Merrimack Valley Golf Club in Methuen is a Donald Ross design from 1906, the second course Ross ever built in New England, and a non-member walks 18 there for $55. That is the headline fact about golf in the Merrimack Valley. The rest of the story is that there are only about four public courses in the whole corridor, because the private clubs got here first.
The valley runs from Tewksbury and Lowell up through Andover to Methuen, roughly 30 to 40 minutes north of Boston on 93 or 495. Vesper, Nabnasset, Indian Ridge, Long Meadow, and Mount Pleasant are all member-run. What's left for the public is short, and worth knowing exactly.
Merrimack Valley Golf Club, Methuen
The Ross pedigree is real but the course you play isn't. In 2008 the Kattar family, who bought the place at auction in 1971, hired George F. Sargent Jr. to rebuild it. Drainage was failing, the greens had sunk, and the bunkering had gone shapeless. Sargent came back with a par 70 across 150 acres and a new clubhouse with views of 14 of the 18 holes.
Rates for 2026: $55 to walk 18 on a weekday, $77 with a cart. Weekend rates start Friday and run $65 walking, $87 riding. Nine holes is $30 weekday and $35 weekend. Non-member cart rental is $22 per person for 18.
It's semi-private with no initiation fee and no monthly dues, so the membership is worth pricing if you play the north end often. Booking runs through TeeItUp. Two things to know before you show up: pace of play is capped at 4 hours 30 minutes and enforced by rangers, and the dress code is the strictest of any public course in the valley. No cargo shorts, no denim, shirts tucked, hats forward.
Trull Brook, Tewksbury
A Geoffrey Cornish course from 1963 sitting on the bank of the Merrimack River, with several holes playing along the water. Par 72 at about 6,300 yards, so it's the shortest of the group on the card.
The 2026 walking rate is $50 Monday through Thursday, $40 for seniors 60 and up, $35 for nine. Then it gets expensive. Carts are mandatory Friday through Sunday and holidays before 2pm, and the riding rate is $77 midweek, $89 Friday, and $99 on the weekend. Nine holes with a cart on a Saturday is $86, which is more than 18 holes walking anywhere else in the valley.
Greens get the strongest reviews here, described as fast to the point of being tricky. The course is busy and hosts a lot of tournaments, so the tee sheet is the constraint. Booking runs through a Club Caddie customer portal, and the pro shop is (978) 851-6731. There are GolfZon simulators on site, which makes it one of the few valley courses worth a trip in February.
Hickory Hill, Methuen
The value pick. Par 71 at 6,287 yards from the blues, rated 69.6 with a slope of 124. Nothing about it is dramatic. Everything about the pricing is sensible.
For 2026: $56 for 18 Monday through Thursday, $65 Friday, $75 weekends and holidays. Nine holes is $33 to $37. Seniors 55 and up pay $53 midweek before 3pm, with a cart at $14 instead of $24. The real deal is the twilight rate. It's $26 midweek, $28 Friday, $30 weekend, and it's all you can play walking. Midweek twilight starts at 5:30pm.
The booking window here is backwards from everywhere else. Phone reservations open 7 days out, online only 6 days. Calling (978) 686-0822 gets you a day earlier than the ForeUp site. Every tee time has to be paid the day before you play. The range is $10 a token and closes Monday mornings until noon.
The two you already know
Two courses on the edge of this corridor have their own reviews. Butter Brook in Westford is the best pure design within reach of the valley. Far Corner in West Boxford has 27 holes at $56 to walk 18 on a weekday and a tee sheet that stays open when everything closer to the city is full.
How the valley compares
| Course | Weekday 18 (walk) | Booking |
|---|---|---|
| Hickory Hill (Methuen) | $56 | ForeUp, 6 days online / 7 by phone |
| Merrimack Valley (Methuen) | $55 | TeeItUp |
| Trull Brook (Tewksbury) | $50 | Club Caddie portal |
| Far Corner (West Boxford) | $56 | ForeUp |
Four courses, four different booking systems, and none of them share inventory. That is the practical problem with the valley. Prices sit within $6 of each other midweek, so the decision is almost never about money. It's about which sheet happens to have your time.
Weekends change the math completely. Trull Brook's mandatory cart rule pushes a Saturday round to $99, while Hickory Hill stays at $75 walking and Merrimack Valley at $65. If you walk, the ranking flips on Friday morning.
Getting there from Boston
Tewksbury is about 30 minutes up 93, Methuen about 40. That puts the valley in the same driving band as MetroWest and further than most of the North Shore. The reason to make the drive is that these courses stay bookable on a Saturday morning when Gannon and Sagamore Spring are gone.
The Merrimack Valley's problem isn't price, it's that four public courses run four separate booking platforms with different windows, and one of them opens earlier by phone than online. Checking all of them takes longer than the drive. Text Carl what morning you want and how far you'll go. He works every one of those sheets, calls the shops that hold times back, and comes back with one tee time and the reason it's the right one.
