Keney Park Golf Course in Hartford CT. Emerges from Makeover Project

Keney Park in Hartford, Ct.  has been stunningly refurbished.

The renovations and upgrades turned what was a rundown layout into a very good course again. The front nine still needs some maturing and the summer weather hasn’t been conducive to growing grass, but overall the track was in really good condition and was an enjoyable and fair test of golfing ability.

The par-70 golf course occupies Hartford’s historic 700-acre Keney Park, located in the city’s north end. The first nine holes of the course were finished in 1927, and the remaining nine were completed in 1930.

Keney was designed by notable early 20th century American architect Devereux Emmet, who has many illustrious courses to his credit, including Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., the site of several U.S. Opens.

“Devereux Emmet is an interesting character,” says Anthony Pioppi, a Connecticut-based golf journalist and executive director of the Seth Raynor Society (www.sethraynorsociety.org). “He played an integral part in the early days of golf course architecture in America.”

Keney was closed in August of 2013 and reopened a couple of weeks ago. City auditors, in 2013, found terrible conditions at the course, including eroded cart paths, bridges and steps that were in poor condition, damaged tee boxes, fairways greens and bunkers, trees taken down without permission and fallen limbs throughout the course.

The Connecticut PGA Section was hired to be a business consultant at Keney Park Golf Course, and the Hartford City Council approved a $5.8 million comprehensive restoration. Refurbishment efforts are also underway at the city’s other golf course at Goodwin Park. The PGA of America served as a vital consultant in the process. The goal was to bring the course back to Emmet’s original design of 1927. The routing of the holes was basically kept the same and a brick golf house and restaurant are being renovated and will serve as neat places to hang out after a round.

“The charge at the beginning of the project to refurbish Keney Park was to reestablish a quality golf operation and quality golf experience,” said Peter Seaman, head professional at Keney Park Golf Course. “This entailed rebuilding of leagues, outings, player development programs, staff management, food and beverage, and coordinating with the superintendent and city officials.”

Seaman said that in many ways the project began as a daunting task. “However, there was such a great following at Keney Park Golf Course that once people saw the course for the first time they made the task easier. The word of mouth and the press have been incredible from the beginning and it has made re-building the business model easier. The Connecticut Section PGA has been very instrumental in bringing prestigious events (Connecticut PGA Championship and Hartford Women’s Open) to Keney Park Golf Course, as well as a media presence.”

The city hired Matt Dusenberry and his Dusenberry Design team to do a complete reconstruction of the routing. The project included rebuilding and reshaping the green complexes, a rebuild of and adding teeing grounds, fairways were reshaped and overseeded, bunkers have been added, and a new irrigation system installed along with drainage improvements. The project so far has also included improvements to the maintenance yard and parking lot, along with development of a new golf range and practice area.

Said Seaman, “The overall focus of Matt Dusenberry was to study Devereux Emmit design features and use that in developing a new Keney Park Golf Course with many features of the Golden Age of golf architecture in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
The clubhouse renovation and redesign are ongoing now and it is hoped that it will be open for business sometime early next season.”

The focus at Goodwin Park Golf Course is to steadily work on a recovery project as the course remains open. The city invested in about $500,000 worth of new maintenance equipment for the new maintenance operators, Guilmette Golf, to use in the project. The Guilmettes, Chris and Matt, were charged  with using proper procedures and supplies in order to speed the recovery as much as possible. The city produced budgets and projections to make sure the Guilmettes had proper supplies, chemicals, fertilizers, etc. The city has also commissioned a master plan for future improvements. It has not yet been completed, and will likely be implemented in the future when the city decides the financial expense makes sense.

“I get incredible satisfaction for my role to create and a foster a sustainable business for the City of Hartford,” said Seaman. “It has been a great opportunity for me professionally to be part of this transformation. I believe that the city of Hartford’s partnership with the Connecticut PGA has been very instrumental in getting Keney Park Golf Course and golf in Hartford started on the road to profitability and as a resource and source of pride for the residents of the city of Hartford.”

He added that it is expected that both courses will be a source of pride for the city and will grow the game of golf in the state capital and the surrounding towns. “Goodwin Park Golf Course is uniquely positioned, with its nine-hole North Course and large golf range, to be a strong player development center.
Keney Park Golf Course has always had a good regional draw, so in addition to using the new golf range to develop various programs for the local area, we will be trying to make this course a destination for golfers around Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.

“If these courses can bring people to some local restaurants and businesses in Hartford that will be a potential bonus for the city and its residents. Even more importantly, it would be great to have Hartford and it’s courses back on the golf map in Connecticut, as they have been absent for much too long.”

Tom Baptist, Superintendent of Public Works for the city of Hartford, commented. “Both courses suffered from severe neglect.  Irrigation systems and drainage structures had not been maintained by the previous management company, resulting in unplayable turf conditions. In fact, Keney Park Golf Course was no longer playable.  Tree saplings were growing from many of the bunkers, most greens were devoid of grass and instead were comprised of exposed earth surfaces. Trees had fallen across some of the fairways.  Several back tees had been abandoned.  Portions of both courses had areas of severe erosion. Cart paths were unsafe, as were cart bridges. At both courses, all turf areas have been restored and are now properly maintained. At Goodwin, the irrigation system and drainage systems have been repaired, even though the irrigation system is at the end of its useful life.”

Baptist said Hartford should be proud at what has been accomplished at Keney Park Golf Course. “The city has a recreational resource of the highest quality and is of regional importance. The course is exquisite.”

Keney Park is really a joy to play, with a fun and varied routing of long and short par-fours, several scenic par-threes that start from elevated tee areas, and reachable-in-two-shots par-fives. There’s even Keney’s own version of Oakmont Golf Club’s famous “church pew bunkers” that guard the right side of the eighth hole.

The conditions will only improve as the grown-in continues, especially now that major irrigation problems were remedied, fairways were reseeded, and turf laid down in some areas. It was very satisfying to see a course that had almost been neglected into oblivion make such a comeback.

Call Keney Park Golf Course at 860-543-8618, and Goodwin Park Golf Course at 860-543-8518.