Willy Lucas is new owner of Hidden Meadows

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“This is a big step for me,” said Willy Lucas of Bradley. “I’ve never been a business owner before.”

He is now, as the new owner of Hidden Meadows Golf Course in Old Town.

“The sale was final on May 13,” said Lucas. “We reached a purchase-and-sale agreement in April.”

For $300,000, Lucas bought from Peter Dufour the golf course, all related buildings and equipment, and enough land to bring the total, including the golf course, to 211 acres.

The transition has been a smooth one, for both parties.

“[Dufour] and his entire family have been good,” said Lucas.

In fact, said Lucas, “He’s still working 30 hours a week here.”

Lucas was looking to purchase a golf course over the winter, but he didn’t have any luck with the one he was looking at.

“I spent most of the winter trying to purchase the Enfield golf course [Green Valley],” said the 43-year-old Lucas, operations manager for construction company Fastco of Lincoln.

Lucas wanted to buy Green Valley because it was close to his office. They never came to an agreement.

His father, Ken Lucas, discovered an alternative.

“He happened to run into Peter,” said Willy Lucas. “[Dufour] called me and said, ‘If you’re interested in buying a golf course, I’ve got one for you.'”

“It was even better,” said Lucas because it’s closer to home and close to a few of his relatives. Quite a few relatives.

“We have 51 golfers in the family,” said Willy Lucas. Lucas has turned to several of them to help out around the course.

“We’re going to draw from them all,” he said. “And we’ve had great support from the public.”

His father is the new superintendent/manager of the nine-hole facility (built in 1997) off Route 43 in West Old Town, and his mother, Ruth Ann, is the clubhouse manager. Another dozen relatives are listed as either course staff or clubhouse staff.

Fortunately, Lucas is used to working with large groups.

“I manage, on average, a 50-man crew,” said Lucas of his job with Fastco, which mainly does millwright, piping, and boiler work for mills. “That’s my 60-hour-a-week job.”

Early evenings and weekends he spends at the golf course.

He even has to do chores he’s never had to do before.

“I never drink coffee, but one morning, I was the only one here, so I knew I had to make it,” said Lucas. He didn’t mention what people said of his brew.

But they can readily see what else he and his family have accomplished so far, including adding benches, upgrading drainage, building bridges, and improving the cart paths.

There’s a new tee for women being built on the fourth hole; new, larger bathroom facilities have been set up; and a new clubhouse is planned for next year.

“Give us another year and this will be the prettiest nine-hole course in the area,” said Ken Lucas.

Rees, Jensen elected to Hall

Gary Rees, a Dover-Foxcroft native whose teams won nine state high school championships during his 27-year coaching career, and Linda Jensen of Windham, who competed as a pro in both the U.S. and Europe, will be inducted into the Maine Golf Hall of Fame on Sept. 10.

Rees started his coaching career at Foxcroft Academy in 1971 with a 17-0 record.

He moved to southern Maine the following year and became head pro at Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland. In 1979 he was hired as coach of Greely High School in Cumberland Center, where his teams won six state championships – three in Class A and three more in Class B – and he coached four individual champions, including 2002 inductee Holly Anderson.

Rees continued to coach Greely after becoming the pro at Dexter Municipal Golf Course, but eventually he resigned the Greely position and accepted the same post at Dexter High. The Tigers promptly won the last three state Class C titles.

Jensen was a multisport athlete in high school and college, but she didn’t take up golf until 1988, after college.

That first year, though, she won the women’s club championship at Gorham Country Club, then proceeded to win three more club crowns at Falmouth Country Club from 1989 to 1991. She was Southern Maine Women’s Golf Association winner the same three years, and Women’s Maine State Golf Association state champion in 1991.

Jensen turned pro and played on the Women’s European Tour from 1992 through 1998, then started playing on the Futures Tour in the U.S. in 1998. In 1999, she won the JWEA/Anheuser Busch Classic and the Central Florida Challenge.

Jensen is now an instructor in recreation at Rutgers University in New Jersey and coach of the women’s golf team at Monmouth (N.J.) University.

The event will begin with a golf tournament at Sable Oaks Golf Club in South Portland followed by a reception, banquet, and induction at the adjacent Marriott Hotel.

Forms to attend the induction ceremony are available at most pro shops, call the Maine Golf Hall of Fame office at 799-0983, or send an e-mail to golfhall@maine.rr.com.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.