Too bad a classic like Metacomet really has to die

EAST PROVIDENCE

Brad Faxon has enjoyed a hard-won reputation as a charitable champion of the game of golf. It’s an image he values, if not cherishes, but in one corner of the Rhode Island golf world it’s now in jeopardy.

Faxon and four other partners in an entity called Metacomet Property Company recently agreed to sell the Metacomet Golf Club to Marshall Development for an undisclosed amount. The transaction noted that the new owners would “redevelop the site into an exciting first class mixed-use property that will bolster both commerce and community in the upper bay.”

Forget the public relations baloney. What this means is simple: a 120-year-old, classic Donald Ross golf course is going to flip into condos and office parks. The camaraderie and friendship enjoyed at the club by a dwindling membership could come to an end as soon as the completion of the coming golf season.

The news has unleashed a torrent of ill-will toward Faxon and his partners. It was only a year ago that the group purchased Metacomet from the membership and promised a return to past glory, even if the feasibility of that prospect may have leaned more on dreams than economic reality.

“It stinks, it really does,” Faxon said in an interview with The Journal. “Am I happy about it? Not at all.”

Neither are the members, most long-time golfers who loved their course and others with deep roots now in their retirement years who just like to pop over to the club for lunch and friendship. Terms like “bait-and-switch” and “sellouts” come from the mouths of some members.

“That’s our second home and this just came out of the blue,” said Jamie Lukowicz, a member and one of Rhode Island’s top amateur players for years. “We’re very disappointed in the way they did this. That golf course shouldn’t be going away.”

Here’s some important background. Faxon has a soft spot in his heart for Metacomet. His father, Brad Sr., is a long-time member. His father-in-law played there for years and he counts several close friends as members. Before he won eight times on the PGA Tour and played in two Ryder Cups, Faxon took lessons as a youngster at the course. Anyone who questions his righteous intentions in helping Metacomet remain a golf entity is flat-out wrong.

But business, especially in a struggling golf industry, helped to cloud a marriage that never took hold.

The Metacomet that the current owners bought last April was very ill. In fact it was awash in red ink, owed East Providence back taxes and needed an additional 100 or so members to regain economic strength. How did a classic golf course with splendid greens, a history of introducing Hall of Famer Glenna Collette Vare to the game, welcoming Gene Sarazen and producing more RIGA champions than any other course in the state fall so far?

That’s a complicated story. While other local clubs are still thriving, this one never rolled out the red carpet to extensive women’s play, built a pool or grew much of a junior golf history to cater to young families. But it’s always been a sweet guy’s hangout with a jewel of a golf course.

Metacomet is a golf club, not a country club, and has always been filled with a ton of characters. It wouldn’t be a shock to see a foursome include a judge, a brick-layer, an insurance man and a retired state worker at this everyman’s club. The group could play a $20 Nassau on Sunday, face off in court on Monday morning and laugh about it on Tuesday. In recent years, guys could grab a few drinks, roll out in the afternoon six or seven strong and enjoy the beautiful views of upper Narragansett Bay.

“Who wouldn’t want to be in a club like that?” Faxon said, “but ultimately we didn’t bury Metacomet. They had buried themselves years beforehand.”

When Faxon’s group met with the membership in early 2019 and spoke of grand plans to pump millions into the golf course, install an irrigation system, upgrade the clubhouse and repay taxes and other debts, the members were thrilled and voted to sell.

Tax records show Metacomet Property Co. paid $750,000 to acquire the club and both sides say the deal included more than $2 million in debt and back taxes. The owners told the members that they needed an influx of new blood, would add “limited” public play and could one day take some of the course for development, like condos.

Faxon said things didn’t go well, right from the start. The group threw nearly $200,000 into the clubhouse after discovering code violations and other problems. Any push for new members didn’t succeed and when word got out that public access to tee times kept growing, members couldn’t wait to bark at Faxon’s business partners: Steve Napoli, Brendan VanDeventer, Tim Fay and Karl Augenstein.

“We ended up losing four to five hundred thousand for the year,” Faxon said. “Everyone was hoping for a white knight to allow what was going on there to continue but without a strong capital infusion we were going to keep losing big money.”

After more talk of planned improvements around the holidays, Faxon said one of his partners began receiving unsolicited interest in the club. He won’t say how much Marshall Development offered but couldn’t the group park the offer for a bit and try to locate a golf-specific developer?

“If we do that, it’s another season and more losses. We weren’t prepared to do that,” Faxon said.

Faxon said he spoke to golf business people he respected, both locally and around the country, “and every one told me to sell. Golf has its challenges. The Rhode Island economy has its challenges.”

While true, on a recent warm February Saturday Metacomet’s tee was packed for hours with daily fee and member play. This property could survive in some form as a golf entity. Players should enjoy this classic Donald Ross layout for years to come. But management mistakes dug a giant hole and while other challenged clubs like nearby Agawam Hunt and The Aquidneck Club (Carnegie Abbey) in Portsmouth found transitional ownership options, Metacomet didn’t.

This does stink, and it certainly is disappointing that a cherished piece of Rhode Island golf is on the way out. Like Benny’s and Apex, golfers will zip down the Veterans Memorial Parkway and wistfully remember “that’s where a great course, Metacomet, used to be.’’ kmcnamar@ providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7345 On Twitter: @ KevinMcNamara33