Spring Meadows Golf Club in Gray has been recognized as the New England course of the year by an association of golf course owners.

The 18-hole par-71 layout owned by the four Pollard brothers and run by David Pollard, 69, has been named the New England Golf Course Owners Association’s Course of the Year.

“This is truly the result of our entire team, our staff,” Pollard said. “So it’s nice to have that recognition for the team. And, also, I think it’s a credit and reflection to our members and playing public who have supported us so nicely over the last 21 years.”

This is the first time a Maine course has been named the winner in the 19-year history of the award. Elaine Gebhardt, the organization’s executive director, said there are more than 200 member courses in the New England Golf Course Owners Association, including 18 in Maine. Previous New England winners have included well-known courses like TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts.

Courses must submit an application to be considered for the course of the year honors, and they are judged on four primary criteria: quality of the course, quality of ownership and management, contributions to the local community and significant contributions to the game of golf.

“The Pollard family is really priding themselves on their course’s condition and making their product available to a wide variety of golfers and golf abilities,” Gebhardt said. “And one of the parameters is quality of ownership and Dave is very involved in the golf industry in that he takes a leadership role in Golf Maine.”

Pollard cited the work of his three full-time employees: PGA head pro Ben Morey, superintendent Luke Gagne, and mechanic Ken Flint. During the busy summer months the course employs another 20 or so seasonal workers. Brad Pollard and his wife, Peggy, run the club’s food and beverage division. Jeff and Gary Pollard are the other brothers who form the four-person ownership team.

The property, owned by the Pollard family, was a working dairy farm until the mid-1960s.

“We all worked on it. Drove tractors, hayed the fields, milked the cows,” David Pollard said. After pasturing cattle and using the land for other agricultural purposes, the brothers decided to turn the original land, with some additional purchased parcels, into a golf course.

The first nine holes opened in October 1999, with the full 18 holes debuting in 2001.

Morey said the course has continually improved, especially in the past few seasons as Gagne has worked to make it drier and faster, both in the fairways and on the greens, and adding tees to make it more accessible and enjoyable for a wide variety of golfers. It hosted the 2020 Maine State Golf Association Match Play Championship.

Pollard was a key spokesperson this spring as Maine’s courses worked together with the MSGA to lobby state agencies that golf was a safe recreational activity during the coronavirus pandemic. After briefly being shut down as a nonessential business, golf courses were able to reopen May 1.

Like many other courses, Spring Meadows saw increased demand this year. Fueled in part by a tremendous stretch of weather, the club set a record with over 28,000 start times.

“This was certainly one of the most challenging years for golf courses,” said Pollard, who serves as vice president on NEGCOA’s board of directors but was not part of the course of the year selection committee. “We started the year not knowing if we would have a year.

“We had to educate our staffers and put in some very strict guidelines. I think we showed our public – our members and the paying public – that we could provide a safe place for them to play golf. I think they were confident.”

As the New England winner, Spring Meadows is in the running to win one of four regional honors by the National Golf Course Owners Association. From the final four, one course is selected as the best in the nation.