George Wright Golf Course
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

George Wright Golf Course is a
municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...
in the Hyde Park and
Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...
neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
of Boston, Massachusetts. The course was designed by Donald Ross, with the construction completed as one of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) projects. It represents one of the least known but impressive examples of Ross' breathtaking design art. The course opened in 1938.


History

The course is named for
George Wright George Wright may refer to: Politics, law and government * George Wright (MP) (died 1557), MP for Bedford and Wallingford * George Wright (governor) (1779–1842), Canadian politician, lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island * George Wright ...
, a Hall of Fame baseball player with the Boston Red Stockings, along with being one of the leaders of introducing
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
to the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
area in 1890. Retired businessman Henry Sturgis Grew purchased several hundred acres of land (which later became known as "Grew's Woods") in 1847, in what was then the western section of the town of Dorchester Massachusetts. Grew became a founding father of the Town of Hyde Park, incorporated on April 22, 1868, composed of portions of Dorchester (including Grew's Woods), Dedham and Milton. Grew died in 1892. In 1925 his son Edward Wigglesworth Grew, as trustee of his father's estate, sold of the property through his company Meredith & Grew (now
Colliers International Colliers is a Canada-based diversified professional services and investment management company with approximately 18,000 employees in more than 400 offices in 63 countries. The firm provides services to commercial real estate users, owners, inv ...
) to the Bonelli-Adams Company. The intent was to set aside of this land in order to construct a privately financed golf course, to be designed by Wayne Stiles. Instead Donald Ross, the golf course architect who lived in nearby Newton, was commissioned to design the course. Eyeing the terrain, Ross was reported to have shaken his head and said: "You would need one of two things to build a suitable course on this property. Either a million dollars or an earthquake." When the market crashed in 1929 the project was abandoned. On Nov. 6, 1930, the Board of Street Commissioners took the land by eminent domain for recreational purposes, specifically a municipal golf course. The Grew estate was a mix of ledge and swamp, not particularly suitable for building a course, and a good deal of speculation remained whether one could be built. However, despite concerns, construction began in January, 1931. In 1932 Walter Irving Johnson, who had worked for years as an associate of Ross, took on the project as an engineer for the Metropolitan District Commission. During the seven years in which the course and clubhouse were under construction, the work passed from the municipal administration of
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...
to the federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) and
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) programs. George Wright became one of the great feats of engineering and building in the annals of golf. Before completion, of dynamite were used to excavate the ledge, of dirt were spread to raise the ground above the swamp level, and of drainage pipe were laid to drain the property. The WPA provided the funds to build the course, estimated at $1,000,000 by completion in 1938. At one time 1,000 men worked on the project. By completion, George Wright sported a full-sized 18-hole golf course, as well as a nearly long stone wall that encircled the entire site. In addition, a Norman-style clubhouse of mammoth proportion was constructed at a cost of $200,000. The course opened to much fanfare on April 23, 1938, with Mayor Maurice J. Tobin driving the opening ball while a WPA band played "
Annie Laurie "Annie Laurie" is an old Scottish song based on a poem said to have been written by William Douglas (1682?–1748) of Dumfriesshire, about his romance with Annie Laurie (1682–1764). The words were modified and the tune was added by Alicia Sco ...
", an old Scottish song. The yearly fee for membership was $35, and the daily greens fee was $2. In 1946, Mayor Curley, in his fourth and final term, proposed converting the course into a veterans' housing project.


Decline

By the 1970s and early 80s, conditions deteriorated due to city budget cuts. Faced with a tax-cutting ballot initiative (
Proposition 2½ In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
) and possible closure in 1982, the city leased the property to the Massachusetts Golf Association for $1 a year for a period of 8 years. Starting in 1990, the city started receiving 3.5 percent of gross revenues. In 1994, the city's share of profits increased by 1 percentage point to 4.5 percent.


Resurrection

After decades of contracted management, the City of Boston decided to take over operational control of the facility in 2004. The decision was made to provide the best golf experience possible for the city's residents at an affordable rate. Mark Mungeam was contracted by the City of Boston to renovate the course. Since taking over operations, George Wright has gradually returned to prominence as evidenced by being selected as a MGA Amateur Qualifying Site in 2009. *Named Golf.com's 3rd Best Municipal Golf Course in America 2021 *Selected in 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 as one of
Golfweek ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Flori ...
’s "Best Courses You Can Play" list. *Voted 2009 Best Municipal Golf Course in Massachusetts by Golf Digest. *Named 14th Best Municipal in the United States in 2009 by Golfweek.


Features

Over half the holes on the course include hills that often cause the golfer to hit blind shots. Somewhat narrow fairways guarded by large numbers of mature trees also make this relatively short course extremely challenging. The hill on the 12th hole approaching the green (the "Double-decker," with the steep face also known as "Suicide Hill") has been used for years by locals in the winter as a place for sledding and tobogganing. Despite a death in the mid-1990s in the small pond adjacent to the hill, the City of Boston still permits the practice. The course is open seven days a week from April 1 through November 30, located at 420 West Street in the Hyde Park section of Boston, at approximately where West Street turns into Poplar Street.


Scorecard


References


External links


Donald Ross Society

City of Boston - GWGC



Len Curtin on Restoration at George Wright GC
{{Greater Boston sports arenas 1938 establishments in Massachusetts Hyde Park, Boston Golf clubs and courses in Massachusetts Golf clubs and courses designed by Donald Ross Sports venues completed in 1938 Sports venues in Boston Works Progress Administration in Massachusetts