A recent blog presented the story of Cherry Hill Pitch & Putt Greens, a short-lived golf course located on Cherry Street. Holyoke also offers two longtime golf courses: Holyoke Country Club and Wyckoff Country Club, formerly known as the Mt. Tom Golf Club. This story features another golf course, the Broadview Golf Course, which was quite prominent in the mid-20th century.
The chronicle begins with Joseph F. Maggi, Giuseppe and Carmela (Garabaldi) Maggi, who emigrated from Italy and settled in Holyoke during the late 1800s. Joseph Maggi was born in Holyoke on December 28, 1898, initially living at 93 Race Street. As many families did, the Maggis moved several times over the next 20 years, including to 40 Ely Court (1900), 15 Hampden Street (1910), and 288 Elm Street (1920), before settling in at 183-185 Beech Street during the 1920s.
During the 1920s, Joseph F Maggi worked as a laborer and then an iron worker. It was an injury sustained at the latter job that led him to turn his attention to building a golf course. His brother, Carmille Maggi, also known as Roland Maggi, was a golf pro at the Country Club of Amherst.
As with any large undertaking, one that required many acres of land, he focused his attention on a portion of the dairy farm owned by the Healy family, west of present-day Old Jarvis Avenue, at the street’s approach to Easthampton Rd. As can be seen below in the 1911 Richard’s Atlas, the course fit in the upper portion of the area between present-day Jarvis Ave, Old Jarvis Ave. and Easthampton Rd., which constituted about half of this large farm.
No deed was found linking a land sale to Mr. Maggi, so this may have been a lease arrangement with Michael and Mary Healy. Mr. Maggi and Mr. Healy began converting the farmland into a golf course in 1928.
Memorial Day 1930 marked the official opening of the new 9-hole golf course. There were many who played the course, including teams comprised of mill and retail store employees playing under their employer’s banner, such as Sears and Roebuck, Steiger’s, and Gallup’s. Area tournaments were played on the course.
Roland Maggi was the club professional. The clubhouse sold golf equipment and supplies, and the cost for a 9-hole round of golf was 50¢, and for an 18-hole round, 75¢.
On July 23, 1930, Sadie Sullivan of Oak Street became the first woman to score a hole-in-one on the course.
Mr. Maggi was committed to improving the course. At the end of the 1930 season, he added six new greens, 500 yards of length to the fairways, 200 square yards of sand for traps, a new road leading to the one-room clubhouse, and additional parking.
In 1931, the course hosted its 2nd annual junior golf tournament, which drew 84 participants. Mr. Maggi exercised an option to purchase 100 acres of land southwest of the course to expand the course to 18 holes. The current course’s 9 holes resulted in overcrowded conditions. Plans for this expanded course did not materialize.
Work continued on the course to ready it for the 1932 season, including installing larger greens, two new fairways, and draining a troublesome swampy area.
In 1932, the reconfigured Jarvis Avenue was completed, as indicated by the red highlight showing its approximate location on Richard’s Atlas below.
Joseph Maggi was selected to instruct golf at the Holyoke YMCA in 1933.
On December 12, 1936, a fire destroyed the clubhouse. Fortunately, as it was off-season for golf, inventory had been removed from the building and stored elsewhere.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Federal Census Records and the Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
Hampden County Registry of Deeds, Springfield, Massachusetts
1911 Richard’s Atlas of Holyoke, Massachusetts
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