https://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/beverly-country-club/My technological ineptness knows no bounds. When Ben unveiled the Cabot website years ago, I suavely noted that something had gone wrong because the word 'like' appeared so often: Like us on Facebook, etc. I could 'hear’ Ben’s eyes roll over the phone. Similarly, Sean Arble makes fun of me for not knowing how to use/check WhatsApp. Vaughn Halyard does the same for FaceTime. Every day though, I am thankful that two friends bullied me to get GolfClubAtlas set up on their internet platform SiteSuite.
GolfClubAtlas transitioned to Word Press over a decade ago but the fact is, if you want to chronicle change and trends in architecture, the ability to update things is crucial. Last fall, for instance, we overhauled two old profiles, Somerset Hills and Sleepy Hollow, and are now amending the Beverly CC profile for the third time. And guess what? This version will have the shortest shelf life of any that we have ever done! That's right; the course just closed for the final leg of a restoration project that began some two decades ago. Next fall, we will update the Beverly profile for a fourth and (maybe!) final time.
Beverly’s transformation was kicked off in the early 2000s by people like Rick Holland, Terry Lavin and Paul Richards who agitated for the club to restore original features and remove trees to reveal its exceptional Donald Ross course. But despite the steadfast progress, work remained -- the membership at that time simply wasn't ready to remove additional trees, further expand fairways and restore green surfaces and bunkers to their original scale. As the Golf I.Q. grew within the club, so did the desire to forge ahead and realize that ultimate vision. Now with people like Andrew Lewis picking up the baton, Beverly is poised to reach the last - and highest - step in architecture.
Beverly represents one of Ron Prichard's farewell songs to the game. It has been a labor of love for him and his time there will technically extend into four separate decades. Tyler Rae (March's Feature Interview) will be carrying out the work. As we know from places like Cedar Rapids and Portland CC, that bodes well indeed for Beverly.
No point in repeating things covered in the profile, but I will make one additional observation. For twenty years, we have written about what we think is important, namely the golf holes and how they connect and interact with one another. Don't care about the clubhouse or if a place is private or public or whatever: the golf is what matters. Beverly's collection of holes appears bullet proof, at least to me. Yet, in a break from the past, I feel compelled to mention its membership. The club's demographics have changed since the original profile was published. The membership has become younger and somewhat more likely to live in the city -- a product of both the Great Recession and the club's proximity to downtown -- but the focus on the course remains the same -- a good sign that the positive effects of this restoration will endure.
Read the profile for more but in this macho city, it is amazing to see how the mindset of the club has evolved to where nothing is too minute to escape scrutiny. The end result is a club that is a magnet for good players and golf course architecture aficionados and anyone who appreciates high quality golf. All I can say is, stay tuned!
Best,