By Steve Krause

Golf … for the fun of it.

That seems to be the objective of the PGA Junior League, which is making its debut at Gannon Golf Course in Lynn and other local courses this summer. The goal is to get young boys and girls interested in the sheer fun golf provides, according to Gannon head pro David Sibley.

The Lynn municipal course will be in a league with Beverly Golf & Tennis Club, Wenham Country Club, Nahant Golf Club, Hillview Golf Course in North Reading, and Sagamore Spring in Lynnfield.

Most courses in the North Shore Golf magazine readership area field at least one team of 8-to-12 players. Some, like at Tedesco CC in Marblehead, are by invitation-only. The majority are open to any youngster, primarily ages 8 to 13, who would like to participate. Atkinson (N.H.) Resort and Country Club had a whopping 86 junior players in 2017, giving the club its own league.

Mike Higgins, NEPGA executive director, noted that a record number of players have signed up for the junior league for this time of year.
“We are number one in the entire country in PGA Junior League in terms of both the number of kids playing and the number of teams, with more than 200 teams. One, Atkinson, actually won the regionals and advanced to the final in Arizona last year,” said Higgins.

Sibley said that while the PGA is long on events that cater to golf’s competitive nature, it seeks to foster an interest in the game purely as something enjoyable and social.

“The PGA has already recognized the competitive aspect of golf,” Sibley said, “but in order to get youngsters who will want to go out, and maybe not take it as seriously, who are looking for a more fun aspect of their game, this is what the program was designed for.”

And while teaching the sport is certainly central to the PGA Junior League’s efforts, that won’t be the only aspect of the game the kids will learn.

There is no required skill set, except for an interest in the game and some knowledge of the fundamentals.

“I don’t want to say beginners, because there is some competitive aspect to it, but it doesn’t have to be just the kids who are going and looking at playing in high school or college.

“We’re going to have what I call experiences at the club,” he said. “I say ‘experiences’ because there will be some days where I’ll talk to the kids about what it’s like being on the course – the etiquette, such as how to keep play moving, how to conduct themselves and what it’s like to be out on the course with other folks.”

The league hopes to “bring family and friends together around fun, team golf experiences with expert coaching and instruction from PGA and LPGA professionals,” according to a statement by the PGA Junior League.

Toward that end, Sibley said one of the main criteria for clubs hosting these PGA Junior teams is that a registered PGA professional must be on site to teach.

Toby Ahern, head PGA pro at Nahant Golf Club, compares the program to baseball’s Little League. It is competitive but is also “great fun. It’s one of the best programs the PGA runs. We have a full team of 12 and the goal is to learn about the game, play and have fun.”

Ryan McDonald, a North Reading native who is in his first year at Wenham Country Club after 10 years at Northfield CC in central Vermont, is excited about getting the junior program up and running there. “We have 10 players signed up for the league. We will have a lot of fun and the boys and girls will learn about the game of golf. Hopefully, it will start a life-long love of the game.”

Sibley said the league is structured like many other sports leagues. There will be a series of matches in a scramble format, rather than the usual best ball style.

“A scramble is designed to create a little less pressure,” said Sibley. “A scramble format keeps it more fun, with just enough competition, too.” In this format, two golfers tee off and choose one ball they’d prefer to play, both hit from that spot; this continues for the rest of the hole. In best ball, both golfers play his/her ball for the entire round, with the best score for each hole being the one that counts.

Sibley said there is no residency requirement. “We’re taking juniors from Lynn, and also not from Lynn,” he said.

“What we’ll probably do,” he said, “is start out holding practices, and start our schedule in June. We’ll play a league schedule, with the league champions going to a state tournament, and then a regional tournament. Winner of the regional tournament goes to the nationals in Arizona,” he said. “Those are in November, so it might be cold up here but it’s warm down there.” A team from Atkinson Resort and Country Club made it to the nationals last year.

Sibley said there are still four slots open on Gannon’s team. Interested youngsters can phone the pro shop for more information. “I really think,” he said, “that if we build this up enough, we can have at least two teams.”

North Shore Golf editor Bill Brotherton contributed to this story.

By Bill Brotherton

The downright tropical weather of February had golfers and North Shore course superintendents smiling widely.
And then the harsh snow, rain and wind storms of March delivered an unexpected punch.
Nearly every area superintendent, including such veterans as Salem CC’s Kip Tyler, now in his 37th year at the Peabody club, Tedesco’s Peter Hasak, and Jeff Gudaitis, a 30-year vet and head man at Black Swan in Georgetown since 2001, said they’ve never had to deal with such damage.
It’s unlikely any course super faced challenges equal to those of Anthony De Dominicis at Nahant Golf Club, which is mere steps from the Atlantic Ocean.
Toby Ahern, head PGA pro at Nahant Golf Club, who along with managing partners John Moore and De Dominicis are excited about year 2 at the former Kelley Greens, said “That first night in March, we survived pretty good. I learned about tides very quickly. It was the third day, when the effects of the storm hit us pretty hard. Ninety percent of the putting green was covered with rocks. Seventy percent of the ninth fairway had rocks. There was water in the pro shop, and five feet of water covered the patio. It was devastation.”
But all is well now, thanks to the efforts of Nahant staff and an assist from seven men from the state’s Community Service Program. “Those guys did a great job,” said Ahern. “They worked hard and helped us with the cleanup and to get going again.”
All of Nahant’s nine holes officially opened on March 29. Its well-regarded restaurant Seasons has been busy as well. “We’re up and running and really looking forward to year 2,” said Ahern.
Tyler, too, said he was “in great shape until that first n’oreaster (March 2) with all that rain and high winds. We had 17 trees in play come down. Debris was everywhere. It’s been constant clean-up duty ever since. Every tree, it seems, dropped something of substance. We’ve never been involved with this much cleanup this late.”

