There was a time when Heritage Hill Country Club was the crown jewel of par-3s in New England.

Rockland may be the longest par-3 east of the Mississippi and Blue Rock in South Yarmouth is pretty amazing, but Heritage Hills was simply fabulous.

The greens were as good as when Charlie Dickow owned the joint.

Playing the pine-lined fairways was so reminiscent of playing in Carolina.

Even though every hole was a par-3, you needed to think on every tee. If you put your tee shot on the wrong part of some greens, forget about walking away with a par.

Our favorite is the No. 16, a 185-yard shot to a green shaped somewhat like a shamrock and you needed luck to escape with a two-putt par. It is an uphill tee shot. The left and right corners of the putting surface is elevated and if the pin was tuck on the left or right shelf and you were on the opposite side, forgetaboutit. Go to the next tee and put down at least a 4 on the card.

The course was so good that every Memorial Day they had a prestigious four-ball tournament. The best players in the state would turn out and it would be a packed field.

But Dickow traded up and bought Poquoy Brook.

Still, it was a fun place to play until the unfortunate passing of the new owners in 2007 put the course in limbo.

Time lingered, as the complicated financial situation surrounding the properties was resolved. Meanwhile, the clubhouse and other facilities deteriorated and the wonderful course went fallow, disappearing in a field of hay.

Three Country Club of New Bedford golfers, Mark White, David Waxler and David Marchand purchased the property in Feburary 2008 and rebuild the facility.

The first thing the new owners did was hire Joe Klein, a savvy golf guy who worked at CC New Bedford, as the new general manager.

Then they gave the place a new name: the Back Nine Club.

Unless you are a golfer, you probably wouldn’t get it.

The back nine is usually the best nine. By then, your heavily into your game, comfortable with good friends, the match is on the line, and your closing in on the 19th hole. What can be better?

“It took a while to get that across,” said Klein. “At first, they thought we eliminated nine holes. It’s still

18 holes. But people finally got it.”

The new owners gave the clubhouse and facility a complete makeover. “They went the whole nine yards,” said Klein. When the weather cleared, they began work on the golf course.

“We sodded some of the tees, rebuilt the cart parts and had to do a lot of work on the irrigation system. There were leaks everywhere,” said Klein.

They opened that May and it’s been getting better every week.

“People talk about that Memorial Weekend Tournament. We hope to institute a four-ball tournament this year, sometime in the middle of July,” added Klein. “We couldn’t do it on Memorial Day, because we are simply all booked up.”

Klein said that the Back Nine Club is a perfect fit for the current economy.

 “We give people an alternative. They can go to a regulation course and pay more than $60 and take more than five hours to play 18 holes,” said Klein. “Or they can come here and pay $20 and finish in three hours. It’s a nice alternative.”

You can find more information about the Back Nine Club at the club’s website: www.thebacknineclub.com