Keep These Numbers Handy
By Tom Bedell
Sure enough, it’s April, the sun is shining, the temperature is rising, and golf is imminent. So why did this feel like the winter from Hell? It was all that snow piling endlessly up. Would it even melt by May? was the dreadful thought going through some desperate golfers’ minds.
The par-5 seventh hole at Brattleboro Country Club
I took to driving by the Brattleboro Country Club (802-257-7380) to check on the progress of the receding glaciers, and wandered forlornly into the abandoned parking lot a few times. Finally, on Wednesday, I went to the maintenance shed and was pleased to see superintendent Phil Rollins putting flagsticks together and speculating on a possible opening on April 19. Whether the full 18 will be ready to go is still anyone’s guess; the ninth fairway in particular was still half rivulets on Wednesday.
Players will have an entirely new sensation when they finish a round at Brattleboro this year, Phil said, and I went out to have a look. Sure enough, about ten of the large pine trees encircling the back of the eighteenth hole were cut down.
The “Before” shot at the eighteenth hole
It was done mostly to give the green more light and air. There’s still a copse of trees further behind the green, but aesthetically the hole now looks wide open, and the forward pitch of the green more striking.
Pro Eric Sandstrum is settling in for his second full year at Brattleboro, which will follow its success with the Vermont Amateur last year with the Vermont Senior Amateur Tournament this September 3 and 4. The club is offering a variety of membership specials and junior memberships, all noted on the website.
Vermont
Elsewhere in Vermont, pro Michael Santa Maria at the Okemo Valley Golf Club (800-786-5366) said, “We’re hoping to be open by the weekend of April 26, and we’ll then be one of 70 clubs in the U.S. with the Nike 360° fitting cart and launch monitor.”
Under the same ownership is the Tater Hill Golf Club (875-2517) which usually opens seven to ten days after Okemo.
The Haystack Golf Club (802-464-8301) is under new ownership and will welcome new pro and general manager Jack Tosone when the course opens in mid-May. Competitive rates have swelled the membership over last year, and midweek rates (Monday-Friday) will be $49.
The Mount Snow Golf Club (464-4254) has a tentative opening date of May 12, but definitely by May 17, when The Original Golf School (800-240-2555) begins its bargain two-day dress rehearsals (May 17-18, 20-21, 22-23) for $349.
The Stratton Mountain Country Club (297-4114) will also officially open its 27 holes on May 16, but weather permitting the Stratton Golf University will hold two-day spring training classes beginning May 3 for the bargain rate of $399.
They’re not yet manning the phones at some courses, so keep checking at Bellows Falls Country Club (463-9809), Crown Point (885-1010) and Sitzmark (464-3384).
New Hampshire
Bridge to fifteenth hole at Bretwood South
Head pro Matt Barrett at the 36-hole Bretwood Golf Course (603-352-7626) wasn’t about to guarantee it, but he said they hoped to open today. Rates are still reasonable at Bretwood, and the weekday golf-till-you-drop $70 all-day pass (including cart) remains tempting. I wrote a piece on Bretwood a few years back and, hey, whaddaya know, it’s still up on the web. Clearly, I wasn’t paid enough for that one.
Pam and Jay Clace at the nine-hole Hooper Golf Club in Walpole (603-756-4080) were being a little more guarded. “We’re hoping by the end of next week,” said Pam. “But the course is in good shape, considering the winter we just had.” Amen to that.
The nine-hole Pine Grove Springs Country Club in Spofford (603-363-4433) was set to open yesterday, with a members’ work day scheduled for tomorrow.
Callers to the Keene Country Club (603-352-9722) should ask pro Charlie Kamel how he liked his trip to Ireland, along with Brattleboro pro Eric Sandstrum.
Massachusetts
“We’re expecting to open tomorrow, although they’re predicting rain at the moment,” said James ‘Bucky’ O’Brien, heading into his 40thth year at the Country Club of Greenfield (413-773-7530).
The eighth at Crumpin-Fox
The old nine (the back nine) at the Crumpin-Fox Club in Bernardston (800-943-1901) was still pretty damp this week, but there are hopes of opening at least nine (the front) nine by late next week.
The nine-hole Oak Ridge Golf Club in Gill (413-863-9693) is hoping to open next Wednesday but, as with all the courses, call to doublecheck.
And a little further on down the road is the always ingratiating nine-hole Northfield Golf Club (413-498-2432).
