Long-time Country Club of Greenfield head pro Bucky O’Brien has been riding an emotional roller-coaster for the past month. He was euphoric after his regional golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony at his home course last month, but he hit rock bottom three weeks later when he arrived at work to find the 115-year-old clubhouse ablaze.
“I’ve been on an emotional high because I was inducted into the Western Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame right at our club, in front of my members, at my golf club, in my building,” James “Bucky” O’Brien told us Thursday from a local office-supply store where he was buying pencils to go with makeshift scorecards — the least valuable items lost in the devastating October 22 fire. “And then this.”
“This” was a raging fire that began at one of New England’s oldest courses at about 5 a.m. Four hours later the flames had destroyed more than a century of keepsakes hanging on the walls of the community landmark that first opened in 1896. Gone are the relics and plaques, one of which registered club champions from 1901.
“It’s an absolute total loss,” said a still shell-shocked O’Brien, the club’s director of golf or head golf pro for 43 of his 75 years. “I mean it’s right to the ground.”
O’Brien was not alone when he shed tears over an institution that has meant so much to so many. Therese Romano, 85, learned the game on Greenfield’s fairways at the age of 57. She recalled how O’Brien took her two golfing daughters under his wing and was a great friend to her late husband, Henry. During a recent memorial service for Henry, O’Brien spent hours reminiscing about their father with the Romano children.
“My daughters, Elisa and Monica, grew up at the club,” said Romano, who was thankful Henry was not around to witness the devastation. “It would have killed him.”
Now, as New England golfers prepare to pack up their clubs for the winter, a group of Greenfield stalwarts have planned a season-ending golf outing to help raise money for a new clubhouse.
“When we heard about this calamity,” said Bob Bontempo, event organizer and retired from 26 years as head pro at The Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, “three or four good friends thought it would be a great idea to put together a two-day event…to start the ball rolling to get the club rebuilt.”
Bontempo has rallied several local courses to contribute rounds of golf as prizes for the November 12-November 13 “Glory of Greenfield” tribute. Festivities will kick off with coffee and donuts at 9 a.m. each day, a shotgun scramble at 10 ($50 for non-members, $25 for members), and “perhaps a little nip of something or other to keep everyone’s spirits going.
“It’s just a great way of saying we’ll overcome this adversity and go forward,” Bontempo said.
No one was injured in the fire and investigators have ruled out arson, according to O’Brien, who said he believed insurance would cover the physical damage and that “no one could ever take the memories from me.”
The outing will send the club into the off-season, but O’Brien vowed to be back in 2012. “We really can’t afford to sit on our hands for very long,” he said. “We have to get going.”
The temporary pro shop is operating from a trailer but phone service is up and running. Contact O’Brien at 413-773-7530 to sign up for the outing.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the The A Position, Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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