GOLF ON CAPE COD COURSE REVIEW

Photographs by George Peet

The Brookside Club

The Brookside Club is the shorter course in this "long-short" equation, and it’s true that at 6,300 yards from the back tees, the Bourne layout is much more target golf than a succession of holes where you just rear back and blast the ball as far as you can.

But the yardage is deceiving: Brookside’s par is 70, made up of a dozen par 4s, four par 3s and just two par 5s. Short course, right? Well, the par 5s measure 540 and 586 from the back tees, and they play as tough as any tandem of par 5s this side of Ocean Edge’s 8th and 18th.

On the front side, the longer nine by nearly 300 yards, there are five par 4s measuring 372 yards or more from the blue tees, including the 440-yard 8th, which surely ranks among the Cape’s toughest two-shot holes. This course is no pushover, as evidenced by its slope rating of 126 from the blue tees and 124 from the 5,814-yard white tees.

Brookside can no longer be classified as a "new" course, because it’s been open for business since the fall of 1997. But the course spent years in limbo, and it hasn’t received a storm of publicity from
national golf publications, which is fine with some of its regular players.
"People who play it all the time say, ‘Don’t tell anyone about it,’" says owner Dan Hostetter, who must be one of the most patient people around, judging from the fits and starts he encountered before the first tee was stuck in the ground. Believe it or not, the Brookside odyssey began 20 years ago.

"I bought the land in 1983, and it took us about four years to get permitted — which was incredible," Hostetter said. "We started construction in 1988, and we were almost complete when Sentry Bank, which was financing the project, became insolvent and the property was taken over by the Resolution Trust Corporation."

The fallout from the stock market crash in October 1987 had claimed Brookside, along with another Hostetter project, the Willowbend Club, and two other brand-new golf community projects on Cape Cod, Ballymeade and The Ridge Club.

"Jack Largay and I had both Willowbend and Brookside," Hostetter said. "Paul Fireman bought Willowbend from the Resolution Trust in 1991. All the work at Brookside stopped and it sat dormant until 1995."
That’s when Hostetter partnered with brothers Richard and Michael McCarthy to purchase the note and the mortgage on Brookside from the RTC. He had his course back, and now, two decades after architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan designed Brookside, it is nearing completion.

"We’ve put about $3 million into the resurrection and completion of Brookside since 1995," Hostetter said. "Jack Nugnes, who is now the course superintendent at Oyster Harbors, is the one who built the course. He oversaw the construction from the beginning, and his know-how of agronomy was very important. Now we’re starting the construction of our clubhouse, and we plan to have it open next year."

As of this writing, the foundation is in place, and the design calls for a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, enough room to accommodate a wedding function for 250 people. It will also boast commanding views of the Upper Cape, the Cape Cod Canal and the historic Railroad Bridge in Buzzards Bay, a vista you can already enjoy from the practice range and the first tee.
Brookside’s entrance off Route 28 (also known as McArthur Boulevard) is next to a car dealership. There are a parking lot, a temporary clubhouse/pro shop/dining area and "a big pile of dirt," says Brookside golf pro Dwight Bartlett with a laugh. Bartlett has been the pro since the course’s debut, and his wife, Karen, is the golf shop manager.

"If you’re going 60 in the left lane, you’re not even going to see us," said Bartlett.

"But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me, ‘Never judge a book by its cover.’ People come in just to hit some balls, then they walk up to the top of the hill and see the course. When they come back in they say, ‘Can I book a time for next weekend?’ "

The complimentary course guide comes in very handy for those new to Brookside. The course opens with a downhill par 4 with out of bounds to the right and a pond coming into play on the approach. No. 1 usually plays 379 yards, but it has a back tee that stretches the hole to 460 yards in non-summer months.

"It’s a dynamite hole from that tee," says Karen Bartlett. "Unfortunately, when the campground next door to us is really busy in the summer, we usually take that tee out of play."

