Quincy, MA – June 6, 2011 –In a show of support for the home town hockey team, the grounds crew at Granite Links is changing out its usual pin flags on the course’s 27 championship holes today to instead proudly fly the black and gold spoked B of the Boston Bruins.
Granite Links’ general manager, Walter Hannon, said the club, like all of Boston and much of North America, has Stanley Cup fever and is rooting for the Bruins to win it all. He said the club was inspired to fly the special pin flags in the same spirit as other outpourings of support around town including the switch to gold lights on the Zakim Bridge and custom team jerseys being worn by various iconic Boston statues, and after seeing so many golfers in B’s hats on the course and range.
“We’re big hockey fans here,” said Hannon whose Top 100 in America golf club boasts more than one NHL player on its membership roster and whose director of marketing, Diane Brickley, is married to Andy Brickley, a player on the Bruins the last time they competed in the Stanley Cup finals and now TV hockey analyst for NESN. Hannon added, “Of course, we’re partial to any sport that requires using a stick to move a hard small object around while avoiding hazards – be they bunkers or bites,” he said in a jabbing reference to the recent unseemly action of a Vancouver player whose teeth found their way onto the finger of a Bruins’ forward.
At first blush the two sports may not seem to have much in common. One is a gentleman’s game of hushed tones and the other is a crashing assault on the senses. But something they do share is inspiring stories of history-making comebacks.
One such episode in golf would be the 1986 Masters when then 46 year old Jack Nicklaus beat a field of future Hall of Famers by shooting a lights out 65 in the final round at Augusta on a day that started with him well off the lead, tied for ninth. Having put himself in a hole with opening rounds of 74-71, no one considered Nicklaus a factor come Sunday. All eyes were on the favored leaders: Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Tom Kite, Tom Watson and defending champion Bernhard Langer. But Jack was not to be counted out. Half way through the round, Nicklaus began to turn it on. British Open champion, Sandy Lyle, was paired with Nicklaus that day and would later observe, “The eagle at 15 really kind of set things in motion as far as him having an outside chance. He knew from experience, been there done that … The crowd, the noise was coming from all angles. From above, the side, behind. It echoes around that area for ages. It was the sense (the Golden Bear) had a chance.”
The galleries roared over the come-from-behind player’s every shot and even the CBS announcer was moved to exclaim, “There’s life in the old Bear yet!”
Who says the two sports don’t have much in common?
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Granite Links is a private membership golf club that also provides limited access for public play and welcomes non-members to dine in its popular year round Tavern Restaurant and at The Crossing Nines outdoor patio bar by the lighted driving range which features live music on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays. Granite Links is located just seven miles south of Boston at Exit 8 / Furnace Brook Pkwy off the Southeast Expressway in Quincy / Milton.
About Greg Sampson
I am the Sales and Marketing Manager for NEGM. I am a member of the International Network of Golf & the Golf Writers Association of America. I specialize in customized all-inclusive programs across a multi-media platform.
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