FREEPORT, Maine (July 24, 2025)—The Maine Golf Center of Freeport today broke ground on a new, $3 million state-of-the-art golf learning center and home for youth programming to make the game more accessible to Maine youth and families of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
The Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Learning Center will feature a junior-friendly golf clubhouse featuring a full-service pro shop snack bar, indoor classroom and meeting space, and high-tech indoor simulators for year-round play. Beautiful, well-maintained grounds will feature a state-of-the-art Top Tracer driving range and a nine-hole short golf course providing a fun challenge for all.
Brian Bickford, executive director of Maine Golf, said, “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.” The Learning Center will be the home of First Tee of Maine and will present other nationally recognized youth programs, including Youth on Course, PGA Junior League, and LPGA*USGA Girls Golf. Programs will be offered in Freeport and across Maine, creating opportunities for juniors to learn and experience golf no matter where they live and play.
Bickford noted that despite explosive growth in youth interest in golf in recent years, junior golf access has declined as more adults demand for full-priced adult tee times; since 2019, the number of adult rounds played has increased by 98 percent.
The center will be named in memory of Alexa Re Rancourt, a talented golfer known for her natural swing, her gracious nature and sportsmanship, inspiring other young women in the junior tournaments where she won multiple titles. Rancourt earned a full scholarship to Furman University, where she graduated with honors. She won the Maine Women’s Amateur Championship in 2008 and 2009 and the Southern Maine Women’s Championship in 2008. She also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 2009 and 2011. Rancourt decided to take her amateur status back after 3.5 years of professional golf, finding the competitive life and constant travel challenging. She had previously attended Q-School three times but struggled to qualify for the LPGA, though she did play in one LPGA qualifier event.
Rancourt struggled with mental health issues, including bipolar disorder and depression, throughout her golf career. She left the game of golf in 2017 and moved to Hawaii for a time, eventually living in a bus in the Pacific Northwest with her partner, Cody, and their two children, Sparrow and Joey. Rancourt tragically died in January 2024 due to a fentanyl overdose. Rancourt’s family, including father Michael Rancourt, mother Meg Gilmartin, sister Indigo Soncourt and her wife Faith, and daughters, have made a major financial commitment to the learning center to honor Alexa Re’s love of and achievements in the sport of golf while raising awareness about mental health and addiction in hopes of helping others.
Michael Rancourt said, “In supporting the Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Learning 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.”
“Alexa Re loved the game of golf and had so much potential,” Michael Rancourt added. “She had some wonderful coaches who recognized that her mental game was holding her back. We tried to get her the help she needed, but sadly her bipolar disorder and exposure to substance abuse with her partner were too much to overcome.”
“Each person struggling with substance use disorder or mental health challenges or homelessness in our communities is someone’s child or parent or friend. And each of us – no matter what we are going through – deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion,” adds Mark Swann, Executive Director, Preble Street. “Sharing Alexa Re’s story helps to shine a light on the need for more resources for vulnerable people in our communities and for more investment in long-term solutions that can save lives.”
Construction of the Top Tracer driving range, and a nine-hole short course is already underway thanks to a substantial donation 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 new state of the art driving range will open in late August 2025. The Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Learning Center is scheduled to open sometime in 2027.
Maine Golf has raised $2.7M of our $3M capital campaign goal to date, almost entirely from generous individuals, foundations, and corporate benefactors from within Maine.
To learn more and make a gift in support of the Alexa Re Rancourt Golf Learning Center, please visit http://www.mainegolf.org or contact Brian Bickford at brian@mainegolf.org.
About Maine Golf
Maine Golf has led the growth of golf in our state for more than 100 years as a statewide 501(c)(3) non-profit association of over 120-member golf clubs and more than 126,000 amateur golfers. Our sole mission is to “Strengthen today’s game, launch tomorrow’s, and lead the collective effort to grow golf in Maine.”