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Remembering Bob Molt and college golf at Holy Cross

+ News, Notes, and Weekly Favorites

Author

Sean Melia
February 28, 2025

Bob Molt coached Holy Cross golf for 41 years. (HC Athletics)

Hey Everyone,

How nice was it to see “50” on the thermometer this week?! Next week looks a little wet, but there are still some warm days ahead. Here’s a list of courses that are open in the winter if the conditions allow. Of course, always call ahead to check if the courses are open for play.

This week’s YouTube video covers golf in New England (not including Mass.).

I have two sets of promo codes to share with you: one for the Northeast Golf Show and one for a trip to Hilton Head with The Golf Trip Guys.

Spring is coming…

Northeast Golf Show - March 14-16

Join thousands of golfers on March 14-16 at the Gillette Stadium Field House to kick off the season. Restock on golf balls, plan a trip, try out the latest equipment, set up your GHIN with MassGolf, and discover new local courses.

The folks at Northeast Golf gave me a promo code to share with you for a discount on your ticket. I’ll be there all weekend, so make sure to say hello!

BSG = $3 OFF General Admission (Enter the code in the “Additional Information” section and hit “enter/return”)

BSGVIP = $10 OFF the VIP Experience

Hilton Head with The Golf Trips Guys

These guys are putting the finishing touches on a trip to Hilton Head from April 10-13. It’s a two-man format that includes 54 holes of golf, 3-nights lodging, airport transportation, and swag.

You and your partner can sign up with promo code BSGHH and get 10% off the trip for both you and your partner. That’s a $430 promo code! I’m kicking in a year subscription to Bay State Golf for you and your partner. That’s a $100 value. Here’s the link with details. Deal expires on March 14, 2025.

News and Notes:

Michael Thorbjornsen: He’s back at it this week in the Cognizant Classic. He shot 67 in the opening round. Incredibly, he’s eight shots off the lead, as Jake Knapp shot a 59 in the opening round.

Korn Ferry Tour: Robbie Oppenheim, Davis Chatfield, and John VanDerLaan are all playing in the Argentina Open. The trio had a strong start on Thursday.

Remembering Bob Molt and golf at Holy Cross

Bob Molt was a mountain of a man with a matching personality. I met him in 2002 as a freshman at Holy Cross. He collected a bunch of ragtag kids from in front of Hogan and drove us in a creeky van over to Heritage Golf Course for tryouts.

I made the team and got to know Coach Molt for the next four years. In a Boston Globe article in 2006, Molt said, “I love dealing with New England kids who just want to play. They don’t have big egos, just big hearts.” (Sadly, I cannot find a link to the article in the Globe archive to share).

You do need a big heart to get your teeth kicked in during long April rounds at Yale when the sleet is stinging, the wind is blistering, and the wait on the daunting ninth tee box is eternal.

Molt always had a satchel of one-liners at the ready that were either built to poke fun or unlock a swing thought that might lead to a personal best round.

“When I look at you, I picture a duck with a hook in it,” he said to one of my Holy Cross teammates who tended to battle the horrible left miss.

Everyone knew Coach Molt, and everyone loved Coach Molt. Sadly, he passed away five years ago on February 26, 2020.

Coach might have been the most decorated golfer among the coaches in northeast college golf.

He was born in Worcester and learned the game under the tutelage of Paul Harney. Harney won the NCAA Championship in 1952 while playing for Holy Cross and was a six-time champion on the PGA Tour.

Molt earned a scholarship to play college golf at Arizona and then earned his PGA Tour card in 1982. He competed around the world for the next 13 years and was a key contributor to the Sunshine Tour in South Africa, assisting and recruiting players from the U.S. and U.K. He was the head pro at Pleasant Valley in Sutton, Mass. for 22 years and opened a driving range in Berlin, Mass. called the Solomon Pond Golf Center.

Former players would pop in to see Coach Molt and hope he might use his discerning eye to offer one thoughtful bit of advice.

One legend about Molt was his connection and friendship with Ernie Els. Els and Molt became close friends while Molt spent time in South Africa. Els’s star was rising, and he asked Coach Molt to become his swing coach. Molt declined the offer.

As college kids we all had our doubts about this story. We never heard it from him, or at least I didn’t.

Then, one of my teammates, Matt, caught Ernie Els’ attention at the U.S. Open at Oakmont during a practice round. He simply yelled out, “Hey, Ernie, Bob Molt says hello.”

Els came over and asked him how he knew Coach Molt, and he told Els he played for him in college.

“Meet me over by that tent in 10 minutes,” Els told him.

Matt met Els and chatted with him for a bit, and Els raved about what a great guy Coach Molt was.

It happened again at TPC Boston when the Deutsche Bank was held there.

Another teammate, Pat, called out to Els. “Hey, Ernie. Bob Molt says hello.”

Ernie stopped in his tracks and chatted with Pat. He told Pat to make sure to “Tell Bobby, I say hello.”

During my senior year in 2006, Molt’s colon burst just after our spring break trip to Florida. He was put in a medically induced coma and didn’t wake up until May 10. It was scary, and the prognosis was bleak. We traveled to events with a member of the athletic department because we didn’t have an asst. coach.

Memories of college golf aren’t always about the golf. The golf, in my case, was pretty poor. College golf was about the ridiculous stories that continue to pop up 19 years later on a text chain with a few teammates.

The moments when Molt’s rather large stomach would honk the horn as he climbed into the van.

Or the jokes about what Molt stored in his empty 18-wheel trailer on his driving range. Most of us thought it was breadsticks from the nearby Olive Garden…

We remember his sage advice to “keep it left of the trees on the right and keep it right of the trees on the left.”

We remember freezing in the back of the van as we drove through Upstate New York in April as Molt flicked his cigarette ash out of the window.

We remember his big personality, his kind smile, and his understated whit.

After recovering from his medical emergency in 2006, Molt coached for 11 more years. In 2017, he retired after 41 years as the men’s coach. He also coached the women’s team from 2000 to 2013. In an interview with Holy Cross Magazine, he said one of his coaching highlights was coaching his daughter in the 2009 Big South Championship—a moment that was probably far sweeter considering the health scare in 2006.

Over 57 years of golf at Holy Cross between the men’s and women’s programs, Coach Molt impacted hundreds of kids with big hearts who were willing to tee it up in horrendous connections at Yale and Stow Acres and Colgate and the Captains Course.

He connected with those kids because deep down, that’s who he was, too. A kid from Worcester who flew the coop but returned home to teach the game he loved.

Over the years, he was always willing to welcome any of us back to Solomon Pond and chat or take a look at a few swings.

Many have missed him over the last five years, and he would have probably loved how the game has exploded in that time. He would have had a lot of folks whaling away at his driving range, trying to nail that big trailer with a 7-iron.

He did quite a job instilling a love of golf in hundreds, probably thousands, of people. I’m grateful for the friendships that he helped me generate and foster during my time at Holy Cross.

This week, I wrote about the books that sparked the idea for the quest. Premium subscribers have full access to the post.

If you would like to support my work, you can upgrade your subscription.

When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

📖 I’m still chipping away at 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. It’s excellent and a surprisingly easy read, but it’s nearly 1,200 pages. So… should be done with it in the coming weeks.

🏀 The Cavinder twins are about to finish their blockbuster college basketball careers. They rode the NIL wave and the boom of women’s college hoops to make a ton of money. What happens next for them will be interesting. ESPN talked to them about it.

I’m listening to…

🎤 I liked this interview with Kyle Porter on Make it. Share it. Always nice to hear writers talk outside of their controlled environment.

I’m eating…

🥣 Tiff made this Pearl Couscous With Creamy Feta and Chickpeas. It was very good.

I’m watching…

🧠 Severance is… wild. We’re catching up and watching Season 1.

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