The International reopening Monday with major renovations planned
Photo | Courtesy | Joe Santa Maria
The International in Bolton
The International in Bolton is ready to reopen under new ownership.
The 36-hole private golf course, which was closed for the 2020 season because of bankruptcy proceedings, is due to reopen on Monday with a renovated clubhouse and more course changes ahead.
The International's Pines course has renovated bunkers, while the newer Oaks course is slated to open in the late summer, with new bunkers, tee boxes and other course improvements designed by Tripp Davis & Associates of Oklahoma slated to take place before then, said David Matheson, a partner with the course's new owners, Texas-based Escalante Golf.
[Related: Golf’s back: Clubs look to capitalize on increased interest]
The Pines course, designed by the late celebrated golf architect Robert Trent Jones, is the longest 18-hole course in the country — a bit too long for many golfers today, so it's planned to be shortened as part of extensive renovations due to take place in 2023. The course is expected to be unavailable for that entire season, with the renovations designed by a renowned firm, Coore & Crenshaw of Texas, which made renovations to one of the country's most famous courses, Pinehurst, in North Carolina, and designed Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth.
Course renovations will join improvements already been made to The International's clubhouse. Eventually, Matheson said, Escalante plans to build an entirely new clubhouse.
Escalante, a 30-year-old private company, paid $10 million to buy The International out of bankruptcy, making it its first course in the Northeast. The company didn't feel bounded by the geography of where it already owned courses, which otherwise stretch from Florida to Oregon and number 18 in total.
The International's owners filed for bankruptcy last May, citing a glut of golf courses at a time when the sport's popularity dipped. The early months of the coronavirus pandemic forced golf courses to close, just before the sport saw a resurgence by people drawn to an outdoor sport usually easily allowing for social distancing.
Escalante's deal to buy the course was finalized in February. Escalante's other courses are still seeing a resurgence today, Matheson said, and about 100 members of The International from before its closure have already returned.
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