From today's Providence Journal:
By Paul Kenyon
Journal Sports Writer
RICHMOND — The Meadow Brook Golf Course, on the site of an old colonial farm on Route 138, less than two miles from Route 95, still carries the same name it has had for more than 80 years.
That is where the similarity between the old and the new ends.
The gentle old course, run for so long by the Rawlings family, has been transformed into a 21st century powerhouse by its new owners, the Hendrick family. The layout, labeled by Stephen Heffner in his book on Rhode Island golf as the most “unpretentious and laid back golf course” in the state, is totally gone. There are no holes in the new facility that resemble any hole on the old course.
A course that used to play all of 6,075 yards — from the back tees — has been turned into the longest challenge in Rhode Island, a 7,468-yard monster from the tiger tees.
How long is it? How about two par-5s on the back nine alone that are more than 600 yards, including the 649-yard 15th hole, which becomes the longest golf hole in the state.
Welcome to the new Meadow Brook, which opened this week. Rhode Island has still another excellent golf club to add to the state’s already impressive list.
“Our goal,” said Jason Hendrick, who owns the course with his wife, Kelly, and his father, Peter, “is to have a true high-end public accessible course.”
The family already owns and runs two courses, Exeter and Richmond, both of which have been become well-respected in the golf community. Four years ago, the Hendricks decided they wanted a different type of course.
“Those two are nice public courses,” Jason Hendrick said. “This is a more high-end, luxury type course.”
“It is better than good,” said Bob Ward, the executive director of the Rhode Island Golf Association. “I played a lot at Meadow Brook when I was growing up and I liked it. I didn’t recognize anything when I saw the new one. But I really like it.”
There are a number of 18-hole courses in Rhode Island built on less than 100 acres. The Meadow Brook property is 260 acres.
“We didn’t use all of it. We’ve kept some open,” Jason Hendrick said as he showed a visitor around, “but we made sure we provided plenty of room. We have five acres of greens and five acres of tees.”
The family hired the Massachusetts-based firm headed by Roger Rulewich and David Fleury to do the design. Rulewich has over four decades of experience and has designed, or reworked, 125 courses around the world, including such facilities Adare Manor in Limerick, Ireland, Palmetto Dunes in Hilton Head, S.C., and Saratoga National in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
“They’re excellent. They did a great job,” Hendrick said. “A lot of it is natural. Some holes go through the trees. Some are wide-open.” Two large ponds, which come into play on four holes, were built. Virtually every fairway is shaped, as so many of the modern courses are, to give the layout more character. There are 45 bunkers.
The Hendricks spent nearly two years putting in facilities needed to run the course and re-doing the old clubhouse, which sits only feet from Route 138. That clubhouse will remain, but a new, larger one will be constructed. Members of the Rawlings family, who still live nearby, helped get the process started and even provided work space. Mike Santos, who had been at Valley, was hired as superintendent, and John Grimley, who had been an assistant at Quidnessett, is the head pro.
About two years ago, when course construction began, the Hendricks did the same thing they did at Exeter and Richmond. They did it themselves.
“We did 90 percent of the work, maybe more,” Hendrick said. “The land was wonderful to work with. There were not a lot of rocks. Everything was here for a golf course. We’ve been working seven days a week. The only thing we brought in is the sand for the bunkers.”
The course is designed to allow for a true championship test. It has been give a SLOPE rating of 74.4 from the back tees. Still, it was built to insure that players of all abilities could enjoy it. There are five sets of tees on every hole, so that it could play as short as 5,308 yards, to 6,532 yards from the middle tees all the way back to the 7,468 yards from the blacks.
“We want people who are 15-and 20-handicappers to be able to have fun. I wanted to be able to have fun,” Hendrick said. “We’re proud that there are no forced carries. If you don’t want to hit over the water, you don’t have to.”
The five sets of tees, and the huge greens, make for numerous options on each hole.
“You could play this hole every day for a week and never have the feeling you’ve played the same hole,” Hendrick said as he stood on the 10th tee, a gorgeous par-3,with water on both sides and in back, that plays anywhere from 86 to 202 yards. “Depending on where we put the tee and the pin. It can be a totally different hole from one day to the next.”
It sounds strange in Rhode Island to have a golf course owner speak about how much land there is, how many options a course can provide. In keeping with the smallest state, most courses are tight and restricted
Not the new Meadow Brook. The state’s newest course is open and airy. And impressive, as well.
pkenyon@projo.com