Hanging with the seniors

+ News, Notes, and Weekly Favorites

Author

Sean Melia
September 27, 2024

Hey Everyone,

Another Friday is here, and October is creeping into our lives. Over the last week or so, I’ve noticed more leaves on the ground and more quarter zips and vests being worn, shed, and worn again.

I had a blast caddying in the Mass. Senior Amateur for my Fallon Cup partner Neal on Monday and Tuesday. I snuck out for a nine-hole jaunt around Unicorn GC in Stoneham to check off course No. 134 on Monday after the round at Salem CC. Then, on Wednesday, I was lucky enough to cash in on an invite to the delightful Hyannisport Club. I will have both reviews on IG next week. If you’d like a sneak peek, Premium Members of this newsletter get early access to course reviews along with additional thoughts that go beyond the IG word limit. My Salem CC review went to premium subscribers on Wednesday.

On Monday, if you missed it, I sent out a Weekend Round-Up, with a wide range of results from around Massachusetts. I will send out something similar every other week this fall.

If you know of an event in Massachusetts (or involving Mass. golfers) that I should cover, send me an email with details! [email protected]

News and Notes:

U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur: Pam Kuong (Wellesley Hills, Mass.) and Sue Curtin (Westwood, Mass.) both reached the Round of 32 out at Broadmoor in Seattle. Kuong was matched up against another Mass. representative, Tara Joy-Connelly (Middleborough, Mass), in the Round 64. Kuong won that match 5&4, and then she drew another golfer with Mass. connections, Jayne Pardus. Pardus is from South Carolina but plays out of Boston Golf Club. Pardus beat Kuong 2&1. Curtin lost to Brenda Corrie Kuehn. Corrie Kuehn clinched the winning point in the 1998 Curtis Cup matches. Her daughter, Rachel Kuehn, played in three Curtis Cups and won a NCAA title with Wake Forest in 2023.

Boston College Women Dominate Red Bandanna: The Eagles ran away from the field at Blue Hill and won by 46 shots with a winning score of 19-over par! The top three individuals were Eagles: Cynthia Zhang (+3), Angel Lin (+4), and Emily Boehrer (+7). Without the Eagles, it would have been a tight event! Quinnipiac (+65), Boston University (+66), and Merrimack (+67) were the next three teams in the rankings.

PGA Senior Professional Championship: Greg Farland (Marlborough CC) shot a 76 (+4). David Dionne (Beverly Golf and Tennie), Tom Tobey (Sandwich Hollows GC), and Jeff Martin (Wollaston GC) shot 78 in the opening round. After Friday’s round, the field will be cut to the top 90 and ties. Live Scoring.

Sagamore Springs housing development: Toll Brothers will develop Sagamore Springs in Lynnfield, Mass. 

NOTE: An earlier version of this post said that Sagamore Springs would lose nine holes. The club reached out to me and corrected this. More details below…

“The project will consist of 66 detached dwellings,” said Cameron. “Each of the homes will be customizable, so there will be some flexibility. The project will include a clubhouse, a pool and amenity spaces. The clubhouse will be open to the residences in the neighborhood and not the public. The project will include about 4,000 feet of private road to obtain access to these homes.”

LocalHeadlineNews.com

There will still be 18 holes of golf, it appears. Here’s the full story.

Here are some more facts from Sagamore:

  • Toll Brothers will develop 66 senior living (55+) units adjacent to the first and second holes.

  • The Driving Range at SSGC will be eliminated and dedicated to the development.

  • All 18 holes will remain open for play to the public.

  • The golfer’s experience and golf course layout (aside from the loss of our driving range) will remain intact and unchanged for the most part.

The following courses are slated to close or turn into nine holes in the coming years:

  • Maplegate (Bellingham, Mass.) is closing and turning into a solar field.

  • Stow Acres North will become a nine-hole course with a mix of holes from the front and back nine after the town purchased the land for $3.5.

  • Easton CC is in negotiations with Toll Brothers. Letter from the owner.

  • Bungay Brook (Bellingham, Mass.) closed last year.

  • Pembroke CC is rumored to be in the process of becoming a nine-hole course with housing.

  • Elmcrest CC (East Longmeadow, Mass.) is just… sitting there ripe for the taking.

If you have any results or stories that you think would be great for the newsletter. Send them to [email protected]. I’d love to highlight some high school and college golf this fall season. So if you’re connected to a program, send along results or highlights.

Hanging with the Seniors

“It’s been a lot of fun to be competitive again,” Doug Clapp said in his victory speech at the Mass. Senior Amateur.

Senior competitive golf is the land of bandages and braces. Where hybrids outnumber irons. Where the hair is thinning, and the discussions on the tee boxes revolve around joint replacements, trips to Florida, and grandkids. Where sticking a tee in the ground, reading a putt, and gathering the ball from the hole needs two bent legs and a small grimace.

