I remember when I rode with my Uncle Paul down to ‘the shop’ by Ryan’s Ready Mix concrete plant. As we passed the golf course where Norwich Inn stood proudly over the first tee, he told me that he had been a caddy there in his youth.

One comment remains fresh in my mind- he said that the first nine holes had the best natural lie in Connecticut. He also told me that one Friday in the mid-1950s as he was closing up his machine shop down by Ryan’s Concrete Company, a car pulled up to him and the driver asked where the Norwich Inn was located. He told Basil Rathbone, the actor who was to be in the summer show at the Masonic Temple, how to get there.

There have been many inns and hotels located in Norwich before and since The Norwich Inn was founded. The idea of having a golf course was the main focus in the late 19th and early 20th century in Norwich. But first, I need to explain a little about golf.

I was lucky with my skill level playing golf. I could hit a ball 300 plus yards, but unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you exactly the direction the ball would travel.

Years ago, I was playing with my good friend Bob, a skilled golfer, yet I almost decapitated him. I was hitting my second shot on a dogleg with a row of pine trees to my right. Bob was behind and to my left sitting on the golf cart when I sliced the ball which hit a large pine tree about four feet above the ground. The little white ball went flying backwards and just missed Bob by a foot. I thought, maybe it’s time to quit while I was ahead.

The earliest example of a golf-like game I found was 100 B.C. in ancient Rome. The game was called paganica (to hit with a stick) where the participants used a curved stick and a stuffed leather ball.

The word golf, the word we now use, was derived from the Scottish word- gowf, which can be found in the 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament- a game to be forbidden due to its distraction from practicing archery as described by King Charles II of Scotland.

The present word “caddie” comes from the French word for cadets. Of course, many other things have changed since the beginning of golf such as the number of holes at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which were reduced from 22 to 18 due to the lack of playing space.

The first recorded golf round in North America was played in Fort Orange, present day Albany, N.Y., in December 1650. The information I read from the Norwich Golf Course states that golf was played on a six-hole course in Norwich near the site of Benedict Arnold’s home lot by a rector of the Episcopal Church.

From this point, golf found followers in the Norwich area. The third course built for golf had nine holes, laid out on 80 acres of land by the Norwich Golf Land Company at the location of the present facilities.

More acres were added to make an 18-hole course through the company of Tull & Tull with attention from Walter Travis, a well-known course architect. Sixty more acres were added and the golf course management changed the design of the course with the help of Willis L. Austin and R.D. Pryde.

In 1929, The Norwich Inn was built on Rt. 32, to cater to the golfing public and for those who visited its Georgian Colonial revival style with its 75 plush guest rooms and gracious dining. The business card they had said, “Set upon a commanding slope amidst a background of gardens, woods and hill of over two hundred acres overlooking the beautiful Thames River, is the NORWICH INN, a modern brick building of seventy outside bedrooms with private bath connected, large roomy lobby and parlors and several dining rooms with a total capacity for serving over one thousand people, and a luxurious grill and recreation lounge hat is a favorite spot for many. It is the mecca for conventions, re-unions, banquets, parties, dances and other kinds of entertainment, both social and commercial.”

The golf course was a mainstay for many of the wealthy travelers to enjoy the rolling landscape of the course. The business card states: “Stepping out of the INN onto a broad observation veranda one hundred feet long, the golfer descends onto the first tee green for a tour around eighteen holes as a beautiful sporty course running through hill and dale that is liked by all who use it. The leading pros of the country have played many matches on this course. Special privileges are given to the golfing guests of the INN to use the course.”

The inn also had equestrian paths for horse riders. Many famous visitors such as Frank Sinatra, Basil Rathbone, Bert Lahr (a comedian found in “The Wizard of Oz” as the Cowardly Lion), Eddie Albert, George Bernard Shaw, to name a few.

This was a difficult time for such a venture due to the October 1929 crash, beginning the Great Depression where money became scarce. Many people bought on margin- and vast amounts of money was lost in the stock market.

One example of this is that AT&T was selling for $499 a share, then split and sold for $100 a share (You get 5 shares for each $500 share) and a year later it was valued at $5 a share.

This economic depression lasted until the beginning of World War II when factories reopened and workers were needed in both manufacturing and the military.

The end of WWII and the returning members of the services brought about the desire to get back to a more civilized way of life. Many of the energized workforce found they enjoyed sports and with the baby-boomers on the way, opportunity came knocking. The Norwich Inn began a renaissance in golf and entertainment. But as time went by, the Inn lost many golf enthusiasts with the development of Pautipaug Golf Club in Baltic in 1960.

During the decline of The Norwich Inn, it was turned into a boarding house following the City of Norwich taking over the property.

The property of The Inn was separated from the golf course and it was bought in 1983 by the Safdie Group, and all guest rooms and public spaces were totally refurbished. One hundred sixty condominiums were built on the 42 acres of rolling land.

In 1994, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation purchased the property and renovated and added onto the facilities, creating The Spa at Norwich Inn, a welcome addition to the Norwich area.

Bill Shannon is a retired Norwich Public Schools teacher and a lifelong resident of Norwich.