British golf course architect Ian Scott-Taylor was asked to provide an updated design for the Hopkinton Country Club during its conversion from a public facility.
As Joseph B. Pasquale and Daniel P. McLaughlin are keenly aware, building a golf course might be about the only thing more difficult than playing one, but in the case of the Hopkinton Country Club, it appears the two real estate veterans have found a way around those daunting development hazards.
Nearing the end of their second full season, Pasquale and McLaughlin avoided the headaches of constructing a new course by acquiring the public Saddle Hill Golf Course in Hopkinton and changing it to a private operation. Rather than face a lengthy permitting process and the local ire that often accompanies new course proposals, McLaughlin said abutting residents were mostly supportive, partly because they felt the move would dramatically reduce traffic to and from the club.
“It’s a much more benign use,” said Pasquale, with his partner estimating that the change has slashed the number of golf rounds played annually at the site from about 50,000 to 20,000. The latter figure accounts for games played by the club’s 325 members plus those stemming from corporate and charity outings. HCC has another 50 social members who use such facilities as a new swimming pool, tennis courts and 22,000-square-foot clubhouse.
HCC was hardly a turnkey operation when Pasquale and McLaughlin approached Saddle Hill’s six owners in 2001 with a buyout offer, emboldened by research that the Hopkinton market could support a private course. That insight came from Timothy Gordon, who now serves as HCC’s general manager. Gordon had previously worked with Pasquale at a New Hampshire course bought at federal auction and Indian Ridge in Andover, which Gordon managed prior to a stint with Arnold Palmer’s real estate juggernaut.
Hilltoppers
Upon taking title in 2001, the new owners launched an ambitious overhaul of Saddle Hill, retaining British golf course architect Ian Scott-Taylor to provide what Pasquale described as a “European” flavor to the property.
“The place looks and feels like it has been here for 100 years,” concurred McLaughlin. Surrounding the grand new clubhouse and recreational facilities, aesthetic changes included construction of a stone wall fronting the entrance, while extensive work has been performed on the 18-hole course itself. Modern irrigation systems were installed, tons of fill were trucked in and two holes were rebuilt entirely.
In addition, there are refurbished tees, 55 sand traps were overhauled and a new 300-yard driving range replaced Saddle Hill’s aging practice area, which now serves as the pool and tennis area. Among those impressed by the changes is HCC member Louis Papadellis, a Hopkinton resident who played at Saddle Hill for some 10 years.
“It was an excellent conversion,” said Papadellis, a golf shop owner who said many Saddle Hill regulars enjoyed playing there but had always agreed that it required attention. “We felt that if it could just get a little more character, it would be great, and that’s what [Pasquale and McLaughlin] did—they gave it a lot more character,” he said.
The grill room “is gorgeous,” said Papadellis, who also praised the large pool and locker rooms. And while he said there are still some parts of the course that need attention, Papadellis stressed that he is pleased with the groundskeeping. “They have slowly addressed most of the [problems],” said Papadellis. “It’s definitely getting there.”
As a resident, Papadellis also supported the notion that traffic has been reduced, so much so that he maintained it could be helping local property values. Another bonus, he said, is that residents from Hopkinton and several surrounding communities have a club they can call their own.
“It’s very convenient, and that’s important to the people that have joined,” he said. Indeed, McLaughlin estimated that nearly half of HCC’s members and social group members live in the community, although he added that accessibility from such major thoroughfares as Route 9, Interstate 495 and the Massachusetts Turnpike was deemed another plus for luring members from throughout the region. Not only are those three roadways barely five minutes away, the course is a short drive from downtown Boston, said McLaughlin, helping HCC serve businesspeople in the Hub.
HCC is also aggressively pursuing the corporate and individual function market throughout Greater Boston, with McLaughlin estimating that the club can accommodate everywhere from a business meeting of eight to 10 people up to a 160-person wedding or golf outing. Local companies such as Hopkinton-based EMC Corp. have already frequented the facility, said McLaughlin, while the club’s wooded surroundings offer a classic New England backdrop that also is expected to enhance functions, particularly with the foliage season fast approaching.
Having just recently opened, the clubhouse is also equipped with the modern technology required of computer and Blackberry toters, including capabilities for wireless Internet. Pasquale also credited Gordon’s stewardship of the HCC for helping the club run smoothly from the outset. “He does a tremendous job,” Pasquale said.
Beyond the new facilities and improvements made at HCC, the membership itself is a bonus, said McLaughlin, explaining that the average age of its members is about 40 years old, which he said is substantially less than one would typically find at other golf clubs. In many cases, the members have children who frequent HCC, enhancing the younger atmosphere which the new owners fully embrace, given that both are in their early 40s and each has children of their own.
“We are exactly the demographics of the club,” McLaughlin said. “The things we want to see are by and large what our members want as well.”
To this point, it appears that the plan set out by Pasquale and McLaughlin is thriving, with all of the memberships sold out and HCC recently establishing a waiting list. “The response has been great,” said McLaughlin, who knows full well the pain of a golf course dream not realized. An expert in residential real estate, McLaughlin worked tirelessly to assemble a 275-acre swath of land on Martha’s Vineyard by searching arcane titles back several generations only for his plan to be turned down by the island’s powerful planning commission.
In expressing frustration that the island rebuffed the golf course, McLaughlin said a subsequent approach to sell part of the land for conservation and create house lots on another portion has made the endeavor worthwhile. As for Pasquale, his occasional foray into the golf sector is offset by a number of other business projects, with his background concentrated on retail development throughout the region. Pasquale is also active in the cigar industry, both as an importer and owner of a cigar emporium in Boston’s Back Bay.
McLaughlin, who has an extensive real estate auctioning business as well, said he is also on the lookout for new projects. As for HCC, however, he concurred that the plan has been mostly carried out. “The model was perfect for what we wanted to do,” he said.
