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<\/a>Brian Bickford, Val Halla's guiding light<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI had a blast caddying for guys like Bob Darling Sr. and Dave Moody,\u201d Bickford said. \u201cI learned to love the game caddying for them, and I learned a lot about playing the game from them, too. It was a great place to grow up. You had a lot of eyes on you, so it was a safe place to be, but you also had a lot of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickford would go on to become not just one of Val Halla\u2019s more accomplished players, but eventually its guiding light. Today, a Class A PGA Professional as well as the Recreation Director for all of the town\u2019s recreational complexes, he oversees everything at the course, which has become one of Maine\u2019s busiest \u2013 and best. The Maine State Golf Association and Maine Golf Foundation moved into quarters at Val Halla last year. This year, the First Tee of Maine will join them. For Bickford, it\u2019s been rewarding to see all the positive developments at what\u2019s been his home club since he was old enough to swing one. But he\u2019s determined to keep aiming for the next level \u2013 something that the club\u2019s members and visitors should be thankful for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to improve things every year. A lot of the courses that were built in the late 80s and early 90s are starting to age. And as the economy is sinking a little bit and golf is trending down a little bit, they\u2019re not reinvesting because they have debt to service. What we\u2019re trying to do is buck the trend as much as we can and put money into our course. So we\u2019re able to attract people from those courses that were new and shiny 15 years ago but aren\u2019t presenting themselves quite so well today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifteen years ago, Val Halla was a lot like those currently troubled courses that Bickford alludes to \u2013 only it wasn\u2019t shiny, it was pretty scruffy around the edges. Bunkers had become rock-strewn. Fairways were either muddy or weedy or baked dry. The greens suffered from snow mold and other ailments. And while there had always been a coterie of dedicated die-hards in the membership, all of them yearned to see their beloved course in better shape. That wish is slowly but surely coming true. With the support of Cumberland\u2019s Town Manager, Bill Shane, and the rest of the town council, a systematic upgrade of the course and facilities at Val Halla began. Double-row irrigation was put in. Drainage projects sprang up. Several new tees were built and fairways reseeded. Bunkers got new sand. Cart paths appeared. In what seemed like a short period of time, Val Halla went from being a loveable disappointment condition-wise to a championship-caliber track that might host the Maine Open some day. Last season, the greens were as good as any in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen somebody said \u2018Hey, Brian, what would you think about hosting the Maine Open in a couple years,\u2019 I was like, \u2018ah, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019re there yet, but give us some time. That might be fun.\u2019 It was one of those compliments that means, you\u2019re getting there. You\u2019re not quite there yet, but you\u2019re getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>The 17th green at Val Halla<\/p><\/div>\n
An improved course is only one aspect of what has made Val Halla successful since Bickford took over six years ago. Having worked as a bean-counter in the hospital administration world, Bickford knew well the importance of identifying goals and creating programs to achieve them. Today, he\u2019s applying his management and marketing skills to growing Val Halla\u2019s business and broadening participation in the game. To give women more ways to enjoy playing and more opportunities to utilize the facilities at Val Halla, he created a \u201cWine & Nine\u201d program that brings players out for a little early-evening instruction, followed by nine holes, followed by a little friendly socializing. He had hoped to get a dozen players to sign up when he began the program. He got 73. This year, \u201cWine & Nine\u201d has three different levels of players coming out on three different weeknights, with over 240 women participating. In combination with the Wednesday-night women\u2019s league, it means a lot of gals are teeing it up at Val Halla. In fact, three of the club\u2019s top-10 players in terms of total rounds played in 2010 were women, something that Bickford is understandably proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went from not playing at all to playing more than 90 rounds each in a summer,\u201d he said. \u201cImagine that! We all wish we could play that much!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Maine State Golf Association\u2019s Executive Director, Nancy Storey, spent many of her formative years at Val Halla, too, and shares Bickford\u2019s love for the place. To have the Maine Golf House at Val Halla now seems like a natural to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who grew up in Cumberland and worked at the snack bar here all through high school and college, this has really felt like coming home for me personally,\u201d said Storey. \u201cFor the MSGA, it’s been wonderful to be involved with a community that is so positive toward golf and the values it represents. Everyone that we’ve dealt with from the town, especially Town Manager Bill Shane, has really worked to make us feel at home and to see that the move continues to be a win-win situation for the golf associations as well as the people from the town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickford agrees. \u201cOur mission statements are similar. The mission of the MSGA and the Maine Golf Foundation is to promote amateur golf within Maine and at Val Halla we\u2019re doing