Williamson County’s Public Country Club Franklin Bridge con

 Williamson County’s Public Country Club Franklin Bridge continues to get better

 By Jason Zasky

  PGA Pro Brooks T. West has had more than his share of thrilling experiences in the world of golf. He’s played legendary courses like Cypress Point and Pine Valley, and once recorded a hole-in-one at the iconic par-3 seventh at Pebble Beach. He’s also had the opportunity to caddy for touring pros at dozens of PGA Tour and developmental tour events, including Jerod Turner’s victory at the 2009 Soboda Classic. But he sounds as excited about owning and operating Franklin Bridge Golf Club — a par 71 championship layout at 750 Riverview Drive in Franklin — as anything else he’s done in golf.   

“It was just a God thing, for the only 18-hole public golf course in Williamson County to come up for sale and for me to be able to get it. Still, I can’t believe I get to be the one to own this,” marvels West.

  Since purchasing the course in late 2018, West and his team have made plenty of changes and improvements at Franklin Bridge, which for a brief time went by the name The Crossing Golf Club — and for the longest time before that, Forrest Crossing Golf Course.    

 “The first thing we addressed was the pace of play, as that was the No. 1 complaint before we took over,” says West, who has a B.S. in Marketing at Mississippi State University, with an emphasis in professional golf management. “We have gone to a four-hour and 18-minute pace of play standard, and we have Marshalls and Rangers (on the course) all day, every day. We also renovated the clubhouse and got new bathrooms,” he adds.   

The new ownership also made the old front nine the back nine and vice-versa, so the last hole is now a 424-yard par 4 that finishes at an island green in front of the clubhouse. The old 18th hole — now No. 9 — was changed from a “very difficult par 5 to a really fun par 3,” relates West, which freed up seven acres of space for a new attraction that is scheduled to open in June 2022.   

“We also added a 15,000 square foot putting green, the second largest in the state of Tennessee, and just completed a driving range expansion from 25 to 40 hitting stations,” says West, whose business experience includes eight-plus years at Yamaha Golf-Car Company, where he ascended to national sales manager.  

 The goal with Franklin Bridge is to capture all that is good about a country club at a public golf course, explains West. Hence the club’s unofficial tag line: Willco’s Public Country Club.  

 “If we can make you feel welcome, known, and comfortable without all the stuff that comes with the word ‘club,’ then that’s when we’re fulfilling our highest calling,” he says.   “Golf can be a bit stuffy, stodgy and standoffish,” adds West. “That’s not great for people who are not golfers. They want to try (the sport), but they feel a little intimidated. Especially at a public golf course I think it’s critically important to try to break down those stereotypes and offer a really welcoming, open, and friendly atmosphere.”

  To that end, Franklin Bridge is almost ready to open a brand-new attraction — “a really fun concept that will appeal to the non-core golfer, those who are intimidated by golf or think it takes too long,” says West.  

Meanwhile, he remains laser-focused on providing golfers with an outstanding customer experience — and hiring the kind of people who can help facilitate that kind of experience, whether out on the course or at Persimmon Pub, which overlooks the picturesque 18th green.   

“I take a lot of pride in stewarding the only public golf course in a community like this,” concludes West. “When you have a community that pursues and values quality as much as Williamson County does … my purpose is to make the public golf course match the community that it’s in. We’re trying to match that and live up to historic Franklin’s standards.”  

Franklin Bridge is located at 750 Riverview Drive (615) 794-9400 franklinbridgegolf.com