Brookline Golf Course has an unlucky distinction in that once you say the phrases “Brookline Golf Course,” the very first thing most golf followers are going to think about is The Nation Membership in Brookline, Mass.
The Nation Membership, in fact, is without doubt one of the most prestigious, well-known golf programs on the planet. It has hosted a few of the largest occasions within the sport’s historical past on its hallowed grounds.
Brookline Golf Course, in the meantime, sits actually on the opposite facet of the fence, making an attempt to fend for itself as a municipal golf course within the prosperous city of greater than 60,000.
Brookline Golf Course won’t ever be The Nation Membership, nor does it aspire to be that. Somewhat, basic supervisor Justin Lawson and his group are doing all they will to take advantage of an incredible piece of property and get the remainder of the Boston {golfing} neighborhood to see what they see within the 18-hole course nestled within the Putterham part of city.
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“We’ve this actually cool ecosystem; how can we enhance and on the identical time, how can we make it higher for our golfers?” Lawson informed NESN throughout a go to to the course earlier this summer time. “Being a public golf course, we share that duty to the atmosphere and our residents to seek out that stability.”
That work is ongoing, however it’s not like Brookline is in a state of disrepair — removed from it, really. It is an reasonably priced 18-hole course in one of many priciest components of all the nation. There is a fantastic driving vary that’s virtually at all times packed. Lawson’s workers, led by director of instruction Duncan Smith, is aware of its stuff. The on-site hospitality is top-notch; the on-site restaurant, Hemlock Grill provides a imply fried hen sandwich and delectable barbeque. And it is laborious to beat the view of the 18th offered by the patio off a clubhouse with century-old allure.
Lawson and his group have labored tirelessly to excellent the issues they will management. The problem, particularly lately, has been the issues outdoors of their management. The 2023 season was difficult. Lawson says the course misplaced 40 days of operation from July by the tip of the season amid unrelenting rain storms. Exterior of that, a soggy summer time pressured the course to function as a nine-hole course for a lot of the 12 months.
The rain itself — July 2023 was the second-wettest on file in Boston — is a matter. It is made worse by Brookline Golf Course’s topography, soil sort and structure. The Nation Membership is on the excessive floor of the property, and the water actually flows down into its neighbor.
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That is accentuated by outdated, ineffective drainage. When it rains in Brookline, there may be merely nowhere for the water to go. Typically, it leaves components of the course underwater and unplayable. Even when the course is open, drainage points go away puddles that higher resemble ponds. The watershed impression is plain, with an ever-expanding neighborhood draining into the course the place there’s just one exit level. Putterham turns into Puddleham.
The mathematics is straightforward, too. You make no cash once you’re closed. A nine-hole course does not make as a lot as an 18-hole course. And that does not even have in mind the pace-of-play points that may canine a spot like Brookline when carts aren’t totally utilized or teams need to mess around (or by) large puddles.
However the work is being carried out. The city’s park and recreation fee in late 2019 accredited a panorama grasp plan for the course. The hope is that work begins in earnest this winter. Brookline has labored at the side of esteemed native golf course architect Mark Mungeam to deal with two major points: drainage and routing.
“A part of our grasp plan is to take a look at this golf course as a restoration of the unique drainage system with some trendy enhancements,” Lawson defined. “If it rains, there’s nowhere for the water to go.”
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The specifics for these fixes are sophisticated, at the least to the layman. A mixture of drains, pipes, dredges and sand are the instruments accessible to Mungeam and his group. They hope that may make a distinction and get them again to, no pun meant, stage floor.
As for the routing, anybody who performs Brookline for the primary time is aware of the present structure is, nicely, inconvenient. The opening gap is on the opposite facet of the driving vary and might’t even be seen from the professional store. As a part of the overhauled rerouting, the present thirteenth gap would turn into No. 1, a transfer that makes a lot sense it is laborious to imagine it hasn’t been that method perpetually.
The hope is to maximise assets and efforts, which is one thing Brookline has proved it could do. Brookline works in tandem with The Nation Membership on numerous efforts. A chief instance of that got here in 2022 when TCC hosted the U.S. Open. Brookline’s fairways have been used as a car parking zone; because of that partnership with the USGA, the greens on Brookline’s signature par-3 twelfth gap acquired a makeover.
The work is way from carried out, however there’s mild on the finish of the (hopefully dry) tunnel. Brookline Golf Course won’t be excellent, however “excellent” and “muni” not often go collectively anyway. The perfect muni, although, is a enjoyable course on a cool piece of property that’s accessible and reasonably priced. It makes probably the most of what it has.
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Brookline Golf Course has the potential to be simply that, and it is nearly there.
