NORTON, Massachusetts – The Links at Mass Golf, the 18-hole par 3 golf course owned and operated by Mass Golf, has long been known as one of the area’s premier courses – a site welcoming to players of all ages and abilities and a signal of strength in the golfing community.
On Wednesday, that golfing community came together to unveil the course’s newest addition, a brand new putting green adjacent to the clubhouse entrance that will benefit all visitors to the club, including regular play, junior camp participants and members of The First Tee of Massachusetts junior golf program – which has been headquartered at The Links since its inception in 2003.
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After several months of planning and the last two weeks designing, more than 40 children came out to The Links for “Build A Green Day” – an all-day event that included education, golfing and all around joy to coincide with the unveiling of the 2,500 square foot all natural grass practice green – an expansion to the current artificial turf practice green that currently is in place on the property. Through a joint effort between the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of New England, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, MAS Golf Course Construction and Mungeam Cornish Golf Design, who completed all the rendering and design of the new practice area, in addition to the generosity of several other volunteers, all time and materials that were needed for this project were provided at no cost to the club.
“We are forever grateful for the generosity of so many who made what was once just a dream into a reality here today,” said Kyle Harris, Director of Operations for The First Tee of Massachusetts, who says the new addition will be extremely beneficial to the hundreds of junior golfers who will be able to use it as part of the The First Tee of Massachusetts programming.
He added, “As we work to teach the values of The First Tee through the game of golf, it is essential that participants have top notch facilities, and with this newest addition to The Links, we can proudly say that is the case.”
Thanks to the donation of time and materials by many groups, new 2,500 sq. foot putting green was unveiled Wednesday at The Links at Mass Golf as part of "Build A Green Day!"
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— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) June 26, 2019
The new putting green is scheduled to be open for use beginning in Spring 2020, when the grass will be mature enough to handle regular use throughout the season.
As part of the overall construction of the new putting green at the Norton, Massachusetts course, the first tee box was expanded to 1300 square feet and shifted to the right to allow for the new putting green, while a new chipping area was also added. Additional shrubbery was moved and new sod areas were included in the overall construction.
In addition to the work of the aforementioned organizations, other suppliers who donated time and materials included New England Specialty Soils, MTE Turf Equipment Solutions, SODCO, Tom Irwin, Inc., John Deere Golf, Finch Services, Inc., Country Club Enterprises, Read Custom Soils and TPC Turf Products LLC.
As part of the “Build A Green Day” festivities, children had opportunities to participate in various activities where they learned about golf course design, proper grass growing and types of grass, proper soil practices and the overall construction of the new putting green, then enjoyed various golf activities that included a “closest to the green” competition. A free lunch was made available to all attendees and raffles were held.
Mass Golf extends its gratitude to all those who helped make “Build A Green Day” successful.
