Bruce and Susan Carlson began managing the New Bedford, Mass., property on March 28 and golfers began playing in early April. The couple plans to open the kitchen by mid-May and purchase new carts, create a ladies league, and schedule a free junior clinic.
If Bruce Carlson’s vision of the Whaling City Golf Course in New Bedford, Mass., becomes a reality, it won’t be his first victory on the course. As a teenager he played the course as a member of Attleboro High School’s golf team, the New Bedford-based South Coast Today reported.
“I loved it. It was a tough course, I remember that as a kid,” Carlson said. “I played good. We had a great team so we won a lot of matches.”
Forty years later, he and his wife, Susan, are the new managers of the golf course. They see the course, which lost more than $113,000 at the end of the 2016 season, as a sleeping giant, Today reported.
“We’ve got a great core group (of staff) that has been here that love the place. We have a group of members who have been here through thick and thin and are back here supporting us,” Susan Carlson said. “We are really really excited about this season.”
The City Council approved the couple, as part of W/S Golf Management, as new managers of the Whaling City Golf Course on March 22. They took over on March 28. Golfers began playing earlier this month, Today reported.
“There’s much more to do than we had anticipated and we had anticipated quite a bit,” Bruce Carlson said.
The Carlsons expect to spend at least a “couple hundred thousand dollars” in upgrades to generate revenue, about double to the amount they expected when they were the only bidders to run the course. The kitchen needs to be cleaned and updated. The couple plans to recarpet the entire clubhouse, modernize the bar area and update the ladies locker room. That’s in addition to repairing some structural work and solve irrigation problems throughout the course, Today reported.
There’s also a pole that fell as a result of a recent storm and caused a live wire to dangle on the ground. The electric company decided it wasn’t needed so they cut the wire. It turned out the wire was needed for the gas line, Today reported.
“We are still very optimistic,” Susan Carlson said. “We’ve been beat up the last three weeks.”
They also planned on having a superintendent manage the grounds crew and maintain the grounds. The course superintendent is no longer there, so the responsibility now falls on Bruce Carlson. “That’s what my expertise has been over the years,” he said. “I was going to have someone else do it but now it falls on my shoulders more.”
The fact that the course was designed by Donald Ross lured the couple into the bidding to manage Whaling City. The couple has managed courses before and renovated some, too. None compare to the magnitude of this project, though, Today reported.
They remain confident their investment will pay off and they’ll be turning a profit in year two, Today reported.
“I guess it’s just the challenge of it all,” Bruce Carlson said. “We knew what we’ve done in the past. We knew we could make it successful and with the two of us working at it as a team and a husband and wife.”
The Carlsons hope the kitchen will open by the middle of May and they’ll have a liquor license next week. They’re purchasing new carts. They’re creating a ladies league. Room remains for other leagues and they want to host outings, Today reported.
They’re also scheduling a free junior golf clinic to potentially pass down memories that Bruce once experienced as a youngster walking the Whaling City Golf Course, Today reported.
“It’s just kind of like full circle,” Susan Carlson said. “I just think we’re meant to be here.”
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