PORTLAND – Riverside Municipal Golf Course is one of the best municipal tracks in the state, and has hosted several major tournaments.

For the past four years, it has hosted two Maine professional events, the TD Banknorth Portland Open and the Charlie’s Maine Open. In the 87-year history of the Maine Open, Riverside has hosted or co-hosted the event 41 times.

But the Maine Open should seriously start to consider rotating the venue at which it is played.

I have nothing against the fine folks at Riverside. I know it is hard to keep a municipal golf course playable all summer long, with the persistent droughts and long spring rains before that.

The conditions this weekend, however, left much to be desired. If I am a playing professional, and I pay good money to get into a state open where the purse is pretty high, I want the greens to be green and made of grass, not brown and made of sand.

Allow golfers from out of state, who increasingly flock to Maine for this tournament because of its purse size, to see all of Maine.

Yes, Portland is a big city, and yes it can easily accommodate 140 golfers and the MSGA staff for a few days, but so can a lot of other places.

Why not let some of today’s best young golfers see Poland Spring, a classic Donald Ross course?

Or Fox Ridge, a relatively new links-style course in Auburn? Or even Martindale, Fairlawn or the fantastic new layout at Spring Meadows in Gray?

At least Spring Meadows is still wet enough to cause some standing water issues in select fairways.

The point, really, is that Riverside is a great course, but being a municipal course, it appears that the land – not the people – seems to suffer under the stress of two high-profile tournaments.

A course can only be as good as the turf on which it is built. The superintendent and the staff at Riverside have done a remarkable job, but sometimes, you can have too much going on.

To the MSGA: Let the rest of Maine see some of the best golfers in New England (and across the country in some cases), too.

Let Riverside host the TD Banknorth Portland Open, as in the past, and play the Maine Open in rotation.

Justin Pelletier is a staff sports writer. he can be reached at [email protected]