THOMPSON — The Monster Golf Course will roar again come fall, the legendary golf course’s designer, Rees Jones Inc., said on Friday.
That’s when the first nine holes of the storied former course, open from 1963 to 2015, will be open next to Resorts World Catskills, with the back nine set for a summer 2020 opening.
Casino parent Empire Resorts is funding the $21.2 million redevelopment of the golf course. Empire Resorts leases the land for the casino and the Monster property from the giant real estate trust EPR Properties of Kansas City, Mo.
EPR will receive 5 percent of the Monster’s future revenues, money that can be used to improve the overall property, including EPR’s future $180 million-plus Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark, set to open March 28, Empire Resorts said.
Empire Resorts has yet to set golf fees, but the company said on Friday that it intends to make the Monster readily playable for the public and resort guests.
“It’s going to be a huge draw,” said Dick O’Neill, 72, of Middletown, the former Monticello High School golf coach. “If it has fair playing fees, it’ll really do wonders for the area.”
“It’ll challenge people now, who are a little skeptical about gambling, to take a chance on going up to Sullivan County and seeing the beautiful casino property,” O’Neill added.
The former Concord Resort’s course oozes history, once frequented by golf pros, actors and Hollywood’s biggest entertainers, grand tennis champions and boxing belt holders.
Serene among the course’s big old pines, golfers reverentially drove only on cart paths, never on the Monster’s grass, said Mike Stoltz, 68, of Middletown, the property’s former golf director.
Playable for all
Now, the new Monster “is going to renew some interest in golf in the area,” Stoltz said. Sullivan County golf “is not setting the world on fire as far as people getting out there and teeing it up. Grossinger’s course is closed, and the Kutsher’s course is just surviving.”
First designed by Houston architect Joe Finger, the original Monster took its name from golf legend and career grand slam winner Gene Sarazen, during a publicity golf outing to promote it just before its 1963 opening.
With the press in tow, and reporters asking about the property’s signature fourth hole, Sarazen replied, “This is a monster of a hole,” Stoltz said.
The name stuck, scaring away duffers, while luring legends like Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret and Jackie Burke Jr. Golf equipment took decades to catch up to the Monster’s 7,650-yard footprint, for years among America’s longest.
Sarazan, Demaret, a three-time Masters winner, and Burke Jr., now 96 and a Masters and PGA Championship winner, also helped Finger design the original course, Stoltz said.
The Rees Jones Inc.-redesigned Monster will still play long at a championship length of 7,325 yards. But closer tee box options — 5,270 yards (purple), 5,740 yards (orange), 6,430 yards (white), and 6,800 yards (blue) — will make it playable for all, said course designer Bryce Swanson.
“The course allows players to be challenged based on their ability, but it also gives players options to maneuver through it based on their abilities,” Swanson said. “Everything from the sense of the arrival, to the views and the vistas, will create quite a bit of the same feel.”
Reawakening the Monster
The new Monster will include 55 to 60 bunkers, some of which will be moved farther down fairways, while retaining five ponds and Kiamesha Creek as hazards, and co-opting part of the neighboring International course.
The future Kartrite water park will occupy most of the former International course, which pioneered Catskills golf before its 2009 closure.
With the $925 million Resorts World Catskills casino complex now atop much of the former Monster’s front nine, the course’s first nine holes will be completely new. As for other changes:
— the former first hole will become the new 10th, while being shortened to a par-4 from a par-5;
— the old 18th will become the 11th, while the previous green site for the 11th will become the new 12th’s tee box;
— the 12th green site will be moved to across Kiamesha Creek, removing the forced carry;
— a new short par-four 13th will play from 255 yards to 365 yards along the creek, near a new par-three 14th;
— the 15th will be the old 16th; the par-four 16th will be the old 17th; the 17th will be a brand new par-three; and the old 9th will become the new 18th;
— plus there will be a new driving range, putting area and clubhouse.
“The legendary Monster Golf Club will be reimagined for today’s golfer,” Empire Resorts said in a statement. The course will be “fun and challenging,” and it “will drive additional visitation to Resorts World Catskills.”
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