About
High on the cliffs overlooking Lake Champlain at Port Kent, NY is the Port Kent Golf Course. Harmony Golf Club is located in northeastern portion of the Adirondack Park near Ausable Chasm and the Port Kent ferry. Originally called the Champlain Country Club and later known as the Northern Pines Golf Course, it was a full-length 18-hole course with a bogey of 77. The course was designed by Channing Floyd, the first professional player and built by William Sussdorff in 1912. Facilities included a clubhouse, locker room, indoor swimming pool and tennis courts. The property of the estate on which the golf course was located embraced more than a thousand acres on the shorefront and extended inland cover the rolling and picturesque countryside.The financial crash of the 1930’s however, adversely affected the golf course operation and eventually the Sussdorff family sold the property which passed through several ownerships over the years. The course gradually deteriorated and finally all maintenance stopped, allowing nature to reclaim the area. Then in the early 1960’s, Richard Harmon who discovered the property formed a corporation and immediately began clearing the property and reconstructing the course. In 1963, he reopened the Port Kent Golf Course to the public for play. The nine-hole par 30 course with an up and back design, small greens and chocolate drops as hazard definitely has its own character.