Players at Wenham Golf Club will notice that that menacing red cedar tree lurking in front of Wenham’s fourth green is no more.
But it’s demise had nothing to do with the March weather. A windstorm a few days before Halloween felled the 40-footer.
Wenham general manager Norm Tarr snapped a photo of a group of golfers standing in front of the tree the day before it fell. “The next day, it was down.”
Tarr said the tree was at least 80 years old. “Years ago, we moved the green to where it is now. It used to be right near the tree and the rock wall. We’re not quite sure what we’ll do there. If we plant another tree, it’ll be at least 30 years before it grows tall. There is ledge there; a trap is a possibility but it’s a distance from the green and might prove to be a difficult up-and-down for many players,” said Tarr. “We’re looking at options now.”
By the way, Wenham is in great shape, thanks to Eric Still and his hardworking grounds crew.

Indeed, most courses have dried out and the storm damage debris has been cleared away.
Time to tee it up!

Gary Larrabee contributed to this article.

In 2011, the PGA of America and the United States Golf Association announced a new initiative, Tee it Forward.
The idea was “to help golfers have more fun on the course and enhance their overall experience by playing from a set of tees best suited to their abilities.”
The concept encouraged all golfers to play a course at a yardage that aligns with the average distance they hit a drive.
A chart was produced that recommended the following course yardage in relationship to how far you hit your drives:

Driver Distance    Recommended 18 Hole Yardage
275		   6,700 - 6,900
250		   6,200 - 6,400
225 		   5,800 - 6,000
200		   5,200 - 5,400
175		   4,400 - 4,600
150		   3,500 - 3,700
125		   2,800 - 3,000
100		   2,100 - 2,300

The theory was that if golfers adopted these yardage guidelines, they’d be hitting more approach shots with 6 and 7 irons instead of fairway woods, hybrids or long irons (assuming someone still hits long irons).
The golf experience would be maximized, scores would be lower, making the game more fun and, hopefully, people would want to play more often. Another positive result: Playing from the appropriate yardage would mean quicker rounds.
In theory, Tee it Forward should’ve worked. But theory doesn’t always translate into reality.
In the years since 2011, only a small percentage of players have moved up a set of tee markers, even as age led to declining distance on tee shots.
The big question: Why hasn’t Tee it Forward been more universally accepted?
Is it due to ego? People don’t want to move up a set of tees because it’s an admission they don’t hit the ball as far as they used to. Who hits it farther as they get older? I know I don’t.
Or are the rest of your foursome playing a longer yardage and you don’t want to upset the chemistry of the group, so you just play from the same tees they’re playing?
Or maybe you just want to play from the same tees you played 20 years ago?
This subject is, again, a logical segue to the continued hot topic of how far the ball goes. The USGA is taking a serious look at whether it thinks the ball is going too far, and whether driving distance gains on the PGA Tour in the past 3 years will destroy the game. If so, the USGA might legislate restrictions on how far the golf ball can travel.
That would be a serious mistake. The PGA of America and the PGA Tour is against any restrictions to the golf ball and have made that abundantly clear to the USGA.
Arccos is a popular Microsoft-based system that captures a golfer’s performance data in real time.
Designed to improve your golf game, Arccos seamlessly calculates all your performance data as you are playing. It then uses the power of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help you make smarter decisions and, hopefully, results in lower scores.

