Was worth every penny’: Worcester CC celebrates popular, $3.7 million course restoration
Bill Doyle
Fri, Jun 7, 2024, ADVERTISWorcester Country Club president Jim Collins, right, prepares for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the club’s $3.7 million restoration while past presidents, from left, Dr. Phil Lahey, Michael Kelleher and Tim McDonnell look on.Mor
ester Country Club called it a “restoration celebration” weekend and even held a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
On Friday, May 31, general manager Troy Sprister, club president Jim Collins and former club presidents Dr. Phil Lahey, Tim McDonnell and Michael Kelleher spoke at the club about the $3.7 million restoration of the 18-hole private course to what Donald Ross had in mind when he designed it in 1913.
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Afterward, Collins, Lahey, McDonnell and Kelleher stepped outside to conduct a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and then a buffet was held for members.
The following night, Shrewsbury High graduate Cara Brindisi, a 2022 contestant on NBC’s “The Voice,” performed between the first tee and 18th green while members had a picnic buffet. The next day, a family BBQ was held at the club pool.
Sprister said the restoration was “overwhelmingly positive” among members.
“We had skeptics all along, as you will,” he said, “but now that they’re getting out to play the course, they’re saying it was worth every penny, it was worth sacrificing holes last fall to get it into this condition.”
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“The reaction has been excited, appreciative and just lucky to be here to play this golf course every day,” head pro Andy Lane said. “It’s reached a whole other level that I think a lot of people were hoping for, but it’s reached a level that many folks had no idea how good it was going to be.”
The restoration by noted golf course architect Gil Hanse began last Aug. 1, forcing various holes to be closed over the next several months while work was done. By mid-November, only the first hole was open. So some members played it several times with several golf balls.
On March 29, 14 were open, and on May 14, all 18 holes were open, about nine years after the restoration plans had begun. The restoration was completed on time and under budget, thanks to the hard work of superintendent Adam Moore and his staff, who were presented gifts by Sprister.
McDonnell said the wait was worth it.
McDonnell said Hanse told him the course had “good bones,” but it needed some work. The bunkers had lost their shape, and the course was too long for the average golfer.
Forward tees were built to make the course more playable for those who don’t hit the ball far, and back tees were constructed for those who do.
The 11th green was lowered to its original height, and Lane said some of the club’s better players consider it to be the course’s best green now.
Greens and fairways were expanded to their original size. Bunkers were renovated and added.