As Tara Watt prepares to defend her New Hampshire Women's Golf Association Championship title at Hanover Country Club starting Tuesday, she is grateful for the recognition and opportunity that came with winning her first state amateur crown.

A 29-year-old Derryfield Country Club golfer, Watt emerged from a four-way tie to win last July, finishing birdie-par to defeat defending champion Chelsea Demers by a stroke at the Golf Club of New England in Stratham.

A Goffstown resident, Watt now has a shrine of sorts at Delaney's Hole in the Wall, a favorite restaurant in North Conway, her hometown. “I know the owner, and he let me put my picture up there with my trophy,” she said. “So I'll go home and people are like, 'Hey, is that you?' ”

More significantly, however, Watt's victory earned her a local amateur exemption into the recent Northeast Delta Dental International, the annual New Hampshire stop on the Symetra Tour for LPGA hopefuls. Although she posted disappointing rounds of 84-91 at Concord's Beaver Meadow Golf Course, Watt fulfilled a childhood dream playing alongside the pros.

“Talking about it gives me goose bumps,” she said. “I played with a girl named Carling Coffing … and she came up to me after we were finished and said, 'You have a great game. Don't be discouraged.'

“I was very hard on myself, because I know what I can do and I didn't do it. But for (Coffing) to come up to me and say that I have a great game, it was a good confidence boost.”

A former captain of the Kennett High School boys' golf team who played four years at North Carolina's Gardner-Webb University, Watt worked on her game during the Symetra tournament with Derryfield pro Mike Ryan, who caddied for her at Beaver Meadow and helped her correct some minor flaws with her irons and driver. As a result, she feels confident heading into the NHWGA Championship, a 54-hole, stroke-play event that will visit Hanover for the fifth time.

A Dartmouth College-owned course, Hanover opened as a nine-hole layout in 1899 before expanding to 18 in 1922. Orrin Smith, a former construction superintendent for noted architects Donald Ross and Willie Park Jr., is credited with designing the original 18, which hosted NHWGA Championships in 1963, 1974, 1988 and 1999.

In 2000, architect Ron Prichard embarked on a renovation that included the creation of four new holes (Nos. 11, 12, 16 and 17) and reconstruction of all tees and greens. A par-71 layout, Hanover will measure 5,382 yards for the championship.

Although local knowledge can be beneficial in any tournament, it comes in particularly handy at Hanover, said Betsy Knights, the reigning women's club champion.

“Our greens are really fast and kind of hard to read, very undulated,” said Knights, who is entered in the tournament. “It's quirky, this course. There are a lot of sidehill lies … and it's long. I think long-ball hitters will do well here if they play smart.”

To familiarize themselves with Hanover, several tournament competitors have played practice rounds in recent weeks, Knights said. Among the visitors was 14-time champion Dana Harrity, who finished third at Hanover in 1999 but played the course last Wednesday for the first time since the renovation.

Harrity, who plays out of Rye's Abenaqui Country Club, was struck by how several of the new greens aren't visible from tees or fairways. “I think it's going to play very, very difficult,” she said.

Along with Watt and Harrity, players to watch at Hanover include 2010 champion Demers (Bretwood), who recently graduated from North Carolina's Pfeiffer University, and Cortney Tilley (Atkinson), a senior-to-be at Siena College who finished third last year and second in 2010. Lisanne Schmidt (Eastman), who tied for sixth at last month's New England Women's Golf Association Championship, and her sister Alexandra – another Eastman player who led last year's NHWGA Championship after two rounds and for much of the final round before fading to fourth – also figure to be in the mix.

On the road: A 79-year-old California man who's been on a quest to play golf in all 50 states this year passed through New Hampshire recently, and with a round at Bretwood checked his 31st state off the list. A 20-handicapper, Mike Caligiuri has been traveling the country solo in a 25-foot recreational vehicle and has dedicated the journey to his late wife, Irene, who died in 2009. While being sponsored by Taylor Made Golf, Caligiuri is also raising awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps injured veterans. For more on the trip, check out Caligiuri's blog (mikecaligiuri.com).

Through the green: Seven juniors – Matthew Killam (Newport), Connor Greenleaf (Windham), Ryan Tombs (Manchester), Nate Choukas (Hanover), Matthew Paradis (Candia Woods), Joshua Lacasse (Plausawa Valley) and Hayden Maroun (Ridgewood) – will represent New Hampshire in the New England Junior Championship, scheduled for Aug. 13-14 in Williamstown, Mass. … Lochmere's Dale Nims (72) won low gross in the NHWGA Division A tournament at Angus Lea last Tuesday, while Pease's Kathy Vetter (63) won low net. In concurrent Division B competition, Rochester's Shirley Whitehouse (84) won low gross and Angus Lea's Carmyn Young (61) won low net. … In an NHWGA Division B tournament at Owl's Nest last Tuesday, Windham's Carol Rivard (86) won low gross, while Farmington's Jane Cumming and Amherst's Pat Skorka shared low net (64).

Mike Cullity's column on New Hampshire golf appears weekly during the golf season in the New Hampshire Sunday News. E-mail him at mcullity@unionleader.com.