Traveling
along the inner pastures and the shoreline of the Aquidneck Island peninsula measuring
a mere 15 miles at its longest point and just over 4 miles at its widest, you
will be captured by the historic towns of Newport, Portsmouth and Middletown. In that short drive you will pass by not less
than six golf courses including some with “world renowned” associated with
their names. Wanumetonomy, Montaup, Newport
National, Carnegie Abby and Newport Country Club rest just a very short jaunt from
the subject of this month’s walk, Green Valley Country Club.
When
I arrived at Green Valley I was quickly surrounded by Joe Oliveira, the clubs
golf course superintendent, former long time superintendent, Gary Sykes and Club
staff ready to talk and walk Green Valley.
The tone of the visit was quickly summed up when I posed the question….who
is Manny Raposa? Instantly smiles were cast upon their faces and the stories
began to spew. I knew this was a special man.
Play on the 1st green at Green Valley...on original.
Manny
Raposa built Green Valley…literally with his own hands. After being the victim of an eminent domain
taking, Raposa purchased a parcel in the middle of Portsmouth with a vision for
something special. Prior to succumbing
to the hand of Raposa, the land produced potatoes and grazed dairy for many
years. In 1957 the original 9 holes at
Green Valley were constructed by Raposa with the machines and tools of the era. An on course museum to the tools of the trade can be found in the shadows of the trees beside the 4th tee.
Yes, this old scraper was used to level the tees!
The quietly left to right sweeping par 4 13th. (reroute the cart path and add a bunker complex on the right corner and we'd really have something)...very strong hole to a uniquely domed green with fortress mounding in front.
Raposa was certainly not traditionally trained to design golf courses, but proved to be adept at reading the land. He was realistic in his abilities and would often reach out to the local golf course superintendents to pick their brain on design and feature construction. Much was accomplished through trial and error until he got it right.
In
listening to the tales of Mr. Oliviera and Mr. Sykes and the long time staff at
Green Valley the man takes on a legendary, almost mythical Paul Bunyan type
character. When we got to the 10th
green Mr. Sykes, the long time former superintendent at Green Valley that spent
many years working with Raposa relayed the story the stopped us all in our
tracks and cemented the man’s mythical sense.
While building the holes on the new back 9
cows from neighboring farms would sometimes wander onto the golf course. You can imagine the damage a 1200 pound heifer
could do to a newly seeded green. Mr.
Sykes encountered this exact situation and was making very little headway in
attempting to get the cows to move off the property. Bring in Manny Raposa, who apparently speaks
bovine. As Sykes puts it, "Mr. Raposa calmly spoke to the cows
one a time to the point where they were entranced allowing him to rope them and
tie them to a nearby tree allowing work to continue." Talking to cows was yet another talent that
Mr. Raposa had garnered working on the farm.
The par 3 5th rebuilt by Sykes and Raposa
The
course is admittedly a working man’s club.
True to its hands on heritage, the course offers vegetables to its
players from small gardens scattered about.
If you plan on a little eggplant parmesan for dinner, just grab a few
between 7 and 8 and throw them in your bag.
Take an eggplant for the road!
What
surprised me most architecturally were the subtleties in the greens. Though the bunkering was rather rudimentary, (bunker
left bunker right of the green), the surfaces offered plenty of scale and numerous
strategic pinning options. Many of the
greens were pushed up with moderate to severe fronting slopes that add great
value to the edge of green contours and require precise club selection.
With
some time spent on the bunkering, the layouts value would truly be enhanced. Nonetheless, the conditioning, challenge and
character of the property with rebuilt meandering farm walls, some (though more
should be created with tree management) long vistas across the pastoral Portsmouth
landscape and the Club’s inviting nature, make Manny Raposa’s creation at Green Valley a wonderful legacy to enjoy.
Hand Stacked Stone Walls between holes 2 and 3
Golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Sportsmen like Tiger Woods have accelerated the growth of the game and now many people are wanting to tee it up.
ReplyDeletedixie red hills golf course