How the Woods became The Woods

The first tournament held at The Woods. Paul Bartkus (red coat) lines up the carts while the family dog Miko trots down the unpaved cart paths.

From Farming to Fairways

After selling the family chicken farm in the late 1980s, Paul (father) and Dan (son) Bartkus began working at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, Massachusetts. They worked on the greens crew where Dan developed a passion for golf course maintenance and design. He decided to pursue this passion and get his degree in Turfgrass Science & Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 1992, the Bartkus family purchased 225 acres of land in Westminster, Massachusetts with the dream of building their own golf course. Around the same time, Paul’s grand nephew, Edvardas, immigrated from Lithuania to the United States to help build the course. Together, Dan, Edvardas and Paul worked to turn their dream into a reality.

The course, designed by the late Albert Zikorus, opened to the public in 1998 and was said to resemble a ski resort that replaced the snow with rolling fairways and plush greens.

Paul and his wife Doris, standing on the first tee box.

“Behind the success of every small business, there is a family”

31 years later, The Woods of Westminster is still a family business. Dan Bartkus manages the pro shop, while his wife Siobhan manages the restaurant and bar. Their kids, Elyse (23) and Daniel Jr (21) also help out around the course. Elyse helps out in both the pro shop and restaurant, while owning and managing her own photography business. Daniel Jr aids in the greens keeping, working alongside Ed and learning the ways of golf course maintenance, while getting his degree in Mechanical Engineering and German at UMass Amherst.

Edvardas is the head of grounds maintenance, from grooming the course to keeping the carts and machinery running, he does it all.