The Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono was sold to the owners of the Lucerne Golf Club in Dedham, who have now bought their second Donald Ross-designed course in the area.
Matt Kirtland said that he and his wife, Nora Gardner, finalized their purchase of Peonobscot Valley on Tuesday from previous owner Larry Springer. They plan to keep the 101-year-old club as an 18-hole golf course and to open for the season potentially “in a matter of days” depending on the weather.
“It’s very exciting,” Kirtland told the Bangor Daily News. “Great course, great legacy and we’re looking forward to bringing it back to its former glory.”
Ross, a famed golf course architect, designed Penobscot Valley in 1924 and the nine-hole Lucerne course in 1926. Kirtland expects both courses to open soon, and said the shared history of the courses combined with his family’s history in the area were “very much front of mind” as part of the purchase.
He and his wife live in the Washington, D.C., area and have a house on Green Lake in Dedham. His great-grandfather ran Eastern Fine Paper in Brewer, and their family has four generations of ties to the area, predating both of the local golf courses that Kirtland and Gardner now own. And the next generation, their daughters Caroline and Evelyn, are excited about the Penobscot Valley purchase as well, according to their father.
Kirtland said that all current Penobscot Valley memberships will be honored as part of the deal with Springer, and declined to share the specific sale price.
“It was a fair price,” said Kirtland.
Former owner Springer, a Bangor-area real estate developer who bought the course in 2022, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
Current Lucerne general manager Mike Webb will now split his time and duties between the two courses, with Kirtland saying that they are looking to replicate the approach they took when buying the Lucerne course in 2023 and then working to make some improvements.
“The first priority is the course. The course is in good shape, but we want to take it to the next level,” Kirtland said about Penobscot Valley. “This used to be a top 10 course in New England, and that’s our objective.”
Kirtland said that Penobscot Valley is “absolutely going to stay an 18-hole golf course on the original Donald Ross design.”
Kirtland said the new ownership hasn’t yet looked at whether greens fees will stay the same. He highlighted the “fantastic team” in place that, in addition to Webb, will include existing course pro Mark Hall.
“The goal is to bring back the condition of the course. The most important thing out here is the greens — greens, tees, fairways. So the work is gonna go into it,” said Hall, who noted that Springer had been trying to sell the course all year. “This used to be, arguably, one of the top five courses in the state. Obviously it’s not that now, but our goal is to kind of bring it back pretty close to that.”
Kirtland also plans to improve the clubhouse pub and make the course’s event space “a focus of the community” in Orono.
“It’s one of the most storied golf courses in New England,” Kirtland said. “And it’s in good shape, but we’re now going to take it to platinum level.”
