North Shore Golf Spring 2021

14 >>> SPRING 2021
Changes are cooking at Kelley Greens
BY BILL BROTHERTON
Brett Waterman and Rhiannon Evans, the new managers of Kelley Greens in Nahant, sit
with their English Bulldog puppy, Archie, in a portion of the newly-renovated restuarant
at the course.
PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK
Kelley Greens, the 9-hole
waterfront golf course in
Nahant, has a rich and
storied history.
A new chapter in the club’s history
began March 5, when Nahant’s Golf
Course Committee and the Board of
Selectmen selected Brett Waterman and
Rhiannon Evans of R & B Management
as the course and restaurant’s new
lessees. They have a 5-year lease.
Townies are happy Waterman
and Evans, partners in life and
business, have reverted back to the
Kelley Greens name. The previous
management team switched to the
Nahant Golf Club name in 2017, but
for many it will always be Kelley
Greens. A few members still refer to
the place as Sea Gaels or Tony C’s,
named after the local Red Sox slugger
whose family bought the course and
ran the restaurant in the early 1970s.
“Everyone knows it as Kelley
Greens and locals call it by that name,
so it made sense to return to that,”
said Waterman.
The club was founded in 1894, but
it has shut down off-and-on through
the decades. The Kelley Greens we’ve
come to know and love reopened for
good in 1966 when Selectman Charles
A. Kelley took charge and guided the
course’s rebirth as Drumquill Golf
Course. After his death in 1988, the
course was renamed in his honor.
Waterman, a graduate of the
University of Rhode Island turfgrass
management program, plans to add
new maintenance equipment to his
arsenal. Waterman has been course
superintendent at Nahant’s 3,910-yard
links for the past two years, moving
here from Tamarack Country Club in
Greenwich, Conn. A new fleet of golf
carts will soon arrive, and irrigation
improvements will take place this
season. The search for a PGA golf pro
has begun.
Chef/co-owner Evans, a native of
Nottingham, England, was executive
chef for the past nine years at the
prestigious Quaker Ridge Golf Club in
New York’s Westchester County (the
golf course is annually ranked as one
of the USA’s top 100).
The couple, together for 10 years,
has spent the past two years in a
long-distance relationship. They met
at Tamarack CC, where Evans worked
in the kitchen as sous-chef. Are they
happy to be working together at
Kelley Greens? Their beaming smiles
indicate the answer is yes.
The day we visited, we were greeted
by Waterman and Evans’ friendly,
kissy 5-month-old English Bulldog
Archie, who will be a regular at the
site. During a tour of the dining
room improvements, Archie had an
“accident” on the rug. “It’s a good
thing we’re replacing all the carpets,”
said the couple.
In fact, a lot of renovations are
taking place in the restaurant. The
couple plans to redo the interior and
enhance the outdoor dining space,
where cooling ocean breezes are
prevalent. They hope to have the bar/
restaurant up and running by the end
of April. Evans said the atmosphere
will be casual and feature “simple
good food.”
“There aren’t many dining options
in Nahant, just the Tides and a pizza
place,” said Waterman. “The owner
of the Tides, Mike O’Callaghan,
has gone out of his way to help
us. His support has been greatly
appreciated.”
For more information, go to the
Kelley Greens Golf Course Facebook
page.