BRUNSWICK — What was seemingly a never-ending downpour a few days ago has left much of Maine’s vast swaths of grass in rough shape. That’s without most of those areas seeing high volumes of foot traffic.

Although readying the greens for play has hardly been ideal this summer with this much rain, doing so for this year’s Maine Women’s Amateur was an especially challenging task after Sunday’s storms. Yet that’s exactly what Brunswick Golf Club did — and thus far, competitors are more than happy with how the course has played.

“Everything is in really great shape considering all the bad weather we’ve had,” said Lisa Wintle of Old Marsh Country Club in Wells. “The staff here has done a really fabulous job. There are still a few wet areas, but it drained off quite well, and it’s played very well, I think.”

It’s been a rarity to find days in which Maine’s golf courses hasn’t soaked in some rain this year. The most recent rainfall Sunday included 1.5 inches in Brunswick and even more in the western areas of the state.

Fortunately for Brunswick Golf Club, a new drainage system installed bit by bit on the back nine – or front nine in non-tournament play – the past few years helped ease the preparation process. The tournament front nine, BGC Golf Director Chris Doherty said, drains well enough by itself.

“That first nine they play – so our real back nine – is built on top of sand, so it drains a lot faster,” Doherty said. “On the back end, we know that 11, 12 and 15 for the tournament are always going to be a little bit (wet) because they’re lower-lying areas, but we just went cart-path only to keep everybody out of there.”

Erin Holmes (the leader at 4-under par after two rounds) said those three holes were indeed wet on that the fairways, but that didn’t come close to holding the leader from Val Halla Golf Course back. The Greely and Bucknell University graduate birdied all three Tuesday en route to establishing an eight-stroke lead over Jade Haylock and Shivani Schmulen.

“They’ve done a great job here; I’m honestly really surprised with how good it’s been,” Holmes said. “Those two or three fairways are wet, and 16 is also a bit wet, but that’s just how it is sometimes. You just have to golf your way through it, and I’m really confident and really relaxed, so I did a good job of that.”

Erin Holmes, left, and Shivani Schmulen read the green and line up their putts during the second round of the Maine Women’s Amateur on Tuesday at Brunswick Golf Club. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

A dry last 36 hours meant the course could continue to dry Monday night into Tuesday without taking on additional rainwater before the first golfers teed off at 7:30 a.m. That, Wintle said, made for a Tuesday session that was much drier than Monday’s, though she added that the latter was plenty navigable.

The greens, Wintle added, were among the fastest she’s played on all year. Lin Berkowitz, of Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth, said they played slower than those of her home course, though she was ultimately able to work her way through them and make the cut in her first-ever Women’s Amateur.

“It was definitely drier than my course; considering the amount of rain we got, I thought it could have been a lot worse and that it was very manageable,” Berkowitz said. “I always feel for superintendents because I know they work very, very hard to make it as playable as possible, so kudos to the team here, for sure.”

With wet conditions persisting, golfers played “lift, clean and place,” allowing them to a club’s length for relief that proved to be a huge boost in wetter areas. The rest, Berkowitz said, often came down to making the right decision out of the bag.

“(When it’s this wet), you want to take the time to make a better club selection and make sure you’re comfortable with what you’re hitting,” Berkowitz said. “It also helps when you get that club’s length of relief. That was really, really helpful.”

Play started on time Tuesday morning after organizers delayed the start one hour Monday to ensure proper time to mow the course. Even early Monday, the conditions more resembled the general wetness that’s persisted all year than relics of Sunday’s downpour.

“Everyone seems to think that the greens are in great shape and that the fairways are good,” Doherty said. “For the most part, they don’t even notice we got that last-minute inch and a half.”

« Previous

Next »

Related Stories