Stow Acres marks 100th anniversary with 50-cent golf rounds

A Century-Old Course Relives Its Segregation-Era Roots

Fifty-cent golf, that’s why I got a couple of friends, said Walter Johnson of Framingham. I said, ’50 cents, you got to play.’

Golfers stepping onto a Massachusetts course this week are paying just 50 cents for a round, taking part in throwback pricing designed to revive a nearly forgotten piece of Black sporting history, cbsnews.com reported.

Stow Acres Country Club is marking its 100th anniversary by rolling back rates for nine-hole rounds to 50 cents through October 27–29. The bargain price draws players through the gates, but the club’s leadership intends the underlying history to leave a much deeper mark on visitors.

Old Sign Informs New Pricing

We have a sign that was recovered off the property many years ago, said Stow Acres General Manager David Carlson. We’re not sure what year the sign is from, but it says 75 cents on weekends and it’s 50 cents on weekdays. So that’s where we came up with the idea of the price.

Robert Hawkins and the Founding of Mapledale

Behind the centennial promotion lies a consequential origin story. In 1926, Massachusetts businessman Robert Hawkins purchased farmland in Stow and built Mapledale Country Club. During an era of racial segregation that prevented many Black Americans from playing at golf courses, Hawkins established a place where Black golfers could openly compete.

Massachusetts golf course celebrates anniversary with 50-cent rounds, original layout

That very season, the club hosted the first National Black Championship, returning to host the tournament again in 1927 and 1928, according to Carlson. Hawkins operated the property for three years before losing ownership amid the Great Depression.

Decades of Obscurity Followed by a Rediscover Committee

Over the subsequent decades, Mapledale expanded and eventually transitioned into Stow Acres Country Club, while its pioneering past slipped into obscurity. Carlson noted that during his first ten years at the property out of a thirty-year tenure, the course’s history was virtually unknown.

To prepare for the centennial milestone, organizers formed a committee named Rediscover Mapledale to unearth and preserve the grounds’ heritage. The group funded historical markers installed across the property to educate visitors. For the first time in roughly 80 years, golfers are playing a re-creation of the original nine-hole layout.

Reconstructing the Vintage 2,100-Yard Routing

The vintage routing spans approximately 2,100 yards, making it considerably shorter than the modern Stow Acres South Course front nine, which measures about 3,100 yards. To reconstruct the historic layout, the club set up three temporary greens on sections typically used as fairways. Players today play on significantly smoother turf than the rough terrain Hawkins and his contemporaries managed a century ago.

Johnson previously played in tournaments at Stow Acres organized by a Black church in Framingham to fund scholarships, which was how he originally discovered the property’s past.