Above: Today, the Southborough Golf Course reopened. Earlier this year, the Town thanked Assabet students for helping get the relocated clubhouse back in shape. (top photo by Beth Melo; bottom images from Facebook)
The Southborough Golf Club is already reopened for play. (It came as a surprise to my daughter who got used to walking our dog there. So, I need to update that the course is no longer open to the public for walking.)
It looks like Golf Club management was swift to respond to yesterday’s announcement by the Governor that courses could reopen. As of today, the website states:
**We Are Now Open for Golf**
Tee times available 7 days in advance online or by calling 508-460-0946.
We require all golfers to practice the State of MA guidelines for COVID-19 and adhere to social distancing before, during, and after your round.
Arrive no more than 10 minutes prior to your tee time. Pay by credit card.
No congregating of any kind allowed on property, at any time, for any reason.
This will be enforced.
Thank you for your cooperation and helping us keep Southborough open for golfers.
At this time riding carts are not available.
Since I’m sharing Golf Club news, I’ll follow up with a related story that I’ve been meaning to share.
Last fall, I shared a Community Advocate’s win-win story about the renovation of the Southborough Golf Club clubhouse. Assabet students have been getting on-the-job training while saving tens of thousands of dollars for the Town.
Earlier this year, the paper updated that the Town hosted a party to thank students for the work, nearly completed. As the story reminded, after the clubhouse was relocated to make room for the public safety station, the building needed a lot of work:
new siding, trim and a new roof. The windows, corner trim, and the double doors also needed to be replaced, and a large deck with stairs to grade level was to be constructed.
DPW Director Karen Galligan reached out to the school, which had previously built the swap shop sheds at the Transfer Station. She was impressed with the professional job on that project and this one:
“they have just done an awesome job,” [DPW Director Karen] Galligan said. “You worked very hard and produced high quality work,” she told the students. . .
“The work couldn’t be more perfect,” [ Building Commissioner Laurie Livoli] said. “I attribute that to your having a good teacher in Mr. Coulson, Good luck in whatever your future holds but know that good carpenters who pay attention to the details are always in demand.”
Wayne Coulson is the school’s off-campus project coordinator who schedules, organizes and monitors the variety of offsite assignments that the school undertakes, as well as leading his own House Carpentry students’ work extension projects. The students gain valuable skills from actual on-the-job training.
The party was held at the Public Safety Station next door. The article includes some nice background on one of the first responders who helped thank the crew. Firefighter Travis Pacific is an alumnus of the school’s carpentry program. You can read more here.
The story did include a now outdated timeframe for completion of the job:
“In the spring, when the water is turned back on, we will come back and pour the concrete step at the bottom of the stairs and put new gutters on. Our Painting and Design students will finish it all off with some new paint. In the meantime, we have several other projects lined up to keep us busy,” Coulson said. “I love being out here with the kids!”
A discussion during a recent Capital Committee meeting referred to the program being put on hold earlier this spring. It’s unknown when the school will be able to resume the program to complete projects in progress and start new ones. (That is unfortunately impacting the Senior Center’s renovation plans. Stay tuned for more on that.)
The Southborough Golf Club Women’s Casual League will be starting on Monday, May 18th, at 9 AM. Due to the restrictions, anyone attending must sign-up by 9 AM on Sunday to play the next day. For questions or to sign-up to play, send email to sobowomensgolf@gmail.com.
I saw the golf course had flags in the holes. I thought those are suppose to be removed so everyone isn’t touching them one after another? I saw golfers actively using the green and touching the flag stick- no gloves.
The one wearing a MAGA hat was me, but I was wearing a golf glove on my left hand.