North Shore Golf Blog

by Alix Roy

LYNNFIELD – Visitors to the Sagamore-Spring Golf Club off Main Street can now purchase beer and wine from a cart that will be circulating through the fairways.

Selectmen unanimously approved a liquor license for the club at their last regular meeting.

The cart, which needed the license in order to cross Main Street, will offer soft drinks and water in addition to beer and wine. There will be a limit of two alcoholic drinks per purchase and all operators of the cart will be TIPS certified. Beverages would be stored in the clubhouse and overseen by manager Gregg Fellows at all times.

Fellows distributed maps to board members during last week’s meeting, outlining the cart’s exact route. A transportation permit along with all the other necessary paperwork for the cart had been taken care of, he told the board, and all abutters to the course had been notified.

“We feel we’re ready to go,” he said. “We plan on following all state laws and see[ing] how it goes.”

If any problems arise, Fellows said, the club would immediately halt the operation.

Up until last year, Mass. was one of two states that banned the sale of alcohol on golf course grounds. The state legislature voted to lift the ban last November and allow cities and towns to license the sale of beer and wine on individual courses. Since then, dozens of courses have applied for the permits, making it difficult for courses without a license to compete for business.

Earlier this summer, Ould Newbury GC also added beer carts to its rolling nine-hole landscape.

Selectman Arthur Bourque introduced a motion to approve the liquor license for Sagamore Spring, which will encompass the entire property although the cart will stick to its designated route. Only beer and wine purchased from the cart will be permitted on the course.
The motion passed without any contention from the audience, most of whom were gathered for the discussion on Pillings Pond.