our best to promote amateur golf, too. We\u2019re here to grow the game and make it fun for people just like they are. We see eye to eye on a lot of things. There\u2019s a lot of synergy there and it\u2019s been, I\u2019d say, a pretty easy marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maine\u2019s Golf House didn\u2019t happen overnight. But now that it\u2019s found a home at Val Halla, it\u2019s full speed ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the E.D. of the MSGA, I’ve had the golf house \u2018dream\u2019 for about 15 years. I wasn’t sure it would ever come true. Now that it has, I really feel like golf is going where it needs to go in Maine. The game has so many positive aspects, I’ve seen so many kids saved by it, and I’ve seen so many people engaged by it that I swear its extends your life expectancy. I know of no other activity that can be enjoyed so thoroughly by so many. To be here at Val Halla, where Brian Bickford brings 200 new women through the game through the \u2018Wine & Nine\u2019 program every year, and has almost 500 kids in the junior program, who will all be able to enjoy the sport for a lifetime, ensures the future of our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Some of Val Halla's many junior golfers<\/p><\/div>\n
With hundreds of kids in its junior program \u2013 getting instruction, learning about etiquette, and just having fun playing golf all summer long \u2013 Val Halla is indeed a place with a youthful feel to it. Bickford\u2019s daughter, Meghan, added her own USGA- and LPGA Foundation-certified \u201cgirls only\u201d golf camp to the junior lineup in 2010, and it will be up and running again this year. Designed to be instructive but also fun, it features fun theme weeks like \u201cCrazy Sock Week\u201d and \u201cPink Week.\u201d This year, \u201cMunchie Mondays\u201d will be added to the lineup with unique food themes, as will a trip over water to the classic nine-hole course on Chebeague Island. A trademark of Meghan\u2019s Golf Camp participants is the Daphne\u2019s animal headcover that each of them sports on her driver. It\u2019s all about fun \u2013 and that\u2019s why it\u2019s helping to grow golf amongst a new group of young players.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the junior golf room \u2013 the only one in the state as far as Bickford knows. The idea for it came about when local resident and golfer Morris Fisher retired from CB Richard Ellis\/The Boulos Company, a commercial real estate firm, and founder Joe Boulos made a sizable donation to the club\u2019s junior program in Fisher\u2019s name. The junior room, which is located on the club\u2019s lower level, offer the club\u2019s young set a place to get together after events and just be kids (under adult supervision, of course). There\u2019s a flat-screen TV, a Wii for playing indoor golf, and even an outdoor area beneath the club\u2019s second-floor deck. Bickford also uses part of the club\u2019s downstairs area to show kids how to regrip and reshaft clubs. It\u2019s all part of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy training in health care showed me that it pays to look at things programmatically,\u201d said Bickford. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for areas where we can grow, whether it\u2019s juniors or ladies or whatever and we figure if we can get the programs right, we\u2019ll get the volume and the positive marketing spin and word of mouth that will lead to us getting our share of members and repeat players.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Val Halla will serve as a course affiliate for The First Tee of Maine, and with that honor come some new responsibilities. The First Tee, which will be overseen by the Maine Golf Foundation, is all about growing the game, too \u2013 but with a wrinkle. It promotes the learning of nine core values that extend well beyond sportsmanship \u2013 and, Bickford adds, it recently joined forces with an Annika Sorenstam-led program that encourages healthy lifestyles for kids through its \u201cnine healthy habits.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Storey, having The First Tee at Val Halla is a great fit.
\n\u201cAs I mentioned, Brian had nearly 500 kids in his junior program last year,\u201d said Storey. Five hundred! That’s more than are in any five other junior programs combined! That Val Halla has the reputation for being kid-friendly is undisputed. This goes back to the course’s beginnings. It’s always been kid-friendly, which makes it a natural place for a First Tee program. I know that the First Tee will also still be looking to run programs in Portland, too. But to have one site where all programs can run out of is more efficient \u2013 just like the Golf House will be for all seven golf associations. I can envision beginner programs at a number of sites, with kids being able to come together to compete at other sites. What it will do for The First Tee is facilitate the opportunity to go statewide sooner. And the kids can be guaranteed that they’ll be getting the best overall golf experience available anywhere. It’s very exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n
With all this talk about juniors and women, you might think that Val Halla has only set its sights on serving special-interest groups. Not so. While Bickford and the town agree that the facility has to serve people of all ages and genders, traditional male players feel very much at home at the club. The Val Halla men\u2019s association fields strong events almost every weekend, and in addition, the club\u2019s Thursday-night Coke Scrambles are hugely popular, both with members and with players from other clubs who are looking to cash in either week-to-week or during the season-long challenge that was added to the Scramble last year. The club boasts a large number of single-digit handicappers, and last year Val Halla teams finished first and second in the Maine State Club Team Championship.<\/p>\n