Dwight Bartlett says the back tee is generally open from Oct. 15-May 1, and notes that people who play Brookside in the summer don’t even realize the back tee is there, while many of those who play it in the colder months use only that tee.

The campground hugs the right side of No. 1, separated by a disconcerting fence with barbed wire at the top. "It’s pretty ugly," Hostetter admits. The same out-of-bounds fencing reappears on the left side of No. 14.
The emphasis for the first four holes is on positioning, or more to the point,
keeping your tee ball in play. No. 2 is a pretty downhill par 3, and Nos. 3 and 4 are medium-length par 4s. Anyone hitting the ball too far to the right on these holes will pay a heavy price.

No. 5 is the first par 5, and it has just two requirements: long and straight. The tee shot must negotiate a long ridge running up the right side which will almost certainly kick your ball left, and if you’re lucky and/or good, onto a level lie. The second shot needs to favor the left side, because trees encroach on the right and the opening to the green keeps funneling down the closer you get. Hit three strong shots, or face bogey or higher.
The 6th is a downhill par 3 of just 115 yards from the tips, with handsome rock embankments around the green. You’ll welcome it after the gruelling 5th, and because you won’t get anything else approaching a breather for a while.

Nos. 7 through 9 are all par 4s with an emphasis on the tee ball. Position it well, and even No. 8, the No. 1 handicap hole at 440 yards, can be manageable. A less than solid drive brings factors like the pond in a hollow fronting the small 8th green into play. Don’t go there, if you can help it.
It’s impossible to miss the condominiums being built around this stretch of holes. This is the Villages at Brookside, a 212-town home project by Northland Residential Corp. of Newton. "We sold the condo permits to Northland, but retained the golf course," said Hostetter. "It will always be a daily fee course, and the residents of the condos will get preferred tee times."

No. 10 is the mammoth par 5 of 586 from the blues and 576 from the whites. Thankfully, the tee shot is downhill, but you’ll soon find the same factors as No. 5 taking the fore, namely length and accuracy. Play this one from the back tee with the pin tucked on the right rear of the green, and we’d be hard-pressed not to call this the Cape’s toughest three-shotter.
The 10th green highlights one of Brookside’s main features: there are few if any chipping areas, which came into vogue with the resurgence of Pinehurst No. 2 in the 1999 US Open and seem rampant in new course designs. Instead, Brookside generally has narrow collars falling away to rough. The skills of pitching and lobbing the ball out of thick rough are keys to playing Brookside well.

You’ve now played your last par 5, and the two toughest challenges remaining are back-to-back: the tee shot to the plateau green at No. 13 (194 from the back, 155 from the whites, generally into the wind), and the par-4 14th, which has OB to the left, a tight driving area, and water in front of the heavily sloping green.

The course guide suggests that No. 14 may be the prettiest hole on the course, but No. 12, a 343-yard dogleg left, also caught our eye. The tee shot must avoid water on the left, and the second shot crosses the same hazard, which takes the form of a babbling brook to the left of the three-tiered green. It’s a fun hole, with a fountain to boot.

The course finishes with three shortish par 4s (15, 16 and 18) sandwiching a downhill par 3 similar to — and nearly sharing the same teeing area with — No. 2, a downhill par 3 which plays about 25 yards longer. The shorter 17th boasts a pair of bunkers and a two-tier green, while No. 2 is bunker-free.
The 18th is 359 yards, but it plays uphill, so it’s one to two clubs longer. Avoid the right side with its encroaching trees, and once you’ve putted out, you can join those in the know, those who have played Brookside.

"A lot of people like the fact that they can come out here and play on a weekday and it’s not too crowded," Dwight Bartlett said. "We also have a regular group here Sunday morning, and that tells me we’re doing something right. I have to give those guys (Hostetter and company) credit for having a plan and sticking to it."

Twenty years from its inception, that plan is finally coming to fruition.

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