Lochmere owner looks back on 30 years

TILTON — Jerry Chaille was “looking for something for the future to retire to” back in the mid-1980s after working in the taxi business in Somerville, Massachusetts.

When his attempt to buy a golf course fell through, Chaille attended a foreclosure auction and came away with a parcel of land fronting Laconia Road in Tilton that included a church.

With encouragement from locals Jim Dodge and John McCarthy, Chaille set to clearing the property and contacted Massachusetts-based golf architect, Phil Wogan, who had built or worked on more than two dozen courses throughout New England.

The men walked the property and Wogan agreed to draw up plans for a nine-hole golf course for $15,000.

“As cheap as cheap could be,” said Chaille, who had purchased a lakeside home in 1985.

Wogan recommended George Sargeant oversee the construction as project manager, and work commenced on Chaille’s “retirement.”

“I had people – before it was built – literally come to my house to give me money, because they wanted to be a member,” Chaille said. “It was 17 months from auction to open.”

When the Lochmere Golf & Country Club opened in August 1991, members even got a bonus hole. When asked why he added a tenth hole to the customary nine-hole layout, Chaille’s tongue-in-cheek response was, “I want to be one up.”

When he was looking for a golf pro, Chaille turned to a hockey player.

While a hockey-golf connection may evoke thoughts of the Adam Sandler movie character Happy Gilmore, it was actually Vic Stanfield who signed on. He had played professional hockey in Europe and worked at area courses, including as part of the crew working on the new Lochmere. course. He came recommended, and Chaille gave him a shot.

Stanfield passed all of the requirements to become a PGA club pro and he’s still there 30 years later, a friendly presence making visitors to the clubhouse feel at home.

While Lochmere did reasonably well in those first few years, Chaille kept his eye open for land that might allow him to expand the course to an 18-hole track.

The expanded course opened in 1998, and the club has about 90 members. Chaille loves his members, but he also takes pride in the organizations that arrive each year for group outings. What he likes even more is that they keep coming back.

“My philosophy has always been to make it a destination golf course,” he said. “You’ve got to keep notching up the quality, without going bankrupt.”

To do that, Chaille said he’s rolled profits back into the course in a variety of ways: when he thought the 13^th and 14^th holes weren’t quite up to par, so to speak, he bought another 19 acres and improved those holes so they met his standards; when he felt the course didn’t have enough tees that were friendly for women to play from, they added tees for women and seniors.

And last year they put money into paving and expanding irrigation ponds.

“Water is the lifeblood of a golf course,” he explained.

While spending to make the Lochmere experience more enjoyable, Chaille has also kept expenses in check by finding bargains on the Internet. They’ll still buy new mowers and irrigation equipment, but Chaille said they’re selective about it, and he can recount a long list of slightly used items he purchased online at bargain-basement prices.

The Internet is also where he can track customer satisfaction.

“Our ratings are through the roof,” he said of reviews on websites like Golf Advisor, where they were rated the top public golf course in the state in 2019.

Chaille realizes Lochmere is a kid compared to some courses in the region with roots that go back to the early 20^th century and beyond, but he also knows reinvesting the profits has paid off and that they’ve come a long way in 30 years. “I never realized what I had done until one day I sat back and said, ‘Wow.’”

Part of the secret is no great secret – the people he has hired. “I’ve had a good pro and I’ve only had three superintendents in 30 years,” he said.

And Stanfield, the pro, said he’s noticed better golfers have started to beat a path to the tee box. “We’re getting a lot of the top golfers in the state coming through,” he said.

And what about Chaille’s retirement?

“It’s been a long haul,” he said. “My retirement dreams aren’t quite what they used to be, but I love what I do and we’re just going to keep going.”