The fifth hole at Augusta Country Club was recently renovated in Manchester. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
MANCHESTER — One local golf course is looking better than ever after major renovations on a pair of its early holes.
Augusta Country Club has made significant upgrades to the front nine with recent work in holes 5 and 6. The project entailed overhauls to the bunkers and drainage systems on the two holes that forced the postponement of a major golf tournament — The Maine Event.
The work on the fifth hole involved reshaping all of the bunkers and fixing a drainage issue that had resulted in water collecting. The bunkers were also reshaped on the sixth hole, which had additional work done to widen a narrow path along the course and re-sod the grass.
The fifth hole at Augusta Country Club was recently renovated in Manchester. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Work on the course began June 17 and was completed last Wednesday. As a result, The Maine Event, a two-day tournament that had been scheduled for last Monday and Tuesday, had to be postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date later this year.
Although Augusta Country Club could not accommodate a major tournament during renovations, it was still open to membership play. The country club established a temporary green on the fifth hole during the period of work to that hole and did the same for the sixth hole the following week.
“We did a lot of work to those two holes with an outside contractor (On-Course Design), and really, it turned out even better than we expected,” said Augusta Country Club General Manager Dave Soucy. “Chris Barnicoat, our greens superintendent, has also been working really hard. We’re very pleased with the results.”
An official date for the postponed Maine Event has not been finalized as of yet, but organizers are hoping to hold the tournament later this summer. Those organizers, Soucy said, are currently looking at an August date for the tournament.
In the meantime, Augusta Country Club has tournaments booked each of the next four weeks. Central Maine Seniors, Maine Medical Center, the Kennebec Valley YMCA and United Way all have competitions set up in what Soucy said has been an exceptionally active year at the club.
“This is the busiest the club’s ever been,” Soucy said. “I think the pandemic two years ago forced people outside, and we’ve had the momentum from a busy year last year carry over into this year. Everyone’s out and playing.”
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A dozen local golfers are set to compete next week in the 103rd edition of the Maine Amateur Championship.
Eight recent qualifiers and four qualifiers from a year ago have earned the right to compete in the event, scheduled to begin Tuesday. Those qualifiers now know their tee times with some set to begin on hole No. 1 and others teeing off on No. 10.
The field includes four players from Augusta Country Club: T.J. Folsom, Mark Plummer, Jack Quinn, Michael Rankin and Mitchell Terrio. Plummer and Quinn (7:30 a.m.), Tarrio (8:36 a.m.) and Folsom (1:06 p.m.) will tee off on the 10th hole, and Rankin will tee off on No. 1 at 12:44.
Mark Plummer, of the Augusta Country Club, follows through on a drive during the first round of the Maine Senior Amateur Championship last summer at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
The Plummer-Quinn pairing will feature a striking difference in Plummer, age 70, and Quinn, age 12. With 13 Maine Amateur Championship wins to his name, Plummer has more championships in the tournament than Quinn has spent years on Earth.
“To be honest, I’m not real positive about (the tournament) because I’m just getting too old,” Plummer said. “These young kids are taking over, but that’s also fun to see. It’s terrific to follow them and see what they can do.”
From Waterville Country Club, Paul Wiggin (8:25 a.m.) and Drew Glasheen (noon) will tee off on hole No. 1. Waterville’s two other Maine Amateur qualifiers, Hunter Smith and Kevin Byrne, will tee off from the 10th hole at 9:09 a.m. and 12:33 p.m., respectively.
Natanis Golf Course’s Conner Paine will tee off from the first hole at 8:40 a.m., and Luke Ruffing, whose 3-under score June 22 at Dutch Elm Golf Course was the best across all five qualifying tournaments, will tee from No. 1 at 12:22 p.m. The Meadows Golf Course’s Neil Larochelle will begin from hole No. 1 at 1:50 p.m. as part of the final grouping.
The tournament will be held at Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk. The course, Plummer said, is an intriguing course in that it has below-average distance at 6,100 yards but plays tougher closer to the hole.
“It’s not real long, but it’s got some tricky greens,” Plummer said. “You don’t have to be a real bomber to play there.”
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