Tatnuck Country Club hosted the inaugural Worcester County Women’s Amateur last year to help celebrate the club’s 125th anniversary.
The club’s members enjoyed the event so much, they decided not to wait another 125 years to host another one. The second annual Worcester County Women’s Amateur will be held on Friday, July 5, and Saturday, July 6, at Tatnuck CC’s nine-hole Donald Ross course.
“The club members loved it,” said Bob Spellane, chair of Tatnuck’s golf committee and a member of the board of directors. “We had a huge group of volunteers, a huge group of people out here watching the women play for two days.”
“I thought it went great,” Mary Shiels said. “We had beautiful weather. I think the women really enjoyed it.”
“I thought it was fun and it’s exciting to have competitive golf and to be able to be right on top of the event,” Rick Shiels said.
Rick and Mary Shiels will serve as tournament hosts this year and will try to drum up even more member support for the event.
Mike Marshall, Tatnuck board member and chair of the grounds committee, enjoyed the weekend of the WCWA even more because he carded his second career hole-in-