Buying an abandoned golf course and restoring it from scratch sounds like a dream for many golf fans. For one man in Maine, that dream is now reality.
A user who posts under the handle @thefairwayfields on TikTok and YouTube (and who lists his real name only as “Tye”) purchased the abandoned golf course in Chesterville, Maine, earlier this year.
After picking up golf last year, he quickly realized that there wasn’t anywhere to play within 40 minutes. So he decided to build his own course.
Tye detailed his vision for the abandoned course on his TikTok account, which includes an outdoor simulator bay, a normal driving range, as well as an Airbnb rental, which can be used as a venue for weddings and other events. The purchase also came with a trove of out-of-use equipment and vintage golf clubs he plans to restore. He has since named the project Fairway Fields.
Balancing the restoration with a full-time job, Tye began posting updates in June. His videos struck a chord, helping Fairway Fields attract nearly 800,000 followers across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, with many clips reaching millions of views.
“Has potential to be the greatest TikTok series of all time,” one TikTok user wrote. “My new life goal: buying an abandoned golf course with the boys,” joked another. A third user commented: “If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t tell anyone, but there would be signs.” (Fast Company has reached out to Fairway Fields for comment.)
In one video, Tye shows how far he has come in restoring the greens to their former glory. In another, he documents the painstaking process of reviving maintenance equipment unused for a decade.
The progress in just a few months has been striking, with a loyal community eager to see the project succeed. Some commenters have offered their labor and others their money via GoFundMe, and many say they’ll travel across the country once Fairway Fields opens.
That may be soon. In his latest video, Tye announced the range portion of the course should be open to the public by next week.
