Conditions at Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough have been especially good this spring. The course opened on March 28. Staff photo by Derek Davis
Matt Gaynor, the head professional at Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough, said his course each year tries to be the first in southern Maine to open.
That goal was accomplished again this spring. On March 28, Nonesuch River was up and running, with all 18 holes open for play. It wasn’t the earliest start Gaynor has seen from the course, but from a conditions standpoint, it may have been the best.
“This is my eighth season here, and I’ve personally never seen turf this healthy, this early in the season,” Gaynor said. “The grass is already growing, the greens are being mowed daily. You wouldn’t notice a difference between what we would normally consider our peak season and what we have out there right now.”
Nonesuch is among several area courses that have been able to open in full in April thanks to a mild winter that didn’t challenge the turf and a sunny and warm start to the month.
Brunswick Golf Club, Biddeford-Saco Country Club, Portland Country Club in Falmouth and Portland’s Riverside Golf Course – both the 18-hole North side and nine-hole South side – are among the courses that have opened all holes.
Though the rain early this week curbed that momentum, early openings have allowed for courses dependent on greens fees to get a jump-start financially.
“Membership is always your constant, and the variable financially is always your public play, your greens fees and your daily cart fees. If you don’t get those in the early season, it certainly puts you kind of behind the eight ball,” said A.J. Kavanaugh, Brunswick Golf Club’s director of club operations. “Anytime you get off to a good start like this, it’s just kind of a bonus.”
That strong start peaked two weeks ago, when temperatures climbed into the 60s and reached the mid-70s on April 14, bringing golfers out to the courses in droves.
“We ended up having 275-plus golfers, it felt like a summer day,” Kavanaugh said. “We had tee times going out until 5:50 p.m., on an April day. That was unheard of. That was something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced. That was a July tee sheet.”
Mike Caron, the head professional at Biddeford-Saco, estimated he got 260 players that day, and Gaynor said the Nonesuch River parking lots were full the whole week. Playing conditions remained ideal the next week, as temperatures dipped but the sun stayed out.
“Anytime that we can just get ahead of the curve a little bit, it goes a long way in making the whole experience better for everybody that’s going to come here,” Gaynor said. “The more traffic that we can get through the doors here, the more that we can actually offer back in return.”
Better-stocked pro shops will be a more reliable source of revenue this season for area courses. At the start of the pandemic, companies providing everything from golf carts to golf balls and gloves to food and beverages were overwhelmed by orders, and deliveries were often delayed by months or canceled outright.
“It was very hard to get product, and it was difficult controlling the pace of it, too,” Caron said. “You try to keep things seasonal, and we had product coming in in the spring and then part of the same order would be coming in in the middle of the summer.”
It’s been a different story this spring, as orders made over the winter have arrived on time.
“This year, I’ve noticed a huge change,” Caron said. “My shop is completely full right now.”
Brian Bickford, who oversees the Maine Golf Center – formerly Freeport Country Club – as Maine Golf’s executive director, has seen the improvement as well.
“Last year, we couldn’t get range balls,” he said. “I ordered a set of Callaways last week, they’re sitting in the back of my car. Last year, that would have been three months. A lot of supply chain things have been ironed out.”
Bickford has been a catalyst for promoting youth golf, starting Maine’s participation in Youth on Course, a national program that allows junior players to play for only $5 a round. Last year, there were 850 players signed up and 22 courses offering the rates; Bickford said there are over 1,200 participants this spring, and the Maine Golf website lists 24 member courses.
Salmon Falls Country Club, a nine-hole course in Hollis, is offering Youth on Course for the first time this season. Bruce Peloquin, the manager of golf operations, said it was an easy decision.
“It just sounded too good to not do,” he said. “We’ve had groups and groups of young kids every day. They’re here all day, they don’t play nine holes, they don’t play 18 holes. They play as much as they can get.”
The state’s premier golf tournament, the Maine Amateur, will hold qualifying rounds at Biddeford-Saco (June 8), Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland (June 13), Augusta Country Club in Manchester (June 15), Bangor Municipal Golf Course (June 20) and Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn (June 22) before the championship is held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport July 11-13.
The Maine Women’s Amateur will be held July 17-19 at Brunswick Golf Club. The Maine Event, open to men and women, will take place June 26-27 at Augusta Country Club.
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