Chips & Divots Spanning the North Shore golf globe

New Beverly Golf and Tennis operator Manny Barros and the club's new GM, Jane Ash, check out the sights from the club's 18th green. Barros bought out the final two years of the city's contract with Doug Johnson's management company.

Course Correction:

Johnson out at Beverly Golf

and Tennis

The seemingly endless three-way negotiation/slugfest among the City of Beverly, Johnson Golf Management and Manny Barros for control of Beverly Golf & Tennis finally reached a happy conclusion this April.

Barros, the owner of the nearby Bass River Tennis Club in Beverly, was successful in his lengthy quest to buy out former operator Doug Johnson and took control of the club on April 5. Jane Ash, who has managed Bass River for the past 10 years, will become the club’s new general manager.

“It’s the best way I can imagine starting the new season with this new management group in place,” said Steve Swedberg, the long-time Beverly member who represented the club when he played in the 2001 U.S. Senior Open at nearby Salem CC.

“It’s been a long time coming.”

Ash and Barros had their two key golf staffers in place the first day they took over – head professional Rich Nagle, who was the first head pro at The Meadow in Peabody and later served as the director of golf at the Colonial, and course superintendent Chuck Malatesta, a 17-year veteran of golf turf management, most recently as the man in charge at Stonebridge CC in Goffstown, N.H.

Ash is not a neophyte to the business. Her 22-year career in club management began at prestigious Pine Brook CC in Weston. She started working at Bass River for Steve Connolly who sold the club last year to Barros for $4.5 million.

“Beverly Golf and Tennis Club is an incredible opportunity I could not pass up,” said Barros, 52, a successful Cambridge-based real estate developer and businessman.

“I’m glad we were able to work out our differences to make this deal happen. We plan to give new life to the club in every respect – the golf, the tennis (led by Bass River tennis director Richard LaPierre) and the clubhouse.

“We won’t get anything done overnight, but with the support of the local golf and tennis community and the city, we’ll make Beverly Golf and Tennis Club the great facility it used to be for members and the public.”

Most immediately, golfers will notice changes in the form of a new fleet of golf carts and new course maintenance equipment.

“Between the equipment and the great people we have in place all over the property, tennis players, golfers and those enjoying the clubhouse will see and feel the difference that comes with new management, new personnel and a new attitude,” Barros added.

Ash hopes to offer dynamic junior golf and tennis programs this summer as well.

“The youngsters are the future of both sports and we want to get them started here at Beverly Golf and Tennis if we can,” she said. “At the same time, we expect to be the best possible partner with the city, so that between us we can make this facility a top asset for the taxpayers of Beverly and a wonderful place to play and have fun.”

– Gary Larrabee

Only the name is changing at Rowley

Rowley GC diehards should not panic if they check out the course directory at the back of this magazine and are unable to find their favorite nine-hole track. The popular public course has indeed received another stay of execution from a proposed residential development, but will open this season under a brand new name, Carriage Pines Golf Club.

“The owners (Manchester-By-The-Sea’s Windover Development) were just looking for something to make it a little new and fresh so they changed the name,” said club manager Scott MacDonald, who returns for his 17th year at the challenging track.

“Otherwise, everything will stay pretty much the same.”

With development plans hanging over the course like a black cloud for the last several years, MacDonald and the rest of his staff have learned to take it one season at a time. He’s hopeful, however, that they may be rolling the greens in Rowley for the next couple of years, if not longer. MacDonald points to the fact that a proposed affordable housing complex in the center of town that was supposed to be tied into the development of the golf course is also in limbo. Another good sign, he says, is that Windover has given him and course superintendent Paul Lever the green light to tackle some lagging improvements, such as bunker and pump work.

“They don’t want to bleed it dry,” said MacDonald. “That’s not their intention at all. They want to keep the course in tip-top shape.”

Turner Hill hits the ‘Big Screen’

After reaching the 150-member milestone last fall, Turner Hill is upgrading its glamorous Rice Mansion, which has been sitting unoccupied in a state of flux since the club opened in 2004. The mansion is undergoing a $1M-plus renovation that club president Bob Talbot hopes will allow it to open by early June. The mansion will provide additional member and function rooms, a game room, a fitness center, wine cellar and even a restored two-lane bowling alley.

For the first time, the club is introducing social memberships for the first time, called “The Mansion Club,” which will provide limited access to the golf course and facilities.

“It’s a big step for us, all part of Turner Hill’s evolution as a membership-owned club,” says Talbot, a charter member.

