In the rough at Ponkapoag
ONCE UPON a time, the state of Massachusetts was rich enough to provide its residents with a panoply of public recreational facilities, from indoor skating rinks to outdoor swimming pools and golf courses. But an antitax mood and pressures from rising healthcare and other costs have left the state barely able to maintain its bridges, highways, and transit lines, much less deteriorating sports centers. Instead of investing more in its down-at-the-heels 36-hole golf complex in Canton, the state should move quickly to lease it to the town or a private management company.
The state Department of Conservation and Resources, which owns the Ponkapoag Golf Course, has a repair backlog of more than $1 billion. Its at-risk properties include the Longfellow Bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, and Storrow Drive, whose underpass near the Esplanade needs rebuilding. The agency also must deal with the infrastructure problems of dozens of state beaches, parks, and forests. Unlike Ponkapoag, which has the potential to draw thousands of fee-paying golfers annually, few of these properties are candidates for municipal or private management.
With the support of DCR, state Senator Brian A. Joyce of Milton wants the state to lease Ponkapoag for 25 years to Canton or a private company. Joyce has attached his proposal to the state budget bill - a tactic this page generally opposes. But the idea could save the state money and deserves to be adopted on its own merits.
Similar legislation in the past has faced opposition from Ponkapoag's employees and from longtime users of the course, who fear that a change in management would lead to an increase in fees. A round of golf there costs just $25 on weekends, compared with $56 at Canton's Brookmeadow Country Club. In recent years, use of Ponkapoag has declined, but some golfers are willing to put up with the closure of several holes and less-than-ideal conditions at others.
While Joyce's proposal awaits action, the Department of Conservation and Resources is planning to spend more than $5 million on the golf course and a leaking dam at the complex. Since the leaks threaten public safety, DCR should proceed with that work, but not put any more money into the course itself. Full restoration will cost more than $30 million. That is an investment that should be left to the town or to a private company, not to the state. The state's core responsibilities do not include, as Joyce said, "providing a small group of individuals with subsidized rounds of golf."
Joyce raises the possibility that a fully restored Ponkapoag could be the site of a future US Open. Fine - as long as it stops being an open drain of taxpayer money.
