Middleborough native Andrew Green arrived at King Rail Reserve in Lynnfield as the course’s new golf professional just about a year ago.
All you have to do is strike up a conversation with this engaging young man to discover he is passionate about what he does. He said the best part of his job is meeting so many people.
“It’s nice to see the same people come back on a regular basis,” Green said. “We have group after group who come here so you get to know the people – you get to interact with them. That’s been surprising for me since we’re a daily fee course. People like coming back here. They love the new clubhouse and come in to watch TV and hang out on the patio, so it’s been great. I love coming to work every day.”
Green was first introduced to the game of golf by his grandfather when he was a kid. He played on his high school golf team, which he described as “a pretty bad team.”
“I think we only won three matches a year at best,” he said. “We weren’t very good.”
Green didn’t take the game seriously until “later in life” when he started taking lessons and committed to a golf career.
Green began working on becoming certified as a Class A PGA professional in 2021 before coming to Lynnfield in the spring of 2024.
But before he finally decided on a career in golf, Green experienced a colorful – and exciting – ride along the way. You might say he’s Renaissance-man-like.
He graduated from Bridgewater State University in 2014 with a major in communications and public relations. He spent four years on the Bridgewater men’s swim team, swimming the 100- and 200-yard butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle and qualifying for the New England Championships in a few events.
His career stops along the fairways of life aren’t the kind of things one might expect from a golf professional – things like working at a cranberry bog, selling pharmaceuticals and working as a roofing contractor.
“We did everything from working the sprinklers to picking the berries,” Green said. “They flood the fields to get the berries to rise, but there are a lot of spiders, so it’s not for everyone.”
While at Bridgewater, he volunteered at a Special Olympics swim event being held on campus. His responsibilities included making sure timers were in place and results were properly communicated to officials. He is still active in the Special Olympics.
About a year after graduating, he found himself at sea, working on the youth staff on The Oasis of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas cruise ship organizing a variety of games and activities for kids up to the age of 17.
In May 2016, he secured his first golf gig, working outside operations at the Wianno Club in Osterville. He also spent time in the offseason working in pharmaceutical sales and as an assistant at Pure Golf in Woburn for a bit.
The following winter, he was back on the water, working as a cruise director for American Cruise Lines. He stayed there for two years before returning to Massachusetts to work as an assistant professional at Brookline Golf Course for two and a half years until what he says was the “opportunity of a lifetime” dropped in his lap, working as an assistant at the Tennessee Grasslands Golf and Country Club near Nashville.
After about a year, he learned about the opportunity at King Rail. He jumped at the chance and has been loving it ever since.
But Green is more than just a golf professional; he’s a jack of all trades.
“Whatever needs to be done, I do, even cleaning the rest rooms,” Green said. “We put the golf carts away. We collect green fees behind the counter. We sell merchandise. It’s kind of a new-age golf profession in that we just have to do everything with a limited staff. Frankly, it’s easier to do it yourself.”
Green said he is fortunate to have superintendent Mike Johnson on hand.
“He’s phenomenal,” Green said. “The Colonial was and always will be his baby.”
Green said he’s excited about the new email campaign that keeps the public informed about things happening at the course.
“It’s similar to a daily email blast that goes out whenever we want to share pertinent information,” Green said. “Things we want to get out to the public, like when we reduced the junior rates to $9, and that greens were open without temporaries and when carts were allowed out. It’s helped us drive more traffic early on and we hope it will drive more traffic throughout the year. We’re always busy, but we always want it to be busier.”
Green said his only goal at King Rail in 2025 is to get more people to play. “Now that the junior rate is $9 I have to think we’ll see more kids come in, which is great because they’re the future of the game,” Green said. “We did only a couple of kids’ clinics last year, but going forward we’re working with the Rec department to add more spring and fall activities. Rec is doing a great job adding programs not just for kids, but for everyone. It’s all about growing the game.”
