Three temporary greens put Mapledale back on the map
At Stow Acres outside Boston, a centenary routing traced the beginnings of a Black-owned course beneath a much-altered golf property.
The most interesting throwback at Stow Acres Country Club was not the 50-cent green fee. It was a 165-yard opening hole played to a temporary green, replacing an opener normally measuring 365 yards from the back tees. For its centenary in late October, the Massachusetts club briefly rearranged its golf to recall Mapledale, the nine-hole course that opened there in 1926. As GOLF.com reported, the exercise involved old aerial imagery, three temporary greens and a willingness to interrupt familiar routes around the property.[1]
About 30 miles west of Boston, Mapledale was among the country’s earliest Black-owned and -operated golf courses, according to GOLF.com. Its original owner, Robert Hawkins, ran it for three years before losing the property during the Great Depression. The publication also records National Black Men’s Championship events there in 1926, 1927 and 1928. Those details give the anniversary its substance: this was a place of Black ownership and competitive golf, with a history that began long before the Stow Acres name.[1]
Successive changes made that beginning harder to read in the present-day layout. The course expanded to 36 holes and became Stow Acres; more recently, nine holes on the North Course closed as part of a substantial renovation, leaving a 27-hole facility. A golfer following today’s tees and greens would therefore be navigating the accumulated decisions of several eras, rather than simply walking Hawkins’s original nine.[1]
Following the old lines
General manager David Carlson used historic aerial imagery to devise a temporary version of the South Course’s front nine resembling the 1920s routing, GOLF.com reported. Out went the par-fives; three temporary greens helped reduce the round to roughly 2,100 yards. The second hole played towards the usual first green, while the fifth crossed a swath of trees. These were changes to the connections between holes, not simply shorter tee positions on the existing course.[1]
That distinction matters. A conventional anniversary competition could have left the current layout unquestioned. Carlson’s arrangement instead asked golfers to encounter a different sequence of destinations on the same ground. It was a temporary approximation of Mapledale, not a permanent restoration, but it made the property’s earlier identity part of the round itself.[1]
The price had a physical source too: an old roadside sign recovered by the course advertised weekday golf for 50 cents. Its origin is unknown, so it cannot securely establish what Hawkins charged in 1926. Nevertheless, it supplied the centenary promotion’s memorable figure. GOLF.com reported that all three promotional days were fully booked, with pro-shop employee Paul Melo saying the offer had attracted first-time visitors as well as regulars.[1]
The offer has ended; the more durable idea is the use of routing as interpretation. At Stow Acres, Hawkins’s story could be attached to particular shots and greens rather than confined to an anniversary notice. Remembering Mapledale means keeping that owner and its Black championship history in view, even when the modern course sends golfers in another direction.[1]
