The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel referred to the property’s snack bar as a “hidden gem” run by Bonnie Shortsleeve and an experienced staff, serving “affordable, tasty fare” such as the dogleg club sandwich, hot pastrami with cheese and onions, tuna melt, hand-cut French fries, potato salad, and homemade pies.
Bretwood Golf Course in Keene, N.H., was buzzing on June 21, and its food operators were up to the task, the Keene Sentinel reported.
More than 200 vehicles jammed the parking lot, and the grounds were abuzz with players and parents who had arrived for a New England high school tournament, course members, and others looking to get in nine or 18 holes on a warm day, the Sentinel reported.
At times, both outside on the range and the course, and inside the clubhouse and snack bar area, it looked more like a busy airport concourse. It’s on days like these that Bonnie Shortsleeve and her staff show their stuff, the Sentinel reported.
Shortsleeve oversees food operations at Bretwood, the 36-hole Keene course run by her family, the Barretts. It’s not fair to call the upstairs food area a snack bar, or even a food counter; it’s much more than that. It’s small and informal, but its menu is not. And on days like these, with hundreds of visitors at the course for a long, hot day, the staff that serves its guests makes it look easy, the Sentinel reported.
Three of the staff take orders and work the register, while Shortsleeve and Linda Gouslin, her sidekick for the past 20-plus years, handle the prep work and the grill, cooking traditional fare (hot dogs and hamburgers), as well as many of Bretwood’s menu favorites, including the dogleg club sandwich, turkey Reuben, hot pastrami with cheese and onions, and tuna melt. Its hand-cut French fries and potato salad, made each day on site, are big sellers, too, the Sentinel reported.
“Oh my gosh, was it busy (today),” Gouslin said. “But we seemed to handle it. It takes a good team; I thought it went very smooth.”
As a food destination, Bretwood is a bit of a secret gem. It doesn’t cater to non-golfing patrons as a matter of practice, but it handles some business of that ilk. Among regulars, the menu is popular, not only for the items just mentioned, but for its milkshakes (several flavors; regular and extra thick) and its homemade pies, which Gouslin has been making for years and which are served by the slice, alone or with ice cream, the Sentinel reported.
It serves breakfast and lunch; typically, it shuts its grill down around 5 p.m. Staff will make cold sandwiches for a little longer, while the grill is cleaned. For breakfast, it serves eggs (in a small variety of sandwich-style offerings, and in other ways except poached), sausage, bacon, pancakes, French toast and real maple syrup. A variety of bottled beer and tap beer is also sold, the Sentinel reported.
When Bretwood first opened, it sold crackers from a cracker rack, Gouslin said. When Joye Barrett, Shortsleeve’s aunt, took over the snack bar they added hot dogs and hamburgers. Under Shortsleeve, the menu expanded considerably. The staff also cooks for golf outings at the course, adding salads, baked beans and hot fudge sundaes to those menus, and in some instances even, barbecues featuring steak and chicken, the Sentinel reported.
It’s not uncommon, for those events, for staff to make upward of 50 pounds of potato salad at a time, Gouslin said.
The popular dogleg club—turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce and tomato on a hoagie roll—is named after the slightly angled shape of the upstairs section of the clubhouse where the grill is. And, of course, the configuration of a share of the holes on the South and North courses, the Sentinel reported.
A slice of a Bretwood pie alone is worth a short drive to Bretwood. Apple is the staple and most-requested pie, but Gouslin makes strawberry-rhubarb and rhubarb when the plant is in season, the Sentinel reported.
“My mom was a chef,” said Gouslin, who makes, on average, two pies every three days. She makes her crusts from scratch, and said the secret is “know-how and experience. I don’t use a recipe; just years of experience.”
Running a golf course snack bar like this is endless work—long days, seven days a week, and it includes stocking vending machines and food shacks out on the course, which Shortsleeve does each day, too, the Sentinel reported.
Business gets a regular boost each year when school lets out, Gouslin said. “It’s a much busier time,” she said, noting that students, teachers and even parents of students enjoy freed-up summer schedules. “When schools start back up, it’s like somebody closes a curtain.”
Next month, Bretwood plays host to the N.H. Amateur, the marquis event of the season for the sport. The six-day event, beginning July 10, will be contested on the North Course. It’ll put the food staff in sprint mode again, to be sure, the Sentinel reported.
Bretwood gets much acclaim, even nationally, for its fairways and greens, its covered bridges and stone walls, all of which add to its golf reputation. Its snack bar rarely is included in such reviews, but perhaps it should be. It’s round-the-clock work to keep it going, and it’s affordable, tasty fare that can be enjoyed indoors or outside, on a deck or while sitting in one of many rocking chairs that line a long porch with views of starting and finishing holes on both courses, the Sentinel reported.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.