Construction is underway on a $3 million state-of-the-art learning center for junior golfers in Freeport.
The Alex Re Rancourt Golf Learning Center, named after the late two-time Maine Women’s Amateur Golf champion who qualified for two U.S. Amateur Women’s Golf Tournaments, will feature a Top Tracer Driving Range and short, nine-hole course.
There will also be a junior-friendly clubhouse with a full-service pro shop and snack bar, indoor classroom and meeting space, and high-tech indoor simulators for year-round play.
“Our junior golf programming will integrate the game of golf with a life skill curriculum, creating active learning experiences that build inner strength, self-confidence and resilience that can carry juniors and families through everything they do,” Maine Golf Association Executive Director Brian Bickford said in a press release last week.
The driving range will open in late August and the Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Learning Center is slated to open in 2027.
Rancourt earned a full scholarship to Furman University and wound up attending LPGA Q School three times. She won the Maine Women’s Amateur Golf Championship in 2008 and 2009.
Throughout her golf career, Rancourt struggled with mental health challenges, including bipolar disorder and depression, and she died in January 2024 from a fentanyl overdose.
Her family — including father Michael, mother Meg Gilmartin, sister Indigo Rancourt and her wife, Faith, and their daughters — made a major financial commitment to the learning center to honor her love of the sport and achievements while also elevating awareness about mental health issues and addiction in order to help others.
“In supporting the Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Center, my family and I want to shine a spotlight on our beautiful daughter and her love of this game. We also want to raise awareness of the importance of increasing access to mental health and substance use services for young people in Maine and across the country,” Michael Rancourt said in the press release.
The construction of the driving range and the nine-hole course are already underway thanks to a significant contribution by the Marr-Anderson Family Foundation.
“The Marr-Anderson Family Foundation is pleased to contribute to the Maine Golf Center to support healthy, active lifestyles for junior golfers and their families,” said Rebecca Marr, president and co-founder of the Marr-Anderson Family Foundation. “We believe the center will offer junior golfers a place to grow and develop positive lifelong skills while also promoting connections between friends, families and the community.”
The Learning Center will be the home of the First Tee of Maine and there will be other notable youth programs like Youth on Course, PGA Junior League and LPGA USGA Girls Golf.
Programs will be offered across the state as well as Freeport.
Bickford said there has been a huge growth in youth interest in golf lately, but the access has declined due to the demand for full-priced adult tee times, which has increased 98 percent since 2019.
Maine Golf has raised $2.7 million of the $3 million from individuals, foundations and corporate benefactors from within Maine and anyone wanting to learn more or contribute can do so by visiting mainegolf.org or contact Bickford at brian@mainegolf.org.