June 24 — If free golf is what you’re after, then drive on out to Ellinwood Country Club in Athol (insert lisp jokes here) in central Massachusetts.
You read that right: All the golf you can play. For nothing. Nada. Zilch.
You may also join the semi-private course, but gay couples need not apply.
Raw deal. Ellinwood offers several categories of membership options, including the extra-special “limited to husband and wife only” package.
Seriously? Ellinwood may be in the boonies, but it’s still in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where same-gender couples have legally married since 2004 and joined golf courses as families long before then.
“Right now, the board put it at ‘husband and wife,’” says Andrew Fregeau, Ellinwood’s pro shop manager. “It has to go through the board for a change.”
New England golfers can, no doubt, still find private and, apparently, semi-private courses throughout the region with memberships that overtly exclude same-sex couples. If that’s what you’re after, may your golfing life be full of triple- and quadruple bogeys.
In a quick and, by no means, complete, survey, New England Golf Monthly finds that discriminating same-sex couples may join several excellent layouts that will not discriminate against them.
Semi-private practice. The award-winning, semi-private Pinehills Golf Club (Plymouth) simply states that individual members may “add a spouse” for an additional fee. Same for the semi-private Granite Links Golf Club at Quarry Hills (Quincy), another accolade-winning club where an individual golf member may add a spouse or children “for an incremental cost.”
Inexplicably, Crumpin-Fox Club (Bernardston), a semi-private course that has garnered its share of kudos over the years, lists a “Husband & Wife” category on its website, even though several same-sex couples have joined as family members. (A sister course, Fox Hopyard in East Haddam, Conn., offers “family” memberships).
Exclusive but fair. On the private side, The International, an exclusive club and spa in Bolton, offers memberships to individuals and families, while the private Andover CC lists “Husband & Wife” under “Family” memberships.
Andover, however, does not prohibit same-sex couples from joining as families, according to Leo Roy, the club’s vice president and director of membership.
“We don’t want to discriminate against anyone,” says Roy. “We think we have another couple like that [same-sex family].”
If you know of New England golf courses that discriminate in any way, please contact this reporter. In the meantime, New England Golf Monthly will check in with Ellinwood after the board of directors meets again in July to determine if the club decides to move into the 21st century.
Golf deal. If you still wish to try the free golf at Ellinwood (what the heck; you don’t have to buy anything), you had better hurry. The offer is good on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays through June. The course may, however, extend free play “here and there” throughout the summer, says Vicki Johnson, food and beverage manager at the 18-hole course that plays to a par-71, 72, or 73, depending on the tees.
“We’re trying to give the course a little break because it’s been quite busy,” Johnson says.
With rounds down across New England and the country, Johnson notes that, not surprisingly, Ellinwood has enjoyed some 40 extra rounds per day during its special.
Even so, what does the 18-hole, par-3 club get from offering golf at no charge? Additional revenue from restaurant business and cart fees ($14 for 18 holes, but not mandatory), as well as new golfers.
“It’s been a very good boost in income,” Johnson says. “It’s just been a very good play for us. We’ve gotten a lot of exposure.”
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. She also writes the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner blogs.)
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