Many New England golfers know Mingo Springs Golf Course for its fresh mountain air, its 1500 foot, above sea-level views and its challenging golf. What is equally wonderful about this course, but perhaps less well known, is its rich and vibrant history.

The present day course was created from two courses: the course known as the Country Club Course and the nine holes that offered golf to visitors who frequented the lakeside inn called Mingo Springs Hotel.

It was in the 1920s, that a group of individuals purchased the rolling pasture land from the Pillsbury family. They constructed a golf course and a private lodge called the Rangeley Lakes Country Club. Though the Country Club was separated from the golf course years ago, it continues to operate today as a restaurant and lodge, sitting just opposite the pro shop and what is known as Mingo's "front nine."

The Mingo Springs Course, now the "back" nine, was begun sometime in the early 1900's, after a man named Professor Munyon bought land on the edge of Rangeley Lake. He was among many eastern city dwellers who were making a gold-rush-like dash to the Rangeley Lakes area. He began to construct a lakeside hotel and adjacent camps, which he called Mingo Springs Hotel after the spring on his property. His fame and fortune came from the manufacture and sale of home remedies, including Paw Paw Elixir, a concoction of fermented papaya juice and "Munyon Springs" water. He called his newly named spring "the spring of all springs," often claiming it was "the most beautiful place in Rangeley."

Though Munyon is said to have leased land on the other side of what is now known as the Mingo Loop Road, sometime around 1915, he never finished the work of building the golf course he envisioned. Instead, in 1920, he sold it to John B. Cottrell. A few years later, Cottrell opened Mingo Springs Golf Course with only three holes, but it did eventually become a nine hole course.

Since then, the Mingo Course has been owned and operated by at least ten different parties. Among them was John B's son, Jack Cottrell, a schoolteacher. Jack ran Mingo until 1965 when he decided to divide the hotel and golf course property and put the land up for sale.

Had there not been a concerted effort by several local and seasonal residents to save these antique courses, golf in the Rangeley Lakes Region might have ended in the late 1960s. But in 1968, by purchasing one nine hole course, and then in 1970, the other, the efforts of these people prevented the eighteen holes that now comprise Mingo Springs Golf Course from being lost forever.

Ownership of Mingo Springs Golf Course has dwindled from the four families who owned it jointly down to one family. Paul Chodosh now owner of the eighteen hole course with his wife Melba says, "There was no doubt that the course was to be divided into house lots. We didn't want to lose the enjoyment of our leisurely golf. So we negotiated to buy it."

Mingo Springs Golf Course now boasts eighteen beautiful holes. Though it has been many decades since Professor Munyon waxed poetic about his slice of Shangri-La, there are those who would make this claim: it is golf that has the power to heal; there is no better elixir.