As my daughter has repeatedly told me this weekend, Red, White and Blue, we have missed you! Since the last time I wrote, we joined forces with the entire town of Brookline and 23 other local, state, and federal agencies to pull off a successful US Open right from our beloved Brookline Golf Course. It was a team effort, led by the Brookline Team, that made it all happen so successfully. Thankful that the years of planning, countless meetings, and numerous relationships made, all prepared us for the logistical juggernaut the U.S. Open would be. That week, I was lucky to be a part of a team that ate, slept, and drank US Open 24/7. While there was a mountain of planning, an endurance style event, and then the dreaded cleanup phase while the gas tank was on empty, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. But as my daughter reminded me that she missed me, her little saying applies to all of our friends too. We missed you!
I’m excited to report that on Tuesday, June 28th we reopened all 18 holes for play… yes, all 18! The range will open on July 6th! It’s amazing that the months of planning, weather cooperating, and team work all really helped in mitigating any type of major damage to the golf course. While there is some minor to moderate damage, most of the imperfections are in areas that aren’t necessarily large portions of playable areas. We have a team that has begun to work diligently through the golf course addressing each of these holes, and I’m confident once all is said and done, our golf course will be an improved playing experience because of the U.S. Open and the dedicated staff we have who care for it. There is some minor damage on holes 1,2,6,8,10,11 and 14. There are localized small areas of more moderate damage but, in a normal round, one shouldn’t come into contact with those. Thank you for your patience while these areas are restored to previous if not better conditions.
Beginning the week of July 11th, a construction company will begin to mobilize on the golf course to begin work on some in-kind golf course construction improvements courtesy of the USGA! We have focused exclusively on tee construction, maintenance, and renovations. When this work is done, our golf course will feature approximately 8 new forward tees, 2 tees will be leveled and re-grassed, 1 new back tee with surrounding area being cleaned up, and the 12th tee complex being renovated. The work will take a few weeks to complete and we will not be shutting those holes down during construction as there will be a tee box available for golfers.
I do want to highlight, this Saturday, we have joined the team with Brookline Parks and Open Space, Brookline Police Department and our very own, Brookline Rec, to put on our first “Movie on the Range” night. We will be showing “Encanto” on July 9th from 7-10pm. This event is Free for Brookline Residents. There will be lawn games, music, food from Hemlock Grill and a great family friendly movie! Limited parking reservations are available through our website, and unlimited ride share reservations also available online. We hope you can join us for our first Movie Night, but definitely not the last.
Finally, in closing, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of our golf course during this closure. While we were closed, we remained incredibly busy supporting the U.S. Open, but also working and investing in our golf course. During the closure, we spent close to $90,000 on equipment, maintenance projects and improvements at the golf course.
We hope you enjoy the improvements during your next visit. To highlight the improvements:
- Replaced all carpet in the clubhouse
- Replaced the upper porch patio furniture
- Purchased 2 new outdoor tv’s
- Replaced all the driving range mats
- Top-dressed all fairways and aerated the traditionally wet ones
- Purchased verticutting units for all grass types at course
As I’ve said many times before, “the best is yet to come” and “forward is our future.” Thank you for joining us on this journey and I hope to see you on the golf course soon!
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Best regards, |
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