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• 1. John Flaherty 2008 President Ponkapoag Golf Club  |  July 7th, 2008 at 10:37 am

  Senator Brian Joyce (Democrat? Milton) is once again trying to ram through legislation that will hurt golfers everywhere. He wants to lease Ponkapoag Golf Course for 25 years. Simply put… “Ponky” is for the masses. There are plenty of golf courses where green fees are off the chart and out of reach for so many of the average people. Now, he wants to add another. With his lease idea taking your child to play 18 holes of golf would become a major event. Kind of like going to a local sporting event where you better bring your credit card AND make sure you have plenty available on it. When, and if, he plays golf I’m sure it’s at a private club or an expensive one. One has to wonder if he pays or does someone else. He just doesn’t get it. The only outcome of a 25 year lease would be much higher greens fees for those who can least afford it…the working class family.
  Why is he doing this? Who is he helping? His behavior makes you wonder who he’s working for and what‘s in it for him. It certainly doesn’t appear that he has the best interests of the majority of the residents in his district in mind. Senator Joyce has asked time and time again “Why is the state in the golf business?” Well, Senator, with that logic I ask why is the state in the beach business, the park business or the forest business? The answer is easy …accessibility for the people. Why not lease everything. I’m sure there is someone willing to take over the state beaches and charge $30 a day to park. With his thinking, our states beautiful resources will be used by the few and wealthy instead of the millions who now take their families to these places. Senator Joyce says that the state should not be “providing a small group of individuals with subsidized rounds of golf.” I guess he considers tens of thousands a “small group of individuals.” I say to him…go to Ponkapoag GC on any day and see the hundreds of children, some as young as 4 or 5 years old learning the game. Go see the father instructing his young child on the practice green or driving range. Go see the senior citizens playing golf on their fixed incomes. Anytime you mention Ponky to some golfer they inevitably say ”I played there when I was young or it was the first place I played or I still play there now.” Not to many people say that they started their love of golf at Belmont Country Club or Wellesley Country Club or Ipswich Country Club or The Country Club. Just the few, the rich and the privileged. Massachusetts doesn’t need another high-end overly expensive out-of-reach for the average person golf course. We need “Ponky” for the people.
  On Monday, a column in the Boston Globe titled “State plan is dismissed as par for the course” stated that it would take $35M to fix Ponkapoag GC and a Tuesday editorial “In the rough at Ponkapoag” stated it would take $30M. A few more stories in the Globe and it will be down to $10M. The actual figure is $5M to repair the dam and restore the 5 golf holes to playability. There are no plans to completely restore the entire course. That’s an outright fabrication. The Monday article stated that peat moss was to be trucked in. Peat moss is the problem on these holes because it retains water…why bring in more? Sand is coming in to help with the drainage on those holes. Simple solutions for simple problems.
  Granted, the DCR (and previously MDC) has let maintenance go in many places, not just Ponky. The Longfellow Bridge and the Storrow Drive underpass in Boston are just two that are badly in need of repair. Ponkapoag indirectly is helping with these projects. All revenue over the yearly allotted budget for Ponkapoag Golf Course (‘‘Ponky’’) is deposited in the Massachusetts General Fund, thereby allowing other districts in the state to also benefit from the golf course. Each year the Commonwealth makes money on the golf course. The green fees pay for labor and maintenance on the course and buildings, etc., not the taxpayers, as Sen. Joyce would have you believe. What is really needed is someone with just a little vision and the rounds at Ponkapoag will jump exponentially thereby generating more revenue for the state. I can state with certainty that the state makes no money off the Longfellow Bridge or the Storrow Drive underpass. Ponkapoag is in desperate need of more bodies to work on the grounds crew. Currently, 6 people care for the 27 open holes AND the 9 closed holes. These people do a fantastic job with what they have. The greens never putted better.
  What happens to the C.Y.O. golf tournament that has been held every year at Ponkapoag since the 1930’s? What happens to the New England Juniors golf tournament held every year at Ponkapaog since its inception more that 40 years ago? What about the families walking up Maple Ave. and through the golf course to the trails or pond…will they still be able to do this after a lease? Can you say “insurance liability?” Horses on the bridle paths through the course. I don’t think so. Ponky, you say, is mismanaged. Well, get rid of the mismanagers…not the course!
  When Republican Bill Weld was governor, he also had the full-court press on for privatization of state owned resources that were used by tens of thousands only a regular basis. Privatization helps connected people. It helps some faceless company make a profit. Who is Sen. Joyce helping?
  When Republican Mitt Romney was the governor just a few weeks he held a press conference where he asked, ‘‘Why is the state in the golf business?’’ Now I read the paper and Senator Brian Joyce (Democrat? Milton) uses the very same words. Well, Senator, that’s a no brainer. It’s called accessibility and affordability. Not everyone can join a private golf club or afford to pay $80-100 green fees. Where will you go with your children to play golf and not have to mortgage the house? Let Ponkapoag be for all the citizens of this state, not the few well-off that will be able to spend the money without having to decide what they will go without to pay for that round.

  Is Sen. Joyce preparing to jump to the Republican Party? He sure sounds like one.

  John F. Flaherty, Jr.
  2008 President
  Ponkpaoag Golf Club

• 2. Steve Poftak  |  July 7th, 2008 at 11:35 am

  John,

  Did you read the Pioneer report (and the actual outside section) before cranking up the rhetoric machine?

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