Hey Everyone,

As you’ll see below, I was able to visit with Justin Lawson, General Manager at Robert T. Lynch GC, to learn about the Master Plan that is in the works over there. He took me around the course to show some of the pain points that the plan will address, and we talked about the new routing that will be used in the coming years.

This week, Premium Subscribers got access to an article about I wrote about Michael Thorbjornsen. I looked at his 2025 season and the stats that might explain why he missed five cuts in seven events. You can read it here.

As the golf season ramps up, Premium Subscribers will get early access to my course reviews along with bonus content and photos that go beyond the Instagram character limit. This support helps me continue to write this newsletter and get out and explore the Bay State, cover events, and review courses.

News and Notes:

A good start for Michael Thorbjornsen in Houston: In my analysis of Thorbjornsen this week, his driving accuracy and par-5 scoring were two big issues. He birdied two of the three par fives in the first round of the Houston Open and shot a 69 (-1). Live Leaderboard

Alexa Pano and Megan Khang:  In the Ford Championship in Arizona, Pano shot a 71 (-1) and Khang shot a 70 (-2). Charley Hull leads at 9-under par. Live Leaderboard 

Mass Women’s Amateur makes big announcement: The 2032 Mass Women’s Amateur will be held at The Country Club. This comes on the heels of the USGA adding four USGA events: the 2030 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, the 2034 U.S. Amateur, the 2038 U.S. Open, and the 2045 U.S. Women’s Open. Here’s the article from MassGolf.

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Master Plan at Brookline GC

“Some people call this place ‘Puddleham,” Justin Lawson said as he dragged his finger over the Master Plan in the Hemlock Grill at Robert T. Lynch Municipal Golf Course. Along with that nickname, Robert T. Lynch is known by a few more official names: Putterham and Brookline GC.

Justin Lawson arrived at Robert T. Lynch in May 2020 as the General Manager of a course with a very famous neighbor, its own rich history, and a big drainage issue.

Golf courses in Massachusetts weren’t even open in the opening weeks that he was on the job due to the pandemic, and the golf boom that followed over the next five years wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.

In 2024, Brookline GC had 38,000 rounds. It’s the perfect amount in Lawson’s eyes.

“It gives us time to do the maintenance work we need to do,” Lawson said.

In comparison, George Wright and Franklin Park did around 50,000 rounds in 2024.

At Brookline GC, water is king, and rain can make the course literally unplayable. In 2023, an infamously horrendous summer that brought 20 inches of rain and the second rainiest July on record (10 inches), Brookline was closed for 40 days, and for a chunk of the season, it could only use nine holes.

Some quick back-of-the-envelope math would show that losing 40 days would cost the course about $360,000. Toss in nine-hole rates for another chunk of the summer, and that’s a massive dent.

"This is the destination for all the water that falls within a square mile," Lawson said.

“Right now, this existing channel, believe it or not, is trying to move water uphill,” Lawson said. “You don’t realize that until you put everything into a computer.”

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In 2021, Mark Mungeam started developing the Master Plan for Robert T. Lynch. Like any big project, it’s not just about pointing out the improvements and changes that need to happen; it’s also about identifying the appropriate order of operations for the sake of the budget.

Drainage is the key issue, as any type of rain makes the course very wet.

“The rain happened Sunday into Monday, and here we are Wednesday afternoon. I want to be here Tuesday morning,” Lawson said. “For us, it's just taking too long to get to this point because, at a certain point, the water stops coming into the property. The system gets a chance to catch up and process a lot of this runoff, but right now, it's just taking way too long.”

There is a misconception that Brookline GC received a windfall of money from The Country Club in 2022 because they used Brookline GC as an entrance and parking lot for the U.S. Open. In fact, it was the USGA who gave Brookline GC the money, and it was enough to improve or add 14 tee boxes. Some tee boxes were leveled, and they also added some new tee boxes geared toward golfers with slower swing speeds. The ninth hole has a new tee box that will turn the dogleg par 4 into a par 3 when the fairway gets too wet.

Some might wonder why that money wasn’t used for drainage. Permitting for the drainage would have dried up that money quickly because it was barely into the six figures. So, putting it towards an immediate, tangible change for the golfer felt like the right move.

