Another golf season is upon us, and with it comes high expectations. “This is the year I’m going to break 80,” you might say. “I’m going to play at least two rounds every week,” you might think.
When I retired from my full-time job, I was fortunate to have been invited to join three sociable gents for a steady early-morning golf date every Thursday. They had struck up a friendship as strangers at Middleton GC and when their fourth had moved to Pinehills in Plymouth, I was offered his vacant slot. Each week, retired business exec Carl Kooyoomjian of Wenham, retired CPA John Walsh of North Andover, retired GE engineer Jonathan Salt of Beverly Farms and this retired newspaperman of Danvers get together to play a different public course. Hillview GC is our go-to, but we’ve ventured as far as Sagamore in New Hampshire and Hickory Hill in Methuen (with lunch at the Irish Cottage a must). If one of us can’t make it, super sub Scott Eckmann of Beverly comes off the bench and happily fills in.
The conversation is always delightful, even if the quality of golf isn’t always up to par. Laughter is frequent. Carl painstakingly marks his Titleists with a bold black “K” and his shots often stray off the fairway. The woods at Hillview are littered with dozens of “K” balls. Carl has even found some of his own balls weeks later.
One day, Carl, a lefty, hit a good shot just right of the green on the par-3 14th hole at Hillview but couldn’t find his ball. The guys on the 13th were looking for their balls. One of the guys asked Carl what he was hitting. “A ball with a big black K,” he replied. The first guy said “I have one of those,” went to his bag and pulled it out. The second guy said “I have one of those in my ball bucket at home.” Odds are good that you have a “K” ball too.
So, as your 2025 golf season progresses I hope you and your mates achieve your goals, enjoy a birdie binge and have a heckuva good time on the course.
And if you happen to find a Titleist emblazoned with a “K,” consider it good lucK.
If you enjoy this spring issue of North Shore Golf please let us know. And don’t be shy about sharing story ideas and letting us know what we do right, what we do wrong and how we can improve.
See you on the course… I’ll probably be with Carl, John, Jonathan, Scott or my good friend Mark Bennett looking for a “K” ball in the rough.
Bill Brotherton is editor of North Shore Golf Magazine. He grew up in Beverly, caddied and worked in the pro shop at Essex County Club, is a Ouimet Scholar who graduated from Suffolk University, and has written about golf for the Beverly Times and Daily Item of Lynn. He retired from the Daily Item and the Boston Herald, where he wrote about music and edited the Features section. Tell him what you think at
bbrotherton@essexmediagroup.com