It’s also where the competitive juices continue to flow.

After two days of caddying at Salem CC, the idea of golf being a lifetime sport took on even more meaning. It’s often a throwaway line when discussing the positives of golf. It’s the reason parents sign their kids up for golf camp.

It’s a lifetime sport. They’ll be thankful they started early.

It’s the reason a 30-something can jump into the game with two feet.

It’s a lifetime sport. I have plenty of time to learn and improve.

However, to watch 55+ year-olds battle their bodies and minds to play a game was inspiring. In our two three-ball groups, five of the players used a pushcart or had a caddie. One rode a cart, and he had gone to see the Electric Light Orchestra the night before at TDGarden, so who can blame him for feeling a little tired in the second round? 

During the two rounds, there was a lot of discussion about focus and the mental grind. It gets harder to stay, and remain, focused. Big numbers can creep in a little faster and short putts get a little longer. 100% focus is tougher to conjure up and maintain over 4.5 hours.

14 months ago, Doug Clapp was unable to record a podcast with me. No, he wasn’t too busy. He physically couldn’t sit in one place for more than 20 minutes without falling into severe pain. He had played a ton of golf, and his body asked him to take it easy for a bit. His back was in bad shape.

Now, he’s a Mass. Senior Am Champion. His first individual MassGolf title.

The win came on a course with an exacting final stretch of holes. Clapp handled them better than his competitors. A duel was brewing as John Hadges and Clapp both separated themselves from the field at 2-under par. After opening with a bogey on the first two holes, Hadges made a birdie on holes Nos. 5, 11, 13. Clapp carded four birdies of his own in the group ahead.

The difference came on the 16th, where Clapp made a birdie after stuffing his iron shot to 5 feet. Hadges made bogey, and the tournament flipped. The two-shot swing was the difference in the end. Clapp shot two-under and Hadges finished even par.

A week earlier, Andy Drohen, who just turned 55, won the New England Amateur. The young buck in the field is a decorated golfer, having won the Mass. Amateur in 2003 at The Country Club.

Clapp’s statement about having fun was echoing what Drohen said following his win.

There’s the feeling of playing in a tournament and then there’s the feeling of being in a tournament at business end. Golf tournaments are funny that way. Everyone shows up, but as the tournament progresses, the competition shifts for everyone. Some are trying to win a trophy. Others are aiming for a strong finish and earn an exemption. For many, just making the cut and earning some extra golf is what’s on their radar.

Seniors get to go from the competitive purgatory of their 40s back into the caldron of competitive golf. 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Rusty Strawn from Georgia, decided at age 47 he was going to jump back into competitive golf after years of raising a family and working. He laid out a plan and it paid off at Kittansett in 2022 when he became a national champion. It paid off again a month later when he conquered the Canadian Senior Amateur, too.

It is fun to be competitive. And it was a joy to walk with guys in their 50s and 60s and watch them play an incredibly hard game on a challenging course.

Golf is a lifetime sport. For those seniors, it’s a way to scratch the competitive itch and push their bodies and minds to see what they’re still capable of.

In those two days, it never felt like any of the guys were chasing ghosts. They weren’t lamenting their younger days. They were present and enjoying the chase. Sure, they might have liked a few extra yards off the tee or the ability to gouge a ball out of the rough a bit easier or to flight a 6-iron just a bit higher.

But the guys at Salem CC understood those days might be behind them and these are the days to enjoy and cherish because it sure is fun to be competitive.

If you would like to support my work, you can upgrade your subscription. I am including a 2025 desk calendar with my golf photography for every person who upgrades before Oct. 1.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

  • I’m about halfway through Native Links: The Surprising History of our First People in Golf by Mark Wagner.

  • I did not have “Holy Cross QB transfer alters NIL and transfer debate in college football” on my bingo card. But here we are. Matthew Sluka left HC for UNLV (Worcester for Las Vegas… gooooooood move). He’s led the team to a 3-0 record and the brink of a Top 25 ranking. But Sluka is unhappy with unkept promises. “I committed to UNLV based on certain representations made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka wrote.

    I did have “College Kid goes to Las Vegas and leaves unhappy” on my Bingo Card though…

    He’ll sit the rest of the year and take a red shirt year. Here’s Awful Announcing on the matter.

I’m listening to…

  • A fair amount of Vampire Weekend. Going to see them at TDGarden on Friday night.

I’m eating…

I’m watching…

  • After saving the first three episodes of Slow Horses, we caught up this week. It’s, as expected, excellent.

  • I am looking forward to watching Mr. McMahon on Netflix.

  • This was a good video from NESN about Brookline Golf Course and the work they’re planning.

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