$5M irrigation project planned for ‘Worst golf course in America’

With an extensive improvement project next spring, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is trying to get the town’s public golf course back under par.

The DCR is undertaking a $5 million project to install a modern irrigation system at the Leo J. Martin Recreational Complex, which hosts the golf course and other recreational facilities. The modernized system will enable additional irrigation for the course’s fairways, while also increasing control over individual sprinkler heads, according to Aaron Sabbs, project manager with Tighe & Bond.

“This is a much more convenient system and allows for precision in irrigation,” Sabbs said in a recent presentation to the Conservation Commission.

The Leo J. Martin complex straddles the Weston, Newton and Wellesley border, however, work will take place only in Weston and Newton. The Leo J. Martin Memorial Golf Course is one of two state-operated golf courses; the other is the Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton.

Also included in the project is reconstruction of the greens at holes 7, 15, 16 and the practice green; construction of combined irrigation and snowmaking lines along Concord Street and Park Road to facilitate future improvements to the snowmaking system, and tree planting to screen the golf course and cross-country ski area.

The work will come just months after the Leo J. Martin Golf Course made regional headlines for being named the “worst golf course in America” by golf website MyGolfSpy.

“You may have heard that the course went somewhat viral for its conditions,” Sabbs said, “so these improvements are well-timed here, well-needed and hopefully will provide a much better product for users of the course.”

While the course received its poor ranking in late August, this project has been planned for several years, according to DCR Deputy Chief Engineer Raul Silva. The DCR prepared and presented a similar project – including snowmaking piping and site lighting for cross-country skiing – to the Conservation Commission in 2020, but budget constraints put that proposal on hold in 2021.

“We were ranked as the worst public golf course in America, so some of us in state government look at that as a challenge,” Silva said at the meeting. “This work was in progress already, so we saw the conditions declining over the last couple of years. In the spirit of, ‘We can all do better,’ we’re excited to move forward.”

Sabbs said the project is slated to go out to bid in the winter, with work targeted for next spring. Construction will take place in phases, so portions of the course can remain open.

On top of the planned improvements, the DCR will also increase the frequency of maintenance practices including aeration, fertilization, slice seeding, top dressing and rolling. Each of these will occur four times a year. The agency also hired a new director of golf course maintenance, according to a DCR spokesperson.

The agency began a new green maintenance program in 2024, and it will continue that this month. According to the DCR spokesperson, the state’s annual budget for golf course maintenance is $800,000, which supports basic green work, tee box area maintenance and other priority work.