What makes a good clubhouse +

internet backlash for using the word "corny."

Author

Sean Melia
May 31, 2024

May 31, 2024

Hey Everyone,

We had a great time on Thursday hosting our first Half Swing Series event at Butter Brook. The weather was not awesome, but the true sickos showed out to play 18 holes in pissing rain. However, some radiant sunshine broke through to end the day. Our next event is on July 18 at Crosswinds in Plymouth. We’d love to have you join us. Here are the details.

News and Notes:

  • Ryan Downes, the 2023 Mass. Amateur champion booked his ticket to the U.S. Junior Amateur this week. He shot a 66 to earn medalist honors. Here’s a bit about the round and the other players, including Connecticut’s Caden Piselli, who qualified. The U.S. Junior Am is at Oakland Hills in Michigan this July.

  • The Hornblower Memorial kicks off today. It’s one of the bigger regional amateur events. It’s always held at Plymouth CC. Last year, Aidan Emmerich won in horrendously cold weather in the second round. It was borderline snowing after it was nearly 90 during the first round. Classic New England stuff. Live scoring.

  • Pam Kuong won low senior amateur in the Conn. Women’s Open this week.

  • It’s been more than a decade since Massachusetts had a new 18-hole golf course open. The International’s Pines Course has been completely overhauled by Coore and Crenshaw and is slated to open in the fall. It’s the second Coore and Crenshaw to open in Massachusetts. Old Sandwich is the other. They have a bunch of flyovers on their YouTube channel.

What’s in a Clubhouse?

I’ve seen plenty of clubhouses throughout the Bay State over the last four years. I don’t give them much thought to them, if I’m being honest. However, they do provide an impression that can impact someone’s experience if they’re new to a place and trying to find their way around to pay, eat, or freshen up after the round.

The topic of clubhouses came up during our event at Butter Brook yesterday. People loved the course, and one player said, “It’s a clubhouse away from feeling like a private course.”

We spent a lot of time in the Butter Brook clubhouse yesterday. It’s simple and quaint—a trailer more than a clubhouse—with a pro shop and a small area to sit and eat after the round. It felt crowded as we waited for the rain to stop.

There’s some truth to what the golfer said. A clubhouse can make a course feel more serious. It can make it feel like it has more money (maybe money it doesn’t really have). A course like Pine Hills advertises that their guests are “Members for the day” and built a clubhouse to back that up.

There are also private courses that make thoughtful decisions about their clubhouses. Boston Golf Club is incredibly simple and lowkey. It’s a golf club that encourages its players to play, have a beer and lunch, and head home. It’s not a Google Campus with bells and whistles to keep people around, it’s a place to spend some time but not a place to spend all day.

I kind of dig that.

In some cases, I’d imagine a course thought about building a clubhouse and then realized the simple trailer works.

It’s probably not a coincidence that Acushnet River Valley and Butter Brook have similar clubhouses and well-conditioned courses. The more “stuff” a course has, the more money it needs to “feed the beast.”

Of course, some courses utilize their clubhouse for weddings or other events, which is totally fine.

For me, I have nostalgia for the clubhouses that have fried food smell embedded in the walls. It reminds me of Maynard CC and eating onion rings and chicken fingers. Easton CC gave me that vibe last week, too. Just an old school spot that feels a bit like I’m stepping back into my childhood. Open rooms with round tables and a bar.

As a vagabond golfer, the clubhouse’s impact on my experience has to do with how easily I can navigate a new space. Can I find the pro shop? Am I wandering aimlessly looking for a bathroom? How fast do they get people through at the turn? Is everything open? You’d be surprised how many times I can’t get a snack at the turn because everything is closed up.

That’s the stuff that matters to me.

For regulars at a course, they might want something else: a little space if there is a rain delay, a solid lockerroom to change and wash up, or a good restaurant.

Some of my favorite clubhouses match the course, too. Franklin Park and George Wright are bang-on-the-nose perfect. Bass River is Cape Cod through-and-through. Highland Links is no frills. Cape Ann has that rustic North Shore vibe. At Lakeville and John F. Parker who pay at the bar for your round of golf.