Arccos captures thousands of data points during every round you play. Users then receive accurate reports about how far they hit each club, what skills need improvement, etc.
Let’s look at data that has been gathered by Arccos, based on more than 10 million drives with a driver.
According to a study of Arccos users’ driving habits since 2015, “driving distances across all age groups have gone down.”
In an examination of data from 2015-18, “the trend showed no real increases in driving distances in that time for average golfers.”
The Arccos data shows the average drive for the average golfer in 2018 is 217.1, down from 220.6 in 2015.
In the USGA/R&A Distance Report, it’s noted that driving distance in the average golfer group dropped by 9 yards.
The data was similar when driving distance was analyzed by handicap. All handicap levels lost yardage except the group with 0-to-5 handicaps. That group had a 2.4 yard increase in driver distance from 2015 to 2018.
Every other handicap group has lost driving distance since 2015.
Does this data scream for a rollback of the distance a golf ball travels? I don’t think so. But the USGA/R&A seems to be zeroing in on the world’s 500 or so tour players.
Arccos data also shows a steady decline in distance as we age. No surprise there. There was a loss of almost 40 yards for those in their 70s to those in their 20s.
In the past 25 years, the average USGA handicap for a man has improved from 16.3 to 14.4.
For women, the improvement is from 29.7 in 1991 to 26.1 in 2016.
Arccos also has accumulated data on the average distance for 7 irons across all age groups and handicaps. The average overall 7 iron distance is 143.3 yards. PGA Tour players average 172 yards with a 7 iron.
This isn’t breaking news, but the average golfer is playing an incredibly different game than that played by tour players.
There have been some gains. New golf club technology is helping the weakest of the average golfers.Those players with handicaps of 6 or higher realized a driving increase of 2 yards from 1996 to 2017, 234 to 236 yards.
Those with handicaps 22 and higher realized a 23 yard increase from 165 to 188 yards from 1996 to 2017.
To sum it all up;
1. We don’t hit the ball farther, or as far, as we get older.
2. We think we hit the ball farther than we really do. We have a simulator at Tedesco with a launch monitor. The first few years we had it, I was constantly being asked if the distance readings were correct. Unfortunately, they were. One member nicknamed the launch monitor “the Lie Detector.”
3. We hit the ball shorter as we get older
4. We should reassess what course yardage we play and try moving up a set of markers.
5. Based on the Arccos data, the USGA/R&A is way off base in their concern the ball is going too far, unless they’re focusing solely on is how far Tour players hit their driver. Tour players are collectively the smallest group of golfers, and their data should not be the only data considered when judging how far the ball goes.
I wish I could play the same tees I did 20 years ago. Actually, I wish I could hit it somewhat near as far with a driver as I did 20 years ago.The sad reality is I can’t. Even with graphite shafts, 460cc titanium driver heads and solid golf balls.
Age has taken a toll on the distance I hit my drives. So I have moved up a set of tees. I try to play the tees that are 6,100-6,200 yards. I have a lot more fun playing that yardage than 6,500-6,800 yards. I hit more greens in regulation. I hit high irons instead of hybrids, and, consequently, I have shorter birdie putts and shoot lower scores than I did from 6,600 yards.
And isn’t that what golf is all about, being with friends and having fun?
Bob Green is in his 40th year as the head golf professional at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead. Write to him at bgreen@tedescocc.org.

CORRECTION:

The summer edition of North Shore Golf magazine contains a story about Sir Nick Faldo visiting Ferncroft CC in August. That will not be happening. In fact it already happened: in 2010. Somehow an old press release found its way into NS Golf’s inbox. We apologize for the error, and hope it didn’t cause problems for the Ferncroft pro shop staff and members.

Sir Nick Faldo will visit Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton on August 24. The 2008 Ryder Cup captain, a fan favorite at last summer’s U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club, will conduct a golf clinic and host a cocktail party with a question-and-answer format.
All net proceeds will be donated to the Ferncroft CC Junior Golf Scholarship Program.
Tickets to either the clinic or cocktail party are $100 each. Tickets to both the golf clinic and cocktail party are $150. A limited number of tickets will be available.Tickets may be purchased online at www.ferncroftcc.com/faldo or by calling the pro shop at 978-739-4040 x231.
The golf clinic will take place on the range at 3:30 p.m. and the cocktail party will follow in the club’s recently renovated Jones Room. Complimentary cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served at the party.
Head Golf Professional Phil Leiss said, “We are thrilled to have this legend visit Ferncroft CC and the North Shore. Nick Faldo held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for a total of 98 weeks and won 40 PGA tournaments. It will be a fantastic opportunity to get up-close and personal with this accomplished golfer. We’re trying to keep the atmosphere intimate.”
The Ferncroft CC Junior Golf Scholarship Program seeks to nurture disadvantaged young people ages 8-16 by providing access, instruction and equipment to introduce them to golf.
Since Affinity Management (affinitymanagement.com) purchased the club in 2006, more than $3 million in restorations have been completed. These include renovating and reopening the previously dormant 19th hole restaurant, building a new multi-section golf practice area, performing drainage work on 14 holes, repaving the cart paths and installing a fitness room filled with top-of-the-line equipment.
Ferncroft is known for its Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed championship golf course that hosted the LPGA Boston Five Classic from 1980-90.

By Bill Brotherton

“I Call Him “Mr. President: Stories of Golf, Fishing, and Life with My Friend George H. W. Bush”
By Ken Raynor with Michael Patrick Shiels
Skyhorse Publishers (Available at Amazon.com and local bookstores)
Grade: A

