'I think he made a huge difference': Drainage update by Jerry Deemer has made difference on Juniper Hill's Riverside Course
As long as Juniper Hill’s Riverside Course abuts the Assabet River, there will be some drainage problems, but you’d be all wet to think that the conditions haven’t improved.
The Northborough golf club hired Jerry Deemer to update the drainage on the first, eighth, ninth and 16th holes on its Riverside Course in 2021, and his work has made a huge difference, according to general manager Dudley Darling.
“The major drainage problems that we’ve had in the past have been pretty well addressed,” Darling said.
Deemer has quite an impressive résumé. He has built, restored or renovated about 350 golf courses, including 150 in New England. In Central Mass., he has also worked on Worcester Country Club, the International in Bolton and Shining Rock of Northbridge.
In addition, Deemer helped restore Salem Country Club for the 2017 U.S. Senior Open Championship.
When Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina decided in 1987 to renovate its greens for the first time in the prestigious history of the Donald Ross course, the club hired Deemer to do it. After Golf magazine and a few other golf publications wrote about the impressive job Deemer did, he became a hot commodity in the business.
“I went from about $100,000 that year,” he said, “to $3 million the next year to $5 million the next to $10 million the next.”
Deemer remains busy even though he never advertises and doesn’t have a website. He built Gary Player’s last three 18-hole courses, including one in Deemer’s hometown of Traverse City, Michigan.
Deemer even installed new drainage and turf at Fenway Park after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.
“It’s funny,” he said. “Out of all the jobs I’ve done, I’ve gotten more recognition from Fenway than I have for anything. You’d think it would be Pinehurst No. 2, being what it is.”
Deemer said Fenway Park was the last Major League Baseball field without drainage and an irrigation system. He had never worked on a baseball field before, but he knew all about drainage from working on golf courses.
“Basically, Fenway was a 3½-acre green complex that I built,” he said, “which is identical to a green complex on a golf course.”
Deemer said the sod has since been replaced several times at Fenway Park, but his drainage system should work for a very long time.
The start of his project at Fenway Park had to be postponed from early October to the second week of November because the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years in 2004, and they were still using the field.
In about two weeks, Deemer installed a drainage system covered by four inches of washed stone and eight inches of sand under where the grassy areas would be. For green complexes, he does the same thing, but uses four more inches of sand.
Two years after working on Fenway Park, he installed the drainage and turf on the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and the Cardinals went on to win the World Series that year as well. Deemer said the Yankees spoke to him about working on the new Yankee Stadium that opened in 2009, but he didn’t get the job.
“As soon as they found out I did Fenway,” he said, “they were not going to let me go do Yankee Stadium.”
Deemer lives in Traverse City, Michigan, and his company, Country Golf, is based there, but he spends most of the year in New England.
“There’s nothing up there,” Deemer said of his hometown. “You have to go somewhere else if you want to make a living.”
Juniper Hill superintendent Mike Danforth reached out to Deemer to do the drainage.
“I think he made a huge difference,” Danforth said.
There used to be a spring-fed pond in the first fairway, but carrying it was too difficult for the first shot of the day, so it was filled in in the 1950s. Then the first fairway and adjacent eighth fairway developed drainage issues. A creek actually developed along the first and eighth fairways.
The grounds crew built a 150-yard post that read, “Tom’s creek,” in honor of Tom Ackley, the superintendent at the time, and installed it in the first fairway a little more than a decade ago. The post has been in the maintenance building for many years, but Darling placed it in the first fairway again recently so he could pose with it for a photo.
The lower eighth fairway was often too wet to even be mowed because of springs that were discovered underneath. It had to be cut with a weed whacker.
When the adjacent Assabet River overflowed, the ninth fairway flooded, and the hole had to be shortened from a par 4 to a par 3.
“The silt from the river,” Deemer said, “being flooded over so many times, that was part of the problem. When the water receded, you’ve got all this silty material, and it just basically is plugging it off from being able to drain through into the sandier stuff underneath it.”
Deemer said unlike some other courses he’s worked on, Juniper’s water problems were fixable, and drainage is relatively inexpensive.
“Drainage is the first thing you’ve got to do,” Deemer said. “If you can’t mow it, if you can’t find your ball because it’s so wet and your ball plugs, people don’t want to play, and it makes the course very unmaintainable. So I’m just glad that we were able to come in, and the solution was very simple.”
Deemer said he ran one drainage line through four holes to correct the problem.
The ninth again was shortened to a par 3 after the Assabet River overflowed when 2.2 inches of rain fell on Juniper Sept. 29 and 30, but Darling said things could have been much worse if the drainage work hadn’t been done. He said the ninth fairway now dries up in a couple of days rather than a week or so.
Darling said Juniper’s grounds crew will do more drainage work on the ninth fairway closer to the green, either later this year or next year.
Also, golf balls used to plug in front of the 16th green.
Deemer said Juniper’s old drainage system was completely plugged up, blocked and broken.
Darling is glad that Deemer worked his magic for Juniper Hill ahead of this challenging season for all golf course superintendents because of the high temperatures and drenching rain.
“We’re getting a lot of good reports about the golf club,” Darling said. “We’ve got 18 playable holes on that course. He did a terrific job.”
Deemer also installed drainage on the elevated eighth tee on the Lakeside Course.
Deemer turned 65 on Oct. 5, and the plan is for his two oldest sons to take over the company next year. He said he plans to water ski and relax.
When told that he might change his mind about retiring after about a week, he replied, “Yeah, probably.”
Topgolf hits New England
The golf season may be winding down for some, but it’s just getting started for Topgolf, a high-tech driving range with computerized tracked golf balls.
Topgolf opened its first facility in New England on Oct. 6 in Cranston, Rhode Island, and is scheduled to open another in Canton soon. Both facilities are about an hour drive from Worcester. Topgolf has 91 venues worldwide.
Topgolf in Cranston, located just off Route 37 near Route 95, offers 102 heated bays on three stories. The $40 million facility also has plenty of big-screen televisions, bars, a restaurant and wait staff.
The cost to rent each bay for up to six players for a minimum of two hours ranges from $20-$31 per hour, depending on time of day, on Tuesday, from $40-$62 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from $43-$65 on Friday-Sunday.
Golfers hit real golf balls toward screened in targets, and each bay has a computer showing each shot’s flight and speed. Golfers can play virtual courses, such as Pebble Beach, or other Toptracer games.
I attended the grand opening on Oct. 6 and hit a few balls. It was fun, and I’d recommend making the drive from Central Mass.
—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BillDoyle15.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Golf: Drainage update makes difference at Juniper Hill
