Oakholm, Tree House has found a successful pairing of golf and beer

Tree House Tewksbury began accepting tee times for its golf course this summer.

Decades ago, two Totas started cycling through Rome exhausted and hungry. They need food and to escape the Mediterranean sun.

Like an oasis on the street, my uncles found near one of the train stations in the old city a magical restaurant named simply, Vino and Porchetta, or wine and roast pork. They ate rich porchetta cut from the rotisserie and drank red wine from jelly jar glasses.

I always remember this story because it describes the union of two perfectly complementary things. Rare are the places that pack such delights, be it food or entertainment, under one roof.

I never had my own Vino e Porchetta until I played golf at Tree House Brewing Co. in Tewksbury. Make beer and a pair of golf as good as wine and roast pork. The two go together on courses everywhere, every day, but never in Massachusetts have they been brought together like this.

I recently visited two courses owned by the state brewery, which delight golfers across the country, whether they play disc or ball.

Throwing discs at Oakholm in Brookfield

On a balmy afternoon on a recent Sunday, Spencer Austin was driving a golf cart through one of the fields at Oakholm Farm. In the distance the cows graze on the grass growing on the edge of the woods.

On the back of his cart, Austin carries a clear plastic bin filled with multicolored discs, free for backhanders and side-slingers who want to test their skills at Oakholm Brewing CompanyThe new 18-hole disc golf course.

Austin, who considers himself a decent golfer, designed the course, a project that began shortly after the brewery opened in 2019.

“We thought it would take us six or eight months to throw a course,” Austin told me. “After three and a half years we finally got it done.”

The brewery found an opening for a new disc course after Rapscallion Brewing Co.’s course closed in Sturbridge. Austin has heard reviews calling the course a hidden gem among a region full of outstanding disc golf courses, including Leicester’s Maple Hill, considered by the sport to be the best in the world.

“People come to this place to play disc golf now,” he said.

The Oakholm trail leads up a hill through the woods across the road from the brewery parking lot. Austin keeps the course approachable for new or casual players, with just enough minor challenges to keep veterans entertained. It is known as a pay-to-play course, costing $10 for a round or $15 for the day.

“We see it in two ways where people come to the brewery, and they say, ‘I never knew there was a disc golf course here,'” he said. “But then we also see disc golfers come here and say, ‘You have a brewery on site, too?'”

It is aimed at Tree House Tewksbury

If the magazine Golf Digest on the 19th hole, Tree House Tewksbury, a little less than an hour’s drive from Worcester, easily breaks the top 10 despite being a nine-hole track.

What other clubhouse serves over 40 beers delivered fresh from one of the world’s 100 best breweries? And I’m not factoring in the cocktails made with its own spirits and coffee from its roastery.

The state’s first brewery-owned ball golf course began accepting tee times earlier this summer, more than a year after the Charlton-based brewer announced its purchase of the Tewksbury Country Club.

Tee times are limited on weekdays, and you can only reserve nine holes at the time of this writing. Tree House expects to lift the restrictions after its first full season of managing a golf course.

My first round of the Tree House was under all the sun and blue skies. Only about half of the other groups were out on the course on this beautiful late July morning, allowing my playing partner and I to take our time and soak up the freshness and silliness of Tree House golf. .

Eight years ago, we first visited the Tree House in Monson and waited in line for a few cans and a couple of growlers, writing what we wanted in pencil on small pieces of paper. Now we’re hacking our way around holes named after some of the same beers, noting what we shot on the brewery’s official scorecards with Tree House branded pencils.

Setting aside the usual shot-by-shot anxiety, the round at Tree House offers one of the most relaxing golf experiences I’ve ever had on a course. We understand that golf at the Tree House is more of an accoutrement than the main course.

The starter – the employee who sends you to your round – does not lecture on the flow of the game and the rules of the course. We walked the course at a brisk pace, though next time I’d take one of the carts covered in Tree House logos.

It felt like we were on a golf course attached to a craft beer theme park, passing crowd-pleasing metal beer cans and pulling pins with colorful flags bearing the names of our favorites. IPA, from “Julius” to “Green.”

After the fourth hole, a sign on the fairway screams, “BEER AHEAD!” This leads to a trailer between the fifth and seventh holes where you can get what you really came for.

Instead of a cart, this trailer provides your comfort on the Tree House course. You can buy up to three beers or canned cocktails while playing, poured for you in aluminum cans with golf-themed labels to discourage people from bringing cans onto the course. I kept mine as a souvenir.

The course itself offers lush fairways and an easy nine that for scratch golfers is not much of a challenge. It would play like many other courses in town if not for the allure of the Tree House.

You finish the round in the shadow of the majestic clubhouse topped by a tall cupola clock. The Tree House hasn’t undergone any major interior changes, just polished and added to what locals have enjoyed at Tewksbury Country Club throughout its 25-year run.