This private Donald Ross course is closed. Now, it has recovered and is open to everyone

A new 9-hole course tells the footprint of a century-old history, and has its characteristics begun in the golden age?

When it comes to links to avid golfer in Rhode Island, you can easily trigger memories of the past.

Founded in the early 1900s, the course was the Meta-Golle Golf Club and relocated to its current Eastern Providence (RI) address in 1919, the course began with muddy DNA. Depending on the narrative, it was either designed by the club’s chief professional Leonard Byles or two-time open champion Willie Park Jr., perhaps a combination of the two.

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A few years later, Donald Ross redesigned, adjusted the route and, most importantly, built a new green and bunker, which became a hallmark of the course.

A private 6500-yard layout, the elemental amount protects itself through a narrow playing corridor, but its rumbled putter surfaces – surrounding their dangerous and buzzing edges – are its primary defense. If you can make par there, you can make it anywhere.

Operating as a private club, MetaComet (later renamed MetaComet Country Club) in the wealthy areas of the country owning Ross Design, it is among the best people, not as nationally as Wannamoisett, but is loved locally but correctly considered advanced testing.

No wonder its decline is important.

Referring to part of the Rhode Island golfer’s narrative, you may trigger memory of “Faxon 5”. This became a local shorthand for an ownership organization that included native hero Brad Faxon, who was the eight-time Tour champion who honed his famous short-lived game on MetaComet’s Greens.

In 2019, Faxon and four others won the club due to the meta-damaged element. The story seems to be prepared for a happy ending, with local golf celebrities playing the savior. Instead, it turned into a tangled legal drama, with members of the Messenger suing Faxon’s fraudulent organization. The lawsuit settled in 2024.

Along the way, in 2020, the palm rest closed and then sold again, this time a Providence-based development company that approached the property through a hybrid program: the latter nine of the course will be used for real estate, and the first nine will be restored under the guidance of local architect Robert McNeil and his team under the guidance of Northeast Golf Company.

McNeil and Co., the result opened last summer, is a publicly visited 9-hole layout that is full of golden age appeal and backed by contemporary brands: MET Links is its name.

For some golfers in the area, there will never be other classes, such as elements. It’s impossible to stand. That’s the point. MET Links is a partial resurrection, not a substitute, a compelling newborn with a complex past. Play it with this mindset and you will definitely be grateful for what was saved and not hanging on what was lost.