You thought I’d get through this entire thing without mentioning Taconic? Last month we were up there for the NESCAC Women’s Championship. The patio there, sitting in close proximity to the first tee and 18th green, is a delight. It oozes vacation and charm. And they let us hang out there with our dog, too. Bonus points, for sure.

Even this past month, when I was at Big Cedar Lodge, the clubhouses there were super simple. They utilized the high ground to take advantage of the views, but there was no real opulence. Ozarks National had a pro shop and an outdoor bar. That was it.

I’m glad I heard the comment at Butter Brook yesterday. It’s always great to have something rattle an idea loose, help me revisit some of the courses I’ve played in a different way, and consider my experience going forward.

The comments are open this week. What are some things you like about clubhouse? And what are some of your favorite clubhouses?

Double Click(s)

  1. Are women golfers now the USGA’s punching bag? I played Lancaster CC last month for U.S. Women’s Open media day. I wrote about the four holes I thought would have the biggest impact on the tournament. Little did I know the 12th hole, a downhill par 3 with a wicked green, would eject the tournament favorite within the first hour of the event.

    Nelly Korda made a 10 on the hole (I made a 2, no big deal…). She hit three balls in the water. We had the Louisville police come after Scottie Scheffler, but it was the 12th hole that dragged Korda down the leaderboard.

    The hole terrorized many players yesterday. 52 balls were hit in the water, 31 players made double bogey, and 13 more players carded “others.”

    Last night, the hole was called “fair,” and the coverage on Golf Channel’s Live From… praised the tough hole.

    I would love to see a hole like this in the Men’s U.S. Open. But we won’t, because they’ll complain about it and call the USGA unfair.

    It seems that the USGA now holds women to a higher standard of challenge.

    Nelly Korda described her 80 as a “bad day at the office.” I hope we can remember that in a couple of weeks if Pinehurst No. 2 provides an equivalent challenge in the U.S. Open.

  1. Corny is a bad word. Last week, I recorded a podcast about Big Cedar Lodge. It was a simple “5 Things to Know,” and I clipped a 90-second portion for social media about the 19th hole at Payne’s Valley. Usually, when I make these, I script them. And very rarely do I post anything on TikTok because it scares me. But I posted this one because I figured it might get some attention. And boy howdy did it. It turns out, you can’t call a hole that feels like an amusement park ride and calls itself “The 19th wonder of the world” corny. The Internet just won’t allow it. I got some pushback on Instagram for calling it corny, too. But the TikTok vitriol was crazy. I was even called an “ingrate” in one comment that got filtered into my “comments to approve.” That’s where the real nasty stuff lived. I’m a somewhat well-adjusted 40-year-old, and this really bothered me for a couple of days. I cannot imagine how teenagers manage to focus on anything when their social media world spins out of control. These were total strangers, but kids are usually dealing with their peers on social media.

    I did a little exorcism with Tiff, where I read some of the comments aloud, and we laughed about them. I can be fun at parties, god damn it.

    Anyway, be nice out there.

@baystate_golf

Have you played the 19th hole at Payne’s Valley?@bigcedarlodgeresort @golfbigcedar

  1. Speaking of being nice… Harry Higgs delivered this lovely message on Sunday. It was a tough weekend on the PGA Tour as Greyson Murray committed suicide at age 30.

  1. Bill Walton passed away this week at 71. A lot of clips were swirling around the internet of the Hall of Famer, and this one was particularly wonderful.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

I’m listening to…

  • A good Retail Therapy episode this past weekend.

  • I have always really liked John Green, who wrote The Fault in Our Stars. He joined Adam Grant on Rethinking to talk about attention, writing, creating, and life in general.

I’m eating…

  • If you play golf in the morning at Butter Brook, get their bacon, egg, and cheese. Very good while waiting for the rain to go away.

  • Domino's New York-style pizza is very good! I also love their Hawaiian thin crust.

I’m watching…

  • We started Bodkin on Netflix this week. It stars Will Forte and takes place in Ireland.

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Hell Yeah.

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