Masterpiece Theater

With its immaculate conditions and oceanside views, Kernwood Country Club, site of the 2007 Mass. Open, has stood the test of time as one of the area’s classic Donald Ross designs

By Gary Larrabee

Donald Ross would probably chuckle if he were alive today. He’d be amused at the way his Kernwood Country Club course in Salem, venue for this June’s 2007 Massachusetts Open, receives “overlooked cousin” status when his greatest North Shore layouts are discussed.

Kernwood Country Club

After all, it’s easy to be underappreciated when your neighboring Ross-designed cousins are Salem Country Club in Peabody, site of three U.S. Women’s Opens and the 2001 U.S. Senior Open, and Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, one of Ross’s purest creations and host of the 2010 Curtis Cup Match.

But that perception is likely to change in June when the Massachusetts Golf Association stages its 98th Open by the Danvers River, with Geoff Sisk of Marshfield seeking to become only the second six-time winner in the tournament’s history.

George Burke, a 30-year Salem Country Club member, classifies Kernwood as “a great Donald Ross venue that, like most Ross courses, has stood the test of time. It’s a lot like Salem and Essex in that as the player gets closer to the green, the challenge increases.”

Which is one of the foremost reasons the MGA returns to Kernwood for its third Open and eighth state championship overall.

As Owen R.J. O’Malley, director of rules and competitions for the MGA, stated in explaining the organization’s ongoing attraction to the par-70, 6350-yard course, “After conducting the Open last year at Charles River, another Donald Ross classic, we get another fantastic Ross treat this year in Kernwood. It should make for another shot-making test for our quality field of players.”

Little could the founders of Kernwood, led by Boston businessman Louis Kirstein, have known when they purchased the 166-acre Colonel Francis Peabody estate in 1913, that over the next century its course would crown champions of national and regional stature, including 1922 Mass. Amateur champion Francis Ouimet, the 1913 U.S. Open and 1914 U.S. Amateur champion.

“Kernwood’s pedigree is as good as anyone’s, and that’s often the most defining characteristic in recognizing the best championship courses in a given area, in this case the championship course-rich Greater Boston area,” O’Malley added.

Kirstein, one of the original investors in the Filene’s Department store chain, had been seeking a locale for a golf club outside the hustle and bustle of Boston. When his golf buddies, Joe Liebman, Jesse Koshland and Al Kaffenburg, gave the thumbs up to the North Salem property, they moved quickly. Thus, Greater Boston was about to have the first golf club organized by golfers of the Jewish faith, long before Pine Brook Country Club in Weston and Belmont Country Club. Today, of course, diversity is the byword at these clubs, as well as at virtually every other private club in the region.

Ross, the Scotsman who came to America in 1899, was completing his stint as head professional and groundsman at Essex CC (1910-1913) when Kirstein approached him about laying out Kernwood’s first nine holes. Luckily, Ross was a man of his word. Even though he resigned from Essex in 1913 and assumed a new post as year-round pro/greens keeper at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina starting in 1914 (and served there until his death in 1948), Ross saw through the Kernwood project. The man who would eventually be identified with the design or redesign of 600 courses in America showed up for both the nine-hole grand opening in August, 1915 and the second nine grand opening in 1918, in which he played in a Red Cross-benefit exhibition with Ouimet, host pro Jack Shea and future U.S. Amateur champ Jesse Guilford.

No sooner was the exhibition over than the MGA, certain of Kernwood’s excellence as a tournament site, sought the club’s permission to stage the 1922 Massachusetts Amateur, the organization’s premier event at the time, on its pristine grounds. Kernwood’s board of governors granted the request.

Thus began a remarkable championship history at the course. To go a step further, in recognition of Kernwood’s support of golf in a myriad of ways, the MGA has already awarded the 2014 Amateur to Kernwood in honor of its 100th anniversary celebration.

“Needless to say, we, the Kernwood membership, have always been delighted to share our course with the golf community,” says Martin Goldman, a 61-year member. “We’ve always had a strong feeling collectively about our role in the golf world; that we have an obligation to give back to golf for local, state, regional and national competitions, as well as charity events.”

“This is part of our tradition, our heritage,” says member Rich Bane, who with his dad George makes up the club’s only father-son presidencies. “We consider it a privilege, to have the best players at any level, men or women, come to our course to be tested.”