Ken Raynor, the head professional at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine, for 38 years, tells the story of how he and President George H. W. Bush became best buddies during Bush’s annual summer golf outings at the seaside town’s course. It’s a fascinating, highly entertaining story of friendship between Raynor, “the president’s pro” aka ”Secretary of Swing,” and the leader of the free world that will appeal to non-golfers as well as players of all stripes.
Raynor and writer Michael Patrick Shiels share personal tales, many of them hilarious, of the pro’s interactions with our 41st president in Maine at the Bushes’ 26-room oceanside home on Walker’s Point, in Washington, DC, at the White House, and on golf and fishing excursions. Raynor helped the president greet world leaders and celebrities at Cape Arundel.
The focus here is about friendship, rather than the typical concentration on golf or politics one expects from books such as this.
Raynor, who points out that golfers have defeated non-golfers in 16 of 18 presidential elections since the second world war (Truman and Carter being the exceptions), delights in sharing tales of Bush’s lightning-fast rounds of golf (18 holes in less than two hours were normal), the president’s joy in playing practical jokes on guests (Gen. Brent Snowcroft, his national security adviser, fell for the exploding golf ball gag) and how Bush was always inviting guests to their Maine estate without telling his wife, Barbara, who would often have to entertain strangers while George was late returning home from a day of fishing.
Best of all are Raynor’s heartfelt tales of the good times he and wife Anne spent with George and “Bar,” who always insisted they sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom when visiting our nation’s capital. The Bushes often visited the Raynor family’s Kennebunkport home for relaxed dinners and conversations.
Bush’s philosophy that “You learn a lot about a guy, playing 18 holes or standing in a river all day in your waders casting side-by-side” is pretty solid. He and Raynor have a special bond that’s clearly evident on these pages, and your views of Bush’s character might change after reading this.
Rhode Island PGA pro Brad Faxon shares stories of playing golf with Bush in Maine and spending time with him at an MGA banquet where Bush received a Ouimet Award for lifetime contributions to golf.
Manchester-by-the-Sea resident Eddie Carbone, who was championship director of last year’s US Senior Open at Salem Country Club and former executive director of the NEPGA, gets a shoutout. Carbone tasked Raynor with getting Bush to the NEPGA hospitality tent at the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline. He delivered.
(Note: Before the second edition goes to press, a few errors should be corrected. Matt Young was a Red Sox pitcher not a second baseman, and the proper spelling is caddie. Mere quibbles by a veteran copy editor.)

Raynor’s proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and Portland Mercy Hospital’s “Gary’s House” via the Gary Pike George H. W. Bush Cape Arundel Golf Classic.

By Anne Marie Tobin

When it comes to hometown heroes, they don’t get any bigger than Winchester native Joe Bellino. Bellino, who lives in Bedford, defied all odds in 1960 when the diminutive halfback midshipman at the Naval Academy won college football’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy.
Bellino stood only 5 feet, 9 inches. But that didn’t stop him from excelling in football, basketball and baseball at Winchester High School, and being recruited by more than 60 colleges for football and nearly as many for baseball, before entering the Naval Academy.
In the 1960 Army-Navy football game he ran for 85 yards, caught two passes, scored a touchdown and returned kickoffs to lead Navy to a 17-12 win. Bellino fumbled at the Navy 17 yard line late in the game. With Army marching in for a likely game-winning touchdown, Bellino intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it to the 50 to save the day. After the game, Navy publicist John Cox told Bellino that the interception had likely clinched the Heisman. Bellino disagreed, saying instead that the catch saved him from being the game’s goat.
He was named one of 50 greatest Massachusetts athletes of the century in 1999 by Sports Illustrated, joining the likes of Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, Pat Bradley and Francis Ouimet.
He even spent time with President John F. Kennedy.
Bellino played three seasons returning kickoffs for the Boston Patriots following four years of active duty, which included two years on a destroyer in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bellino, in his early 20s, began a lifelong love of golf, a game which he quickly mastered. He once held memberships at Hillview, Andover and Indian Ridge, eventually settling in at Pleasant Valley.
Married to his high school sweetheart, Ann Tansey, for 56 years, Bellino has two children, son John Bellino, a 1989 Navy graduate who works in intelligence, and daughter Therese Eggerling, who teaches in Cambridge.
Still close to his playing weight of 185 pounds, 80-year-old Bellino works in the auto business for Ohio-based Adesa Corp. and can be found nearly every day working on his game at the military-owned Patriot Golf Club on the grounds of the Veterans’ Administration Center in Bedford.

North Shore Golf: What was your first exposure to golf?
Bellino: When I was 12, I went over to Winchester Country Club to caddy. I had no experience and had never been on a golf course. I got there at 6 a.m., but by 10 I was still in the caddie shack as nobody chose me. I never went back.
But my first real experience was when I was a senior in high school. The star golfer on the team was a kid named John Black. I was a baseball stud, and I got the idea that I could hit a golf ball with a baseball bat longer that he could with a golf club. So a group of us met at a field on a Saturday morning. He puts a ball on a tee and whacks the thing out of sight. I looked at my bat and said, “case closed, I’m not even going to give it a try,” because I knew I couldn’t do it.”

When did you take up the game?
Both of my roommates at the Naval Academy played golf and were always trying to get me to play. I told them they were crazy to waste their time playing golf. A couple of years later, I was home for a two-week vacation before leaving for Japan. My brother, Tony, and cousin, Angelo Amico, came to the house and asked me to play. So we went to Unicorn and Angelo asked me what my handicap was. I didn’t know what that was, so he said, “We’ll play a Nassau with automatic presses off the back side” and he gave me two shots a side. I had no idea what he was talking about. After we finished, he said I lost the front, the back, the overall and the automatic and that I owed him $8, which was a lot in 1963. He asked me what I was doing tomorrow, so we went back and this time he gave me three a side. Well, I lost another $8. I pointed my finger at him and told him he had hoodwinked me and told him, “I will be back.” From that point on, every chance I got for the next two years I devoted to golf until I knew what I was doing.

