Boston Herald Notes Granite Links' Many Awards
Jun 7, 2010
By Joe Gordon / Golf Notes
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Prestigious awards keep coming for Granite Links Golf Club in the hills of Quincy and Milton, where its perch atop the granite quarries make it feel as though you could reach out and touch downtown Boston, seven miles away.
After being named Course of the Year in New England by the National Golf Course Owners Association in February, Granite Links began discussions with the LPGA for a possible tournament at the site, which now consists of 27 holes, a range and a large clubhouse.
The LPGA has expressed interest in having a tournament in the Boston area. Granite Links already hosted the Legends Tour for senior LPGA players and the facility proved to be fit for an even bigger event with its access to close off-site parking with shuttles, a Marriott Hotel nearby and its proximity to the junction of Interstate 93 and Route 3.
“I think it would be great,” Granite Links general manager Walter Hannon III said. “If they can get a sponsor, we’d love to have it here.”
The course sits on reclaimed land that required enough truckloads of fill from The Big Dig that, had those trucks been stacked end to end, they would have literally reached the moon. The course took about 15 years to complete from its conception. Hannon could see the potential from the outset, especially after course architect John Sanford related what he’d heard from legendary architect Rees Jones.
“Rees said he had seen the layout and the plans and the location, and that it was going to be spectacular,” Hannon said. “Ever since Rees Jones told that to John, I was so excited to get finished. Prior to that, I was hoping it was going to be a great course. We knew we had great views. After he made that comment, I expected it to be quite a spectacular spot.”
In 2004, Golf Digest named Granite Links one of America’s top 10 upscale courses. The layout also cracked Golf Digest’s overall list of top 100 courses in America.
In February, the privately-owned course with both member access and daily fee play won New England Course of the Year honors after being judged against other semi-private clubs on four aspects: quality of the course and its management, outstanding contribution to its community and significant contribution to the game.
Greens superintendent Brad MacDonald, who worked with Bill Spence at The Country Club in Brookline before Granite Links hired him, was chosen by Hannon to go to San Diego to receive the award.