Bane’s wife, Tami, incidentally, is the face of women’s golf at Kernwood. She has won 15 club championships, the last 10 in succession. Son Harry, the youngest junior and men’s club champ in KCC annals, is a top-ranked NCAA Division 3 player at Middlebury College. As proud as he is of his family’s accomplishments, Bane is equally proud of the club’s Scholarship Foundation Tournament, which since its founding in 1989 as part of the club’s 75th anniversary year has raised more than $500,000 for high school students in the Greater Salem area and Kernwood employees, be they caddies or clubhouse help.
Typical of Ross’ finest, most endearing courses, Kernwood has undergone little change since its 18 holes were completed 89 years ago.

“We’ve always sought options for improving the course, but never with an intention of altering the Ross character,” said Irv Weisman, a Kernwood member for 35 years and, like Goldman and Bane, a former president. “We’ve worked on the tees (only one tee has ever been moved; No. 1 from where the practice tee is now to its current location between the pro shop and clubhouse); the bunkers, the greens (No. 5 has undergone several alterations). Spanning 89 years, that’s almost nothing.”

The most dramatic physical change to the course in recent years was only temporary. Between November 2004 and April 2005 the club allowed Algonquin Gas to lay natural gas pipeline through its property. The project required construction work on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, eight and 18th holes, as well as through the practice range and the parking lot. Yet, no evidence of the work remains.

“It was an eyesore for only a short period of time,” said Kernwood’s General Manager Tim Lynch, “and the project benefited the overall public good.” In fact, the project covered 25 miles between Salem and Weymouth, enabling the gas line to now run from Canada to the southeast portion of the United States.

The club was well compensated for its inconvenience and was able to make major property improvements that will help the club sparkle during Massachusetts Open week. In 2007 one would never know the project ever passed through the property.

“We’ve done very little to the course in my 30 years at Kernwood,” says superintendent Dean Robertson, who, after 30 years on the job at the club, will step down after this year. “My first year we lowered the top of the first fairway two and a half feet, but since then, we’ve hardly had to touch the place, it’s so naturally ideal for a top-notch golf course. We restored a lot of the bunkers as Ross had them originally. We re-worked the fifth green in 1985, we put three new bunkers on the right side landing area of No. 6; we removed a bunker at the dogleg on 15 and pushed the tee back 10 yards on 16.”

At 6,351 yards from the tips, so what if it’s the shortest course to host the Mass. Open since Paul Moran won at Essex (par 70, 6401 yards) in 1980. Kernwood, with two par fives and four par threes, has always held its own against the best. The standard for nearly 30 years was Bill Flynn’s final-round 66, featuring an eagle-two, six-iron second shot to the 16th that won the Danvers native the 1963 Massachusetts Open in what remains the most exciting finish in the event’s storied history.

The competitive course record fell three shots to 64 in 1993 after Dana Quigley, now of Champions Tour fame, was among the qualifiers for the National Club Pro Championship.

The biggest challenges for a first-time player at Kernwood aren’t just the unpredictable wind patterns or the small, undulated and slick greens. While battling those elements, it’s also easy to be distracted by the tranquil views of the Danvers River, particularly on the front nine where holes No. 5, 6 and 7 hug the shoreline and bring you from Danvers back to an up-close and personal view of the Kernwood Bridge that connects Beverly to Salem. The pristine conditions, fresh ocean smell and vistas of the water that sweep away a golfer while stepping onto the first tee on a sunny morning at Kernwood can simply not be duplicated at any other course in the area.

In addition to the ocean, water comes into play all over the course with plenty of ponds throughout the layout. And like all Ross courses, there are an abundance of strategically placed bunkers at Kernwood, which boasts a slope of 126 from the tips and 120 from the women’s tees.

The best indicator of what might be shot by the 2007 Mass. Open victor came at the 1999 NEPGA, where Kernwood hosted the second and third rounds after Winchester had held the pro-am and first round. Mike San Filippo won his second NEPGA with rounds of 67-68 at Kernwood and a total of 211, holding off host pro Frank Dully (70-72-70-212) and former Salem CC Golf Director Kirk Hanefeld (75-69-68-212).

In essence, 5-under-par could win if the wind picks up and conditions are difficult while the winner could go as low as 200 10-under if the conditions are ideal.