added tee times because actually you didn't really have tee times. If you guys ever see kind of the ball, it's around the first tee. It's kind of you put the ball in, it kind of spirals down and then whoever's ball is down there, they're up next. We still have that on the first tee, but we now actually take tee times. We have an online tee time system. So we really try and find that, again, that word balance. You know, one, you know, what?
When, you know, again, I don't know if it's, I guess I'll use the word challenge. We have, we have almost 300 members. A lot of people paying greens fees, right? People, people like you guys who may travel from New York or wherever to come play. But then we also host a lot of tournaments that benefit the community. Right. We have our local high school alumni tournament. We have the annual tournament for the fire department. So we got to find the balance.
We can have a tournament every weekend because then people will miss out. So we do our best to be as welcoming as possible and to fit everybody in when we can. And it doesn't always work out, but we're trying our best on that. And being very busy, that's a good thing.
The Professor (24:22.838)
You're I think you've hit the Kevin Moore checklist or bingo card with the last couple comments in terms of sticking to a mission statement. You know, I'm a firm believer the best places in the world all the way from the Hoopers to the old course have a core mission and the decisions are based with respect to that mission that's always kept in mind and the stewards of the clubs are always chucking themselves relative to that mission. You know, have we drifted from it or even if it's a specific decision versus just hey in the last five years.
Are we adhering to that? So I love that including balancing then like how do we support, you know, public access to that and take care of our membership that's there. Because I do firmly believe part of being a member of a place is some perk. Maybe it's not a significant perk, but if that's morning tea times, that's, you know, honor that. Now, I love asking this question when someone gets involved with a golf course, especially when it's time to their side job, you know, your social studies teacher first and then decide to pick up a golf course. Any moment...
in the middle of that where you question the decision like, man, what did we get ourselves into? Or has it been sort of smooth sailing the hole time for you and the other ownership group?
Josh Beer (25:31.05)
probably somewhere in between. I think, I mean, it's truly a labor of love. and yeah, there are definitely been moments, you know, for me personally, honestly, the biggest thing is being away from my family. got meetings. It's like, you know, like my kids are like, where are going? And it's like, I got a Hooper meeting. They're like, yeah, another Hooper meeting. that's probably for me been the
the biggest issue. And there's certainly been challenges all throughout, but nothing insurmountable. it's a labor of love, you enjoy the challenge, or at least I enjoy the challenge. And we know that we're working towards something good. And you use the word Kevin Stewart, right? That's exactly how we view it of.
We almost lost this place. And it's someplace really truly special. So we have a job. We have a responsibility to preserve it, to keep it going. And so yeah, we're basically run by volunteers. And we're starting to kind of hopefully move away from that, maybe even bring in a general manager to make it a little more, because not everybody
is going to be willing to work however many hours we do for free. So, never have I said, I'm never doing this anymore. But it's, I hope to be involved in, you know, I'm not going to be the president forever, but I hope to be involved for hopefully the rest of my life. So we'll hopefully just want to keep it going.
Matt Considine (27:21.225)
Josh, I have two more questions actually. I just used, maybe think of another one. Characters are what make this game great. know, even on our podcast tagline, Professor and I talk about, we like to just dive into the stories of the characters, clubs and communities that shaped this game. And you are certainly the quintessential example of that at Hooper. But I did read there's...
One character I've really enjoyed, I'm getting back to my social study of roots. I've become a little bit of a history nerd all of a sudden, thanks to golf. Reading some old books about the old clubs and things, and then you gotta find out context of history. But Ken Burns, I read, is he a member of Hooper? Does he play regularly at Hooper? I mean, he's a legendary documentary filmmaker. That's his home club?
Josh Beer (28:16.59)
Yeah, he is not a member. don't think he's the world's biggest golfer. I think he's a very busy guy. But yeah, he is a Walpolean. He didn't grow up here, but he's lived here for, I think, 50 years. Their main studio where they do all the work is right downtown in Walpole. You can walk past it. I think a lot of people don't even know it. It's just like an old colonial house that they built there.
Yeah, it's pretty cool to have the World's Greatest Documentary right here in Hooper. We've got our centennial coming up, so we may be trying to do a little collaboration in some way or another with him. It's Florentine Films is the name of his company, so we'll see what we can come up with.
Matt Considine (29:07.871)
Yeah, mean, you know, talking to golf nerds on their podcast about Hoover's one thing, let's get a full fledged documentary done, Ken. Come on, do it, buddy. My other question was, not a huge ranking guy. I try not to be at least in my better golf days, enjoying the game in all its levels and not being obsessed with the list, but being number 13 in the world for an idle golf course is pretty sweet.
have you visited many of the others? Are there other nine hole courses that you take some inspiration from at Hooper? Do you guys have a sister club out there? Like tell me a little bit about, cause when I was reviewing that list, they are really just remarkable places that go a little under the radar cause they're not the full capacity 18. But one that came to mind was a couple of years ago for our international, we went to Critch Island in the northernmost part of.
Northern Ireland, I can't think of like spread my ashes there or let me die there at their pub. It's one of the happiest places on earth. It's just so beautiful, so gorgeous and reminds me to go check out places like Hooper next, because they're just off the radar. Are there any that you've taken some inspiration from or maybe the people that are involved at Hooper have?
Josh Beer (30:30.932)
Yeah, we yeah, so 13th in the world. I think like when you you eliminate the international ones, I think it puts us at like five or six or something. So I played a couple. I really to try to play nine hole courses as much as I can. I want to like support our fellow nine hole brothers. But there's a couple actually in if you look at the ranking, a lot of them are in the northeast. One, I think the one that's kind of
Usually ranked number one is a whitensville Which is Donna Ross. I'm pretty sure And that's a couple hours away great course fantastic course really enjoy it But probably my favorite non Hooper nine hole course is cohassy, which is also in in Massachusetts and kind of somewhat interesting story like there used to be private
Then it went, it kind of had some troubles and now it's public. I think a new owners come in and it has a somewhat similar story of Hooper, but like Hooper is Hooper's home. But I can see Cohassie being a second home. They've got the, you know, these stone walls like Hooper, couple hundred years old, kind of running, running along challenging par threes.
just a really welcoming place. so yeah, I think we try and kind of look and see, okay, what, what are other clubs doing? But then again, going back to kind of your earlier point of remaining true to who we are, and just kind of doing our best, from there. And, you know, if we, we climb the ranks a little bit, great. But if we're not, we're not going to do anything crazy to try and become number one or anything like that.
We're just trying to become the best version of ourselves.
Matt Considine (32:27.295)
Well, Josh, that's, I can't think of a better place to end it. Really well said and congrats on the stewardship, the promotion of what you guys have done. We know it's not easy. You mentioned the time it takes of a village. It's clearly a village there that you guys have put together to ensure a hundred years. You know, that's centennial. That's a big deal.
And do the work you're doing now. There'll be a Ken Burns documentary about it that people will be watching in another hundred years about, you know, the second centennial. So Josh, looking forward to visiting you at some point. Professor, it sounds like you and I have a nine-hole road trip through the Northeast coming up that we got to make happen. But Josh, thanks for being with us today. Really appreciate it.
Josh Beer (33:03.598)
Hopefully.
Josh Beer (33:19.726)
Thank you and I look forward to hosting you guys for sure.