What’s your lowest handicap and the best round you ever shot?
I got down to a 2-handicap for a few years when I was at Indian Ridge. … My best round was a 68 I shot at Newport Country Club. I don’t remember when, but I can remember the round like it was yesterday.

What was the best part of your game?
I could talk myself into making any shot, so I would say the mental part of the game. That and the short game, as I was always pretty good at chipping and putting. But the most challenging part of golf is to maintain concentration and routine and stay positive. If you think you can’t do something, you won’t.

Do you have any memorable experiences or anecdotes to share from the links?
I’ve birdied the 17th hole at Harbour Town (on Hilton Head Island, SC) every time I have played it and love telling people I’ve played the course 22 times. The first time I played the hole (195-yard par 3), I knocked it stiff and still had a really hard 4-footer, but made it. I knew I could never top that, so after that, I just skipped the hole every time I played the course.

What did it feel like when you heard you won the Heisman?
Well, it wasn’t like it is today, being on TV, with all the fanfare. In my case, honestly, it was a relief. I was in an electrical engineering class about a week after the Army game. I got called out of class and sent to the superintendent’s office, which was never a good thing. So, I thought I was in trouble especially since I was struggling in that class. The office was full of people, the admiral, a couple of sports reporters, our football coach; the admiral read a telegram from the Downtown Athletic Club. As soon as I heard, “Congratulations, midshipman Joseph Bellino…” I knew I won it. But my only thought was I was so glad I wasn’t in trouble, that’s the only thing that went through my mind.

How did you come to meet John F. Kennedy?
One of the reporters in the superintendent’s office that day interviewed me and asked me what was left for me, after winning all the major awards. I said there was another Massachusetts guy who had done pretty well that year, president-elect Kennedy and I would love to meet him. So, the next day the headline of the Washington Post read “Bellino wins Heisman, wants to meet Kennedy.” The day after that I got a telegram from him congratulating me and inviting me and the other Navy players from Massachusetts to his Georgetown house for dinner. He even sent a limo to pick us up.
I also got to meet him the following summer to present him, as our commander-in-chief, with the Class of 1961 yearbook. I was an ensign, and it was an incredible experience, just two guys with Boston accents talking it up in the Oval Office. We talked for a couple of hours. I still treasure the picture I have from that meeting.

Talk about playing for the Patriots. You were drafted, but still had to fulfill your 4-year service commitment.
My active duty was ending in 1965 after being in Japan for two years, and playing football was the furthest thing from my mind. I had submitted by resignation papers and someone in the Redskins organization had a Washington connection, so they contacted me to invite me to training camp. Then, the Patriots found out and offered me a contract, so I flew home, signed the contract and was at training camp in Andover the next day and then played in an exhibition game against the Jets and Joe Namath, who was a rookie, the day after that. One day I was in the Navy, then 72 hours later I’m in a Patriots uniform playing professional football, wondering what I am doing here. But I did pretty well, caught a pass and returned kickoffs, but the next day I stepped in a hole and broke my ankle, so I was done that year. The next year, I snapped a hamstring, but after the third year I was in good shape and got picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals in the expansion draft. In those days, if you played pro, you had to have two jobs, and I started a family and business and I couldn’t do that from Cincinnati, so I packed it in.

You come from a large family, four brothers and a sister. What was their reaction when they found out their brother was voted the best collegiate football player in America?
My older brother Sam was sitting at the kitchen table. Back then, your older brothers and high school athletes were your heroes, so Sam was my idol. He was a football star at Winchester and played at Wentworth and he always pushed me. If I scored three touchdowns, he would tell me I should have scored four, or I should have made that interception or that pass I should have had. I could never satisfy him, but I knew it was for my benefit. So I put the trophy down on the table, proud as a peacock. He read the inscription, that it was for the best player in the country, and he said, “In this family, you’re not even Top 3.” He said he was better than me, my brother Tony was No. 2 and my sister Betty was No. 3 because, even though she didn’t play, if she did, she still would have been a better player than me. I’ll never forget it.

By Brion O’Connor

In golf, an overhead or sidearm swing rarely signifies anything good. Typically, the shot pinwheels into a pond or nearby woods. But as more local courses embrace the new sport of FlingGolf, those odd-looking swings will become more commonplace.

“FlingGolf is pretty simple,” said founder Alex Van Alen of Ipswich. “It generally follows the process of golf – start at the tee, finish at the hole. But instead of hitting a golf ball, you use the FlingStick to throw the golf ball down the fairway and onto the green. Then you can use the FlingStick to roll or glide the ball into the hole.”

With a history dating back seven centuries, golf is a game of great traditions. Even though golf remains popular, many courses and country clubs are looking for ways to increase their numbers.

