It’s a Monday morning in March and Ralph Lenihan looks out the window of the clubhouse at Laurel Lane Golf Course in West Kingston and sees ice. It’s a setback, to be sure. But it’s a minor one.
Because when Lenihan, golf pro and manager at the popular South County course, thinks big picture, he sees nothing but positive signs for the area’s golf industry.
More people than ever are playing golf thanks in part to a strong economy, and perhaps, to a guy named Tiger Woods.
Several new courses have opened in recent years and more are on the way. Young children and retirees are taking lessons. Men and women are buying clubs, equipment and apparel.
And in the coming weeks, they will be heading out to nearly 50 courses in Rhode Island – and dozens more just over the state’s borders – in record numbers.
Lenihan and his crew will be ready. Like many of Rhode Island’s public courses, Laurel Lanes is open year round. But it is spring when the lines begin to form – and the cash register begins to ring.
”Our members have been playing all year, but it hasn’t been like last year when we had real great weather,” Lenihan said. “Right now, I look outside and all I see is ice. The snow can dissipate when the temperature hits the 40s. But the ice”
Lenihan expects the thaw to hit soon and with it, the demand for tee times to rise. Despite Mother Nature’s recent arctic blasts, he said, Laurel Lanes itself is ready for the onslaught.
”Condition wise, we’re in good shape,” Lenihan said. “There’s no disease (on the fairways) out there.”
South County in recent years has become a golfing Mecca of sorts. In addition to Laurel Lanes, Foxwoods Golf & Country Club at Boulder Hills, Richmond Country Club, Exeter Country Club and Lindhbrook Golf Club have all been generating crowds despite competing within a few miles of one another.
”It’s a real magnet,” said Lenihan. “I think the competition just brings more people.”
The demand on courses has golf course owners thinking big.
At the Hillside Country Club in Rehoboth, Mass., a semi-private facility known for its excellent greens, George Cardono will celebrate his 10th anniversary as owner and manager by opening this season as an 18-hole course. Since 1975, Hillside has been a nine-hole course.
”My dream is about to come true,” said Cardono. “It’s a great feeling to see your vision become a tangible entity, to know that people will enjoy, probably curse from time to time, but in the end, admire what we’re doing.”
Joseph Sprague, Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island Golf Association, is not surprised to hear of such expansion.
”If a nine-hole course has the land, it would be much more beneficial to have 18 holes,” Sprague said. “The demand is out there. The owner of a nine-home course is somewhat limited in the number of people they can put out on the course.”
Ed Kirby is a professional golfer-turned businessman who is getting people ready to get out on those courses.
The name, of course, helps. Kirby spent 11 years as a professional. He has played the Nike Tour, in Asia and Africa. He spent one full season on the Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA) Tour. The resume is proof that Kirby knows a thing or two about chipping out of a bunker or rolling a 20-foot putt toward the cup.
People are certainly finding Kirby’s Golfhouse, at 1465 Atwood Ave. in Johnston, a business he took over in 1996.
”It’s a tough location and there’s a big bump you have to drive over in the parking lot,” said Kirby. “But every day people are waiting for lessons. The ages range from three to 89.”
Kirby gives lessons and sells equipment, in addition to repairing clubs. The jump in business in recent years, he said, has been nothing short of spectacular.
”The golf business is booming,” he said. “It’s incredible. People are talking about it and seeing it on television. There is so much more equipment out there. I’m selling on the Internet. Anywhere people are thinking about golf it’s almost indescribable.”
At Clones Golf on Main Street in East Greenwich, Ted Giorgi makes custom clubs for customers. Giorgi said he has seen a rise in the number of women golfers in recent years and expects that to be the case when business picks up over the next few weeks.
”The end of this month and April will get very busy,” he said.
Giorgi benefits from those golfers who take the game seriously.
”The person who goes into a store and buys clubs off the rack is making a big mistake,” Giorgi said. “I watch them swing and make adjustments with the clubs to fit that swing.”
And golf is not only good business for those giving lessons and making clubs, it provides a boost for folks like Michael Tortolani, co-owner of Tort’s Bar & Grille on Fall River Avenue in Seekonk, Mass.
Tort’s is adjacent to Firefly Golf Course. The restaurant routinely handles functions in conjunction with the course, Tortolani said.
But it is in the daily traffic during golf season, Tortolani said, where he sees a dramatic jump in business.
”If you can’t sell beer to a golfer, you might as well hang it up,” he said. “It increases our business, probably two-fold.”
Back in South County, Lenihan will cross his fingers and hope Mother Nature is in good spirits as spring approaches. As will his colleagues at other courses throughout the region. The courses will be ready. The golfers will be ready. But she’s the boss.
”We’re all at the whim of the weather,” said Lenihan.