“We wanted it to make an impact on high-touch surfaces,” Lawson said.

The Master Plan will require millions of dollars over the next decade. It will also include careful work to make sure that all the water that typically sits on the golf course is moved responsibly.

“We don’t want to flood our downstream neighbors,” he said.

The intent of the Master Plan is clear:

First, find ways to move the water off the course faster.

Second, add new features and uncover the hidden gem.

Third, drive engagement with the community.

“We had a new saying that we came up with — it's a glacier. We're slowly getting there,” Lawson said.

The glacier analogy is funny due to all the issues the course has with water, but it’s true: This project is going to take time and patience. Such is the life of a public golf course that can’t afford to close up and make the changes like some private courses.

There are early signs of the work being done.

The seventh hole is almost a microcosm of what will transpire across the entire course. Stand on the tee box, and the view is different than it was in the fall of 2024. Trees have been cleared and the massive pine that sat behind the volcano green is gone.

While the left side of the seventh has been opened up, a new waterway also appears along the right side of the hole. A series of streams and creeks have been covered to make the course more playable over the years. However, the culverts have slowed or even stopped the flow of water. Pipes have burst, and the Master Plan aims to reveal some of these veins and widen others.

The seventh fairway is also one of the most impacted by rain, as it collects at this low point. The final 100 yards can get very sloppy on a good day and turn into a pond on a bad day.

"The tool that we need the most is we gotta dig,” Lawson said.

The plan will also widen and reroute existing streams, namely the one that runs between the sixth hole and the fourth hole. It will meander across the par-3 third hole into another stream that will be widened to keep the water flowing. In other cases, water features will be covered up. Most notably, the first cross hazard on the 13th hole will go underground to make the hole more playable.

While moving water is incredibly important, Brookline GC also wants to move people through the course efficiently. They plan to reroute the course to add some more excitement earlier in the round and make the first tee more convenient.

Right now, players have a long walk to the first tee, which sits behind the driving range. Before the range was built, Brookline’s opener was a par five that started closer to the clubhouse. When the range was built, the first tee was moved to shorten the hole to a par 4.

The new routing will start their round on the current 13th hole, which sits in the shadow of the brick clubhouse.

It’s always felt like the walk from the par-3 12th to the par-4 13th is when the golf course really kicked into gear. The 12th is a charming par 3, but the final six holes are really where the shot value improves.

While the Master Plan proposes that the course starts on the current 13th hole, it’s not as simple as playing the course in order from hole 13 to the current 12th hole. The course routing will be totally different; holes 16-18 are the only ones staying the same.

The Master Plan on the website is big enough to track the new routing.

The current first hole, which will become the new seventh hole, will still require a long walk. In the new routing, players will leave the current ninth hole (which will be the new sixth hole) and walk to the current first hole (which will be the seventh).

The routing's bonus is that it offers a great six-hole loop for twilight golfers, as the new sixth hole (the current ninth) returns players to the clubhouse.

In a perfect world, the real, serious work will start in October 2025 and continue through the winter.

For Lawson, golf and community go hand in hand. With a driving range, an excellent grill, an outdoor space for public events, and new walking trails near the first hole, he hopes to draw new people to the game just by being around it in organic ways while also drawing the serious golfer who is looking for challenge and intrigue.

The future is bright, and dry, at Brookline Golf Club.

Here’s the new routing. Which will not be used in 2025.

WORMBURNER COMICS

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

🕵️ Working through 1984

☘️ The Celtics have a new owner… How will new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm handle spotlight? And more questions

I’m listening to…

🧥 Just a friendly reminder to listen to Retail Therapy. Last week’s was a good episode that talked a bit about the incredibly fast-paced, short-term trends that Generation Z are dealing with.

🎶 A blind music suggestion… Mumford and Sons released a new album today called Rushmere.

I’m eating…

🏝️ We stole away for a long weekend to Nantucket. It’s quiet down here in March. A lot of places are still closed, but Wicked Island Bakery is open and delicious. Their morning bun is incredible and so is their cranberry and pecan muffin.

I’m watching…

🏈 The new OJ Simpson documentary on Netflix is freaking bananas. A bunch of new stuff is brought to light. Just insane. And maddening.

New here? Reached the bottom?

Hell Yeah.

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