Higher Fees Teed Up At Captains Course

BREWSTER – In a bid to meet the increased cost of running the Captains Golf Course, the golf commission unanimously endorsed a 6 percent increase in membership rates for this year, and the select board authorized the change last week. 

Specifically, the higher rates will help offset the cost of three big-ticket projects at the course: a new maintenance facility, a new irrigation well and replacement of the irrigation system for the 36-hole course. Together, the projects are estimated to cost $21.3 million, money which will be borrowed and paid through the course’s enterprise fund, not tax revenue.

The largest impact from the higher fees will be felt by nonresidents, who pay more to use the facility, but the increase is designed to be fair for all users, Golf Director of Operations Jay Packett said. The premium passes for residents, which allow play at any time, will increase from $1,450 last year to $1,540 this year. For non-residents, individual passes will go from $2,410 to $2,555.

“It’s a pretty minimal increase overall,” Packett said. 

“These fees represent a real value,” select board member Pete Dahl said. “The quality that they’re offering at the course is first class, and I think people recognize that.” 

Captains Course faces “three looming, large capital projects” that will need to be funded solely through golf revenues, Packett said. The first involves one of the course’s two irrigation wells, which was installed at a low depression in the property that became prone to flooding after the area around it was developed. A flood in 2017 “basically completely ruined our well,” destroying key equipment. The well was raised somewhat but flooded again, Packett said. “We ultimately need to move the well. It’s too low,” he said. The project will relocate the well less than 100 yards away, “but it’s up 110 feet higher than where our current well is,” he said. The project is expected to cost $2 million.

The second project is the replacement of the course’s two irrigation systems. One was installed in 1998, and another in 2002. 

“The irrigation system is the lifeblood of a golf course. If we don’t have green grass, we don’t have people,” Packett said. 

“There was this whole ‘Tiger’ boom to golf in the ‘90s, and there were a lot of golf courses built at that time, and a lot of irrigation systems that are all of that same vintage all need to be replaced,” Town Manager Peter Lombardi said. Together, the replacement of the systems is projected to cost $7.8 million, he said, and given the high demand on golf course irrigation contractors replacing systems, the town is likely to face a three-year wait after a contract is signed. “The cost estimates have taken that into account,” Lombardi said.

The third capital project aims to meet the needs of the maintenance department, which does an amazing job at Captains Course, Packett said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that our conditions right now are the best they have ever been, ever,” he said. “We have hosted a lot of big tournaments over the last several years where we get players from some of the best of the best private clubs, and they seek us out to say how incredible our conditions are.” That’s a tribute to the maintenance department, and “they deserve a better place to work,” Packett said. The current maintenance building was original to the course, which opened in 1985. Replacing it is expected to cost $11.5 million.

While it would be tempting to try and space out the three capital projects over a number of years, “that’s not a viable scenario,” Lombardi said. Certain project costs have been increasing sharply in recent times, “and every year that goes by, the costs are only going to go up,” he said. Based on revenue projections for the course and a careful capital plan, Lombardi said he’s confident the golf course’s enterprise fund will be able to fund the borrowing for the projects sustainably in the years ahead.

“I think these are needs and not wants,” board member Ned Chatelain said. “The numbers are big, but they are what they are.”

The select board voted unanimously to endorse the capital projects. Bids for some of the work are likely to be ready for voters to consider at the fall 2026 special town meeting.