“Golf has taken a beating over the last decade, and the general consensus is because it’s hard to learn, slow-paced – takes too long, and millennials say even boring – and expensive, both in terms of equipment and lessons,” said Van Alen. “FlingGolf solves a lot of those problems because people can learn in a matter of minutes, well enough to get out on the course, and then get better as they go.”

Played with a traditional golf ball and a single FlingStick, FlingGolf is compared in golf circles to the snowboard, which revolutionized the ski resort industry in the 1980s and ’90s (the comparison is generally attributed to foBy Brion O’Connor

In golf, an overhead or sidearm swing rarely signifies anything good. Typically, the shot pinwheels into a pond or nearby woods. But as more local courses embrace the new sport of FlingGolf, those odd-looking swings will become more commonplace.

“FlingGolf is pretty simple,” said founder Alex Van Alen of Ipswich. “It generally follows the process of golf – start at the tee, finish at the hole. But instead of hitting a golf ball, you use the FlingStick to throw the golf ball down the fairway and onto the green. Then you can use the FlingStick to roll or glide the ball into the hole.”

With a history dating back seven centuries, golf is a game of great traditions. Even though golf remains popular, many courses and country clubs are looking for ways to increase their numbers.

“Golf has taken a beating over the last decade, and the general consensus is because it’s hard to learn, slow-paced – takes too long, and millennials say even boring – and expensive, both in terms of equipment and lessons,” said Van Alen. “FlingGolf solves a lot of those problems because people can learn in a matter of minutes, well enough to get out on the course, and then get better as they go.”

Played with a traditional golf ball and a single FlingStick, FlingGolf is compared in golf circles to the snowboard, which revolutionized the ski resort industry in the 1980s and ’90s (the comparison is generally attributed to former Stow Acres owner Walter Lankau).

“FlingGolf can provide a great stepping stone for folks to get out on the course and enjoy the social, physical and competitive atmosphere a golf course can provide and may give people an avenue to transition to the traditional game of golf down the road,” said Richard Luff, owner of Sagamore-Hampton Golf Club in New Hampshire. “As course owners, we have to be receptive to innovative options to attract people to our facilities.”

Unlike FootGolf or Disc Golf, which require separate courses or tee times and additional structures (such as Disc Golf’s baskets), FlingGolf uses the same fairways and greens and can be played simultaneously with traditional golfers.

“FlingGolf is a great alternative to mini-golf,” said Ipswich’s Bill Harrington, who is often joined by his three young sons. “A similar skill level is needed, but it’s much more fun. And it’s good exercise as long as you walk the course. My boys would run the whole course if they could. We could probably play nine holes in 30 minutes, but definitely under an hour.

“No one needs to have any experience to go out and play,” said Harrington. “You can pick it up very quickly and actually have a shot at par. That’s not possible with golf.”

FlingGolf is Van Alen’s brainchild. A Philadelphia native who came to the North Shore to work for the Trustees of Reservations in 1999, Van Alen made a permanent move to Ipswich in 2007. He brought along his love for lacrosse, which he played growing up. On a whim, Van Alen started tossing a golf ball around with a jai alai basket at local fields.

“I got about 80, 90 yards, and was able to shape shots with different throws and spins,” he said. “I decided that I could make a sport out of this if I could design something that could throw the ball 200 yards.”

Van Alen teamed with Fikst in Woburn and Tool Inc. in Marblehead to develop the proprietary FlingStick. The finished product was produced by Somerset Plastics in Connecticut.

“I established my company, PlusOne Sports, in 2013 to promote FlingGolf and sell FlingSticks,” he said. “I did a lot of prototyping at Candlewood Golf Course in Ipswich, so I’d say that was the first course that allowed it, and it’s a fun course to play on.”

After outings at Candlewood and Cape Ann Golf Course, Van Alen knew he was on to something. After unveiling FlingGolf publicly in February 2014 at a National Golf Course Owners Association conference in Florida, Van Alen put on his salesman hat, and started visiting local courses.

He soon discovered that many course owners and managers were eager to explore new ways to increase revenue.

“We have been looking for many new ways and new ideas to keep business growing, and FlingGolf was one of them,” said Kevin Osgood of Sterling Golf Management, which operates Stoneham Oaks and other area courses. “The idea that a veteran golfer could go out and play a round of golf, and bring a non-golfer friend who could play FlingGolf alongside him, was very enticing. I’ve played a few holes and practiced FlingGolf from the driving range, and it’s a new sport that anyone could adapt to very quickly.’

Luff became convinced of FlingGolf’s potential after Sagamore-Hampton hosted a business meeting that drew both golfers and non-golfers.

“The great aspect of FlingGolf is that it integrates so seamlessly with traditional golf,” said Luff. “The FlingStick allowed the non-golfers to get out on the course and play right alongside traditional golfers and still be able to enjoy the beauty of being on a golf course, as well as benefit from the great social aspects of playing golf without the intimidation or frustration that many first-time traditional golfers feel.