Turner Hill is all of a sudden popping up on the ‘Big Screen’ as well. Last December, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden shot scenes for “The Box,” a thriller that also stars Frank Langella. For that film, director Richard Kelly shot night scenes in the mansion and Turner Hill’s elegant dining room.

A couple of months ago, famed director Martin Scorcese, 2007 Academy Award winner for the Boston-based film “The Departed,” which also won the Best Picture honor, shot scenes at Turner Hill for his new movie, “Ashecliffe,” starring Leonardo DeCaprio and Sir Ben Kingsley.

“We’re delighted that Hollywood sees something very special in Turner Hill, just as we do,” Talbot said.

Southworth and Deitch take over

at Renaissance GC

The arrival of the new season brings all kinds of positive news from the area’s two newest private clubs – the Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill and Turner Hill in Ipswich – both of which are trying to add members and stability.

Renaissance took the biggest step forward over the winter, securing a new owner combination of David Southworth of Southworth Development LLC and Joseph Deitch of Commonwealth Financial Network.

The pair purchased Renaissance, architect Brian Silva’s first signature design, for $9 million, some $4 million under the property’s valuation. The seller was Fairway Renaissance LLC of Milwaukee, which held the mortgage and assumed ownership after founding owner Paul Quinn ran into financial difficulties.

Southworth, the founding president and CEO of Willowbend CC on Cape Cod, is so excited about the purchase that he is relocating the golf development portion of his firm from Newton to the Renaissance Club.

“This is our new Willowbend,” Southworth, 50, told North Shore Golf. “This is our new showcase course, as Willowbend was our very first course – and very dear to our heart. Renaissance, too, is a tremendous golf course with an incredible level of quality and attention to detail.”

Southworth, whose management company ran the Renaissance golf operation last year, comes to Haverhill with an impeccable reputation in the golf community. Southworth Golf runs thirteen other golf clubs and has built 25 courses since 1991. The firm owns two other courses, Machrihanish Dunes, which is under construction in Scotland, and Cat Island in the Bahamas.

“We plan to begin building a full service clubhouse this spring or summer and have it ready for 2009,” Southworth added, “while bringing on new members and keeping the club private.”

Renaissance has 100-plus members and hopes to reach the 200 mark by the end of 2008.

Growing up on a nine-hole public golf course in Canton, Conn., Steve Carter saw his future rather clearly, even as a teenager.

“I never stopped thinking about the pro at Canton Golf Club,” Carter recalled. “His name was Walter Lowell, the course’s pro and owner, and I loved everything his job involved.”

Twenty-five years later, and after a 13-year tenure as the head professional at Ipswich Country Club, Carter’s ambition has taken him to even greater heights. Carter, 40, has departed Ipswich to assume the position of director of golf at the prestigious Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

It’s the highest profile job in memory for which a North Shore club professional has left the area.

Firestone, site of a World Golf Championship event for several years and a PGA Tour stop for more than forty years, and Ipswich CC are part of the Club Corp. family of 100 private courses and six resort courses owned by the Denver-based company KSL Capital Partners. Club Corp. executives have been impressed with Carter’s aplomb as a club professional for several years, so they were delighted when Carter accepted their offer to move to Ohio.

“This is a fun challenge for me,” said Carter, a Northeastern University grad who served as an assistant under Mike Farrell at Beverly Golf and Tennis Club for two years before serving in the same post at Ipswich for two years before becoming the man in charge of the challenging course. “Ipswich has a 20-year history and I’ve had a great time working for a terrific membership there. But Firestone has an 80-year history, has three championship courses and a national golf reputation that’s the envy of most great clubs in America.

“The Firestone membership was a big factor in my decision to take the job, too,” Carter added. “The membership, like at Ipswich, has a special passion for the game. They want to make the golf experience as good as it can possibly be – both for them and those who come to the course as players and spectators. It’s also reflected in the level of service they expect.”

No one loves Firestone more than one Eldrick “Tiger” Woods. The world’s greatest golfer has won the last three WGC tournaments at Firestone (The Bridgestone Invitational) and has won six events there since 1999.

“Sure, that’ll be an exciting and demanding part of my job, serving as the host professional for the Bridgestone,” Carter conceded. “But that’ll simply be a small part of the whole job I’m expected to do on a yearly basis.”

Carter made his biggest impression on Club Corp. brass when he served for six years on Club Corp.’s National Golf Committee, representing the Club Corp. facilities, private and resort, located in the Northeast. That’s where Carter met Mark Gore, the current general manager at Firestone and the man who hired Steve.

