Hopkinton CC gets facelift

Golf Course News, Jun 2002

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.-- Triad Development and Management LLC has undertaken a "dramatic transformation" of the former Saddle Hill Country Club here into a new private club.

Architect Ian Scott-Taylor is overseeing the project for Triad, which was determined to turn the property into a more traditional golf course. Tim Gordon, general manager at Hopkinton, said Scott-- Taylor should transform the 18-- hole track into "something special."

Construction is underway, and Gordon said he expects the renovated course to open for play in July or August.

In drawing up plans for renovation, Scott-Taylor said he looked to turn a 40-year-old functional course situated squarely in the Boston market into a modern classic in the vein of those designed by Donald Ross, Alister Mackenzie and A.W. Tillinghast.

"It's a big thrill for me to have a club ask me to do what comes naturally," Scott-Taylor said.

Eighty-five bunkers, as well as contouring and all-new tee complexes, will be added to the course. Those bunkers, Scott-- Taylor said, are designed in the early style of the great architects.

"It's what I've always wanted to do in the States - get a golf course and turn it back to that era," he said.

Scott-Taylor is also reversing the course's existing routing, similar to how Augusta National changed its original fourth and fifth holes to what are now the famous 12th and 13th "Amen Corner" holes, he said.

The new Hopkinton CC will present unique challenges that the existing course doesn't offer, and it will take a few rounds to adjust to those changes, Scott-- Taylor said.

"Most of the members who come out and play will call me Lucifer the first couple of rounds," Scott-Taylor said. "But once they start discovering how to play the course and learn its intricacies, they will start to play better."

Gordon said that regrassing the primary and secondary roughs with various kinds of fescues will help create the old-style look the club is seeking.

"The idea is that it looks, feels and smells like it has been here and is established," Gordon said. "The Boston area has seen a lot of new courses open in the last five years, but we didn't want to be a 'me too.' The tradition is what it's all about. It's what everyone loves."

Planned construction also includes added amenities like a swimming pool, tennis courts and a full-service clubhouse.