| Granite Links Golf Club at Quarry Hills Does Its Part for Boston’s Big Dig |
| By John Torsiello |
Published
03/9/2005
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Massachusetts
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Unrated
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Granite Links Golf Club
The developers of Granite Links Golf Club, a 27-hole layout being built less than 7 miles from downtown Boston in the City of Quincy, are doing their part to make the Hub's "Big Dig" a success. Developers of the golf course, which will offer dramatic views of the Boston skyline, harbor and surrounding state park, are utilizing fill material removed during the mammoth $14 billion highway project. The material is being used to cap landfills and build and grade the golf course. Golf course developers reached agreements with the City of Quincy to use land formerly used as the city's landfill for their golf course as well as soccer and little league baseball fields. The neighboring town of Milton as well as the Metropolitan District Commission added their closed landfills to the project.  Later agreements were reached to transport excavated soil from the Big Dig to the golf course site with more than eight million cubic yards of fill delivered. Officials say the effort has saved the state approximately $200 million in disposal fees. Because the slopes of the abandoned landfills on which Granite Links is being built are so severe, fill from the Big Dig was used to terrace golf holes to depths of up to 90 feet. The developers said that without the fill, building the golf course would not be feasible because of the high cost of traditional imported fill. The developers of Granite Links say they are also taking great efforts to meet strict wetland constraints as well as to protect 16 acres that contains Native American artifacts dating back more than 6,000 years. In addition, abandoned granite quarries are being preserved and incorporated into the layout. Granite Links, managed by Chestnut Hill-based Senior Tour Players, Inc. is scheduled to open the first nine of its 27 holes by early summer 2003. Granite Links will operate as a first-class golf facility, and while open to the public, will also offer various levels of membership. When fully developed, Granite Links Golf Club will offer, in addition to the 27-hole championship golf course, a state-of-the-art practice center, spacious clubhouse, banquet facilities, meeting rooms and an outdoor pavilion. Because the site is so unique and sits on both City of Quincy and town of Milton land, the developers involved the students of both towns in selecting a name for the golf course. On February 27, 2003 the developers announced that Kelsey Powers of Merrymount Elementary and John Kozak of BC High School, both of Quincy, submitted the name Granite Links Golf Club and were awarded Education Scholarships. The name Granite Links Golf Club was chosen for its reference to the Granite Quarries and its links attributes - close to water, sandy base and scarcity of trees. For more information, 617-266-3600 or visit www.quarryhills.com
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