“Mark and I had traveled quite a bit around the country as members of the National Golf Committee for Club Corp,” Carter explained, “when Club Corp was trying to define itself. We bounced a lot of ideas off each other. Those experiences helped me serve my Ipswich membership better and, in turn, the membership did a lot over the years to make me a better pro and help me gain this new opportunity. I’ll always be grateful to them for it.”

So now for the affable Carter it’s on to Firestone, where the World Series of Golf, the American Golf Classic and the CBS Golf Classic were played, and where Tiger looks forward to winning another $1 million come WGC time every August.

“It’s an exciting time for me and my family,” said Carter, who will be accompanied in this exciting new venture by his wife, Marion, and two young daughters, Jillian and Jordan. “And a privilege to get this dream position.”

Mowers moves up

Taking over for Carter will be Chris Mowers, who joined the staff at Ipswich last April, as Carter’s first assistant. A native of Plymouth New Hampshire, Mowers has been involved in the golf industry since the age of 12 and graduated from the Golf Academy of San Diego in 2002.

“I’m very excited,” said Mowers. “It’s a terrific opportunity and a chance to come back closer to home. Besides all that, the membership at Ipswich is just a great group of people to be involved with.”

Mowers started his professional golf career at Club Corp’s Morgan Run Resort and Club in Rancho Santa Fe as an assistant professional and earned his PGA Class A membership there. In his short time at Ipswich, he’s initiated the “Green Angels” program that helps introduce the game to novice female players.

It should be a busy summer for the 29-year-old Mowers. Along with the usual plethora of club tournaments and lessons, Ipswich will again play host to the Massachusetts Women’s Open on August 11.

– Gary Larrabee

Bass Rocks has a new, spacious clubhouse

Say this for the folks over at Bass Rocks: they know how to get things done, and in a hurry.

Three months after breaking ground on a new clubhouse complex last November, it looks like the members will be able to utilize the club’s brand new facility, complete with a spacious restaurant and grill room, by mid-June.

The 17,000-square-foot building will also house a new pro shop, business office, cart and golf storage area and will feature a large deck as well.

Bass Rocks business manager, Bob Shea, say plans have been in the works for the clubhouse for the last two and a half years and he’s very excited with how smoothly the construction phase has gone on the $2.5 million dollar project.

No one is more excited than Bass Rocks head pro Peter Hood, who’s getting a major upgrade from his old digs.

“The pro shop is like a second home for me and I can’t wait to get in there,” said Hood of his new pro shop. “It’s going to be really nice. You will be able to see both the range and the first tee right from there.”

As will soon be evident to anyone traveling in either direction on Route 128, one of the great fixtures in the North Shore golf landscape is gone. After 82 years of operation, the Colonial Golf Club closed its gates for good last fall. The historic course, which abuts the highway for a pair of holes, will be developed into a residential shopping complex, “Meadow Walk,” which will include an executive nine-hole course that will be run by the town of Lynnfield. Ground breaking could begin as early as this spring.

“It really breaks my heart,” said long time Colonial superintendent Lou O’Keefe, summing up the emotions of many associated with the vibrant club which became known as much for its rolling greens as for who you might run into in its circular pro shop/bar and grill after your round.

Opened as a private nine-hole course in 1925 on the grounds of the old Hawkes Estate, the financially strapped course was bought by George Page in 1945 and over the next four decades the innovative businessman turned the property into a full-fledged resort. Along the way, the Colonial became the home course of both the Boston Bruins and Red Sox of the 60s and 70s. Page’s son, Burt, lobbied to save the course to no avail.

Photo by Jim Vaiknoras Colonial’s Director of Golf, Rich Nagle, struck a somber pose when the course closed its gates for good in November.

“I thought there were a lot of things that could have been done with the area,” said Page, a Lynnfield resident who made his feelings quite well known at several town meetings. “We had developed two new holes a long time ago to try to take the highway holes out of it.

“We thought that you could use those for developmental purposes and keep the 18-hole golf course intact, and we thought it might make for an even better golf course. It had an island green and it really would have been nice, but they had other plans.”

The proposed new nine-hole course will utilize Colonial’s second tee through its seventh green. The hope is to come up with a course that is not strictly a par-3 executive course, but instead one that will let golfers use all the clubs in their bag. The town also does not want the new nine to compete with the town’s other nine-hole track, Reedy Meadow. Former Colonial superintendent Mike Johnson has been retained to oversee the grounds at both courses.