October 21 — Wentworth Hills Golf Club appears to be New England’s latest golf course to fall victim to the sour economy.
Suddenly shuttered. The semi-private track in Plainville, Mass., suddenly shut its doors Tuesday without alerting members or others with tee times that it may have closed for good.
“We got a call yesterday from a gentleman who was scheduled to play there, but when he called them up he got no answer,” Matt Killilea, assistant golf pro at nearby Foxborough Country Club, told New England Golf Monthly. “It seems like it just shut down. It looks rather permanent.”
“Closed today.” With no one answering the phones, no website, and what the Sun Chronicle said was a “closed today” sign attached to a chain across the driveway, it looked as if Wentworth had gone the way of several other New England courses. A man who would not identify himself told the newspaper that he would care for Wentworth until owner Potomac Realty Capital in Boston determined what to do with the facility.
Shaky history. The 18-hole, par-71 course, like Sterling National CC, The Georgetown Club, Pleasant Valley CC (to name just a few) has had a shaky financial history. The original owners reportedly sold the club at a foreclosure auction for $3.7 million to Forewinds Hospitality LLC three years after opening the course, according to the Sun Chronicle.
Spokespersons from Forewinds, which at one time also owned Sterling National, did not respond to requests for comments. The same for Potomac Realty and Billy Casper Golf, which at one time operated Sterling National and purportedly still operates Wentworth.
“We don’t have any comment about Wentworth Hills,” Casper Golf spokesperson Ryan Phelps told NEGM.
Golf club whisperer. Rumor had it that Wentworth had been struggling financially for some time.
“We just didn’t know how severe” the situation was,” said Killilea. “They had tee times booked for today so it had to be a sudden thing. It seems for the time being to be a permanent move since they didn’t even contact anybody about tee times.”
The Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA), which held its Father & Daughter Championship at Wentworth, had no prior knowledge about the closing of Wentworth.
“It’s news to me,” Joe Sprague Jr., MGA’s executive director, told NEGM.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out at the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner websites.)
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