“The intimidation factor would have prevented non-golfers from participating in that event in the first place, had the FlingGolf option not been available,” he said. “Likewise, if you’ve ever tried to teach young kids how to play traditional golf, you know how difficult that can be.”

Just as snowboarding broadened the younger demographic on the slopes, FlingGolf is far more appealing to local youngsters than the traditional game.

“We first tried FlingGolf (the summer of 2016),” said 15-year-old Lucas Kubaska of Ipswich, who went out with friends Clayton Manolian and Charlie Eagan. “We were immediately attracted to the sport because of our extensive background in lacrosse, as well as our sub-par golf skills.”

“We loved the fact that it only required one club and a ball – if you’re good enough – rather than a 30-pound golf bag,” added Kubaska. “ We’ve all golfed in the past, and for active teenagers, golf can be tedious. A lot of sitting in a cart, followed by waiting to take your swing. With FlingGolf, the entire experience is much more interactive and lively.”

Van Alen was so intrigued with the FlingGolf/lacrosse connection that his PlusOne Sports has partnered as a sponsor with Major League Lacrosse, including the Boston Cannons.

“I think it is a great fit, because of the rapid growth of lacrosse in the region. And there are lots of local, publicly accessible courses looking for a younger crowd (to play),” said Van Alen. “They have lots of empty tee times these days. Lacrosse players are a natural crossover to pick up the sport, but also hockey and baseball. All of these sports have an element of them in FlingGolf.”

That crossover appeal, however, doesn’t mean that everyone is enamored with the idea of sharing the links. Snowboarding faced the same obstacle, as ski resort managers struggled to find the right balance. Sagamore’s Luff said he was surprised there was a discernable “resistance to change” when he introduced the sport to his staff and customers in 2014.

“Many had no interest at all in learning about FlingGolf, and thought it was a gimmick,” Luff said. “Like anything new, it’ll require those that question the validity of FlingGolf to see the sport in action and see that there is truly no impact on the traditional game or impact on the golf course itself.

“I think the future of FlingGolf is promising, but it’ll take time to gain a foothold,” he added. “Your traditional golfer most likely will not transition to FlingGolf. They enjoy golf as it is, and like the challenge of the traditional game.”

However, more and more courses have introduced FlingGolf and stock FlingSticks for rentals. Van Alen said he’s encouraged by the sport’s growth, both locally and nationwide.

“Our biggest hurdle has been convincing players that golf courses will allow it to be played,” said Van Alen. “People think of golf as what they see on TV, with Augusta and fancy, stuffy exclusive clubs. But the real truth is that the majority of golf courses are pretty laid back and fun. So we’ve spent a lot of time educating players that the courses will allow it, while also educating the courses on the ease of integration with golfers.

“When we started, we weren’t sure how the integration was going to work,” he said. “But because it’s so family-friendly, and integrates seamlessly with golf, we’re seeing a lot of golfing parents buying FlingSticks for their kids, then taking them out to play alongside them.”

For more details about FlingGolf, including North Shore courses that offer the game, go to FlingGolf.com.
Brion O’Connor is a freelance writer. Contact him at brionoc@verizon.net

Golf’s ‘cool’ quotient intensifies for rock ‘n’ rollers
By Jim Sullivan
I once played a round of golf with a member of a world-famous rock band at Brookline’s Robert T. Lynch Municipal Golf Course. There was one stipulation: That I not write about us doing so.
I have been a rock writer for years, but at the time, around 2000, I was also penning the Boston Globe’s celeb-centered Names & Faces column, and, yeah, it would have been an item. But I agreed and understood. It wasn’t about exposing deficiencies in his game; it was about perception of the game itself.
Rock stars: Cool. Golf: Uncool.
After all, the song doesn’t run “Sex and golf and rock ‘n’ roll!”
This cool/uncool perception has shifted over the years. There’s a long list of public rocker/golfers: Huey Lewis, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, Eddie Van Halen, Justin Timberlake, Bob Seger, Belinda Carlisle, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Roger Waters, Kid Rock, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Mick Fleetwood, Stephen Stills, Sammy Hagar, Iggy Pop and, of course, Alice Cooper, who’s been at it longer than anyone.
I started playing at 12, nearly a half-century from where I am now, unconcerned about any cool or uncool aspect. It was something to do. I even understood, albeit abstractly, what the oldtimers were telling me: Golf was a sport you could play throughout your life.
Even if I wasn’t concerned about cool, Alice Cooper’s enthusiasm for the game headed off any potential jabs. If a rocker who, on stage, chopped the heads off baby dolls, rolled around in a straitjacket and was guillotined every night, could play this genteel, pastoral game, so could I. Alice was loud and he was proud – about being a rocker and being a golfer.
I’ve interviewed Cooper a few times and we always talk golf, at least a little bit, usually to start. I’ll ask where his handicap is (usually around 4) and he’ll ask how I’m doing (bogey golf, give or take.). I’ll moan about never being as good as he is and he’ll say something like, “Chin-up, Jim, if you played as often as I do, you’d be as good as I am.”
If he’s not on tour, Cooper will play six days a week near his Phoenix home. If he’s on tour, he’ll play at every U.S. tour stop and in Europe about twice a week. You often see him on TV in those celebrity pro-am tournaments.
Cooper, well-known for battling the bottle early in his career, admits golf was (and is) key to his recovery in his “Alice Cooper: Golf Monster – A Rock ’n’ Roller’s 12 Steps To Becoming a Golf Addict.”
“Ask anybody who’s ever been addicted to anything,” Cooper told me. “When they get into golf, it’s the same addiction. It’s like you hit a great shot and you will hit ten bad shots to hit one more good shot. It’s almost like that with any drug addiction. It’s very, very similar. But it’s not going to kill you.”
I remember reading about Iggy Pop, too, in a Creem magazine story in the ’70s. Iggy indulged in a lot of drugs back then and said when he wanted to clean up he’d visit his parents in Florida and golf. He lives in Palmetto Bay, Florida, now and my guess is golf access is a factor.
I think for many of us – certainly for these rockers and certainly for my late-night/concert-going/writing self – one of the main appeals golf has is that it has nothing to do with the rest of our lives. It’s four-and-a-half (or more) hours away from all that. It’s a different (slower) pace; it requires a different (sharply honed) skill set, one not easily mastered. And, it’s a great equalizer – the No. 1 guy in your foursome is the ace-of-the-day, not the guy who has achieved the most measure of fame in other walks of life.
Hugo Burnham, former drummer for the post-punk band Gang of Four, was 8 and growing up in Kent, England, when he first took to the links. He played with his grandfather. But he didn’t really didn’t take up the game until the band folded in 1983 and Burnham moved permanently to the United States. He was transitioning into the job of an A&R man, procuring talent for record companies.
Burnham, a longtime Gloucester resident, says the annual March industry confab South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, was what re-ignited his interest. “The Austin airport was overwhelmed with golf bags from all over the country on early-arrival Tuesday, as the tournament always kicked off early Wednesday mornings. It was a blast, with a fair amount of drinking and a lot of cigar-smoking. And prizes! And Alice Cooper! And Willie Nelson!”
“I embraced and loved playing golf during those years,” he added. “There was absolutely nothing un-cool about it.”
Alas, Burnham added, “When I moved back East and ended my A&R days, I sort of tailed off. A baby in the house and starting a new life as a college professor rather got in the way. I still have my clubs, and I still want to get out and play again. What did I shoot? Not telling. OK, not very well. But it was glorious when it went long and straight, and it was always a blast.”
I golf regularly with Dave Herlihy, now a lawyer and music industry professor at Northeastern University. He was also the singer-songwriter/guitarist for Boston-based alternative rock band O Positive.

“I started playing golf as a kid and was on the high school team,” Herlihy said. “And in O Positive, I’d golf during the day and rock out at night.”

“I was never embarrassed by golf,” Herlihy added “I never hid the fact that I played, but didn’t think it was cool either, I just liked it and didn’t give a damn what anyone thought about it. I did kind of chafe at the country club angle though, the exclusionary, privileged dimension. But golf as golf, I love.”
Oedipus, the program director for Boston’s long-running, top-rated (but now defunct) rock radio station WBCN, is another frequent golf partner. “My father loved golf, but we were too poor to play,” he said. “We watched on the TV together. I would sneak onto a public 9-hole to putt, but did not take up the game until the late-’70s when a friend bought me a used lefty set. Problem, as always, was finding the time to play.
“Golf is a mini-vacation. Golf, in some form, has always been part of my life. I never cared what people thought. Remember, I was the guy who was playing all of this noise on the radio that people hated before it became popular. I was the guy who had colored hair long before it was de jour. I … programmed a radio station that was the internet before the internet. We defined cool.”
Oedipus recalls a round with members of AC/DC about 30 years ago at Wayland Country Club. Guitarist Malcolm Young, who died in November, and bassist Cliff Williams traveled with their own clubs, he said, “We talked music, but mostly golf. We were hackers and we three had a jolly afternoon on the links.”
Oedipus said the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson told him “Golf is lame.” To that, Oedipus replied, “Sorry that you do not understand the personal challenges and elations as well as the comradery that golf offers.’’
Four years ago, I interviewed Huey Lewis about music for a half-hour. Wrapping up, I asked about his game. For 15 minutes or so, we were just two golfers, swapping stories.

Lewis said he no longer golfed on concert days. Fair enough, I thought. That showed discipline and commitment to his work. But backstage after a concert in Boston he admitted he’d lied. He’d played Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton earlier that day. And, he volunteered, he’d played poorly, shooting 82.
That evening, I came bearing a gift, a special golf ball that lit up – through the miracle of LEDs – when you struck it, so, in theory, you could find it in the dusk or rough or anywhere. Problem was, it felt like a rock to hit it and it didn’t exactly fly off the club.
But, Huey said “We need these kinds of balls at our age.”
He was right: We do. If only they felt and flew like a Titleist Pro V1.

Jim Sullivan covered pop music and culture for the Boston Globe for 26 years. He tries to play golf once or twice a week in-season. He currently writes for WBUR’s ARTery, the Cape Cod Times and a host of other outlets.

BY BILL BROTHERTON