North Shore Golf Fall 2018

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EDITOR’S LETTER
Bill Brotherton
bbrotherton@essexmediagroup.com
Fathers, sons and growing the game
For 100 years, Winchester Country Club has hosted its Father-
Son Invitational tournament. That’s 100 consecutive years.
Uninterrupted. Even world wars and hurricanes haven’t been
able to halt this New England tradition. Absolutely amazing.
Anne Marie Tobin, North Shore Golf’s associate editor, reports
on this year’s centennial event, which boasted a larger than usual
field, and looks back at the championship that continues to bring
fathers and sons and families together.
Nationwide, however, fewer fathers, sons, mothers and
daughters are playing the game of golf. Tedesco CC head pro Bob
Green reports that the number of golfers continues to go down.
Ten million players, who already have skills and own clubs, have
abandoned the game. In his Shades of Green column, Bob
theorizes why this might be happening and looks at various
programs designed to increase participation, many of which are
having success, especially at the junior level.
In addition, Erin Hart explores a few golf programs in southern
New Hampshire that have had success growing the game,
particularly with youngsters.
In this Fall issue of North Shore Golf, Gary Larrabee in his
Straight Down the Middle column, reveals that membership at
Kernwood Country Club had dwindled from an ideal maximum
census of 275 golfers to 199. Gary talks with Kernwood board
members who describe how a well-thought-out five-year strategic
plan helped save the Salem club from financial ruin.
The aforementioned Ms. Tobin chats with legendary LPGA
champion/Westford native Pat Bradley, who talks about her
career and describes her elation at playing in the inaugural U.S
Senior Women’s Open, an event that was long overdue.
North Shore Golf readers may not realize that Lynnfield
resident Tobin was a pretty fair golfer herself. I use the past
tense – was – because Anne Marie hasn’t played a round of golf
in more than a decade. That caused her a few tense moments
when MassGolf, the new statewide organization created following
the merger of the Massachusetts Golf Association and Women’s
Golf Association of Massachusetts, asked her to hit the ceremonial
first drive before the start of this year’s Women's Amateur
Championship. “I panicked. I hadn’t swung a club in years. I
didn’t even know where my clubs were,’ said the Massachusetts
Golf Hall of Famer and seven-time Women’s Amateur champion.
Tobin wittily writes about the experience in these pages.
We also update readers on a Spaulding Rehabilitation Center
program that will get golfers Back in the Swing, and look at North
Shore golfers who have made news on and off the course.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for
the magazine. Please let us know what you like, don't like and how
we can make North Shore Golf better.
And, who knows, maybe this issue will encourage fathers, sons,
mothers and daughters to head to a driving range or golf course
to enjoy this game we all love.
See you on the links. l
Bill Brotherton is editor of North Shore Golf magazine. He grew up in Beverly, caddied and worked in the pro shop at Essex CC, is a Ouimet Scholar who
graduated from Suffolk University, has written about golf for the Beverly Times and Daily Item of Lynn. He’s retired from the Boston Herald, where he wrote
about music and edited the Features section. Tell him what you think at bbrotherton@essexmediagroup.com.
NORTH SHORE GOLF