Golfers Sold On New Erie

Renovated Course draws big raves

by Bob Jarzomski

Erie golf club went up for sale Thursday - in a way - and the newly renovated course already has buyers.

They are the dedicated golfers who are sold on the idea that the scenic layout originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast is going to be an asset to the City of Erie for years to come.

At the official rededication ceremony headed by Mayor Rick Filippi and City Councilman Jim Casey, enthusiasm radiated on a gorgeous August morning that seemed to burst though the clouded outlook of skeptical public officials who have suggested the city should get out of the golf business.

"This is excellent, and it's all for the betterment of the area," said Ernie Bouchard, a longtime member and artist who designed the front of the new scorecard. The layout has changed to a par-72 from a 69, and is more than 1,000 yards longer.

"These improvements are overdue," Jim Fogleboch said after palying in a scramble following the rededication ceremony. "I can't wait to play it myself, to see how I can do."

"I love it," said Mary Ann Brabender, who tediously did research on the occasion when famed course architect Tillinghast first visited Erie in 1920.

"It gives me chills to think we're playing a course that still maintains his ideas," Brabender said.

Richard Mandell of Pinehurst, N.C., the architect who worked along with Frontier Construction to make many changes to the 84-year-old course was beaming after playing in a foursome that also included Filippi.

"This is one of the most beautiful pieces of land I've ever had to work with to preserve a course like this," Mandell said. "We reshaped the course with the philosophy as what I would do, and what Mr. Tillinghast would be thinking."

"I think this is fantastic," Fillippi said. "I see so much potential down the road. And after playing some of the new holes today, and on greens that were superb, this course is going to be a big draw. The leagues are already filled for next year, and there's a waiting list. And with proper marketing the potential is huge, especially in a great location like this."

Although 18 holes were open for the first time this year as the construction nears completion, two new holes, Nos. 2 and 3, probably won't open until next year. Those holes were built over an old city dump, with some debris still on the surface.

Critics of the $1.1 million in renovations to Erie - more than $1 million also has been designated to improvements at city-owned Downing and J.C. Martin - cited the slow progress that delayed expectations of an early-summer opening, and curtailed revenues.

"You can't really set a target date," Mandell said. "When we met in the spring of 2004, at the best we thought it would be fully playable in June. But how much snow did we have here? Twenty inches in April. Even if you're seeding a course in North Carolina, it takes a good year or more before it's ready. To open by mid-summer here was wishful thinking. Frontier Construction and the greenskeepers (Alan Zielinski and Bob Burkell) did an excellent job to get to this point. If we had started playing on new holes that weren't mature, it would cost several years to repair the damage."

Bob Bierre, a member of the 17-member Erie Golf task force committee that brought several ideas and suggestions to the table, believed the renovations were right on schedule.

"We wanted to squash the rumors, and squash all the negativity," Bierre said. "What you see today is a potential for a course that finally has water, and will create interest with many who quit playing here, many new players and visitors to the area."

City Councilman and renovations proponent Casey, who can display boisterous enthusiasm even after a four-putt, called the 72 golfers ready to set out on the course "Pioneers."

"Sure there were pitfalls with this, but we need to be optimistic, and look to the future," Casey said. "I'm predicting this will be the greatest course in Erie. We have to be ambassadors, and we've got to convince everybody, that we ain't selling!"

By the reactions of those who played Thursday, the price of an original Tillinghast just went up.

Originally featured in the August 26, 2005 issue of Erie Times-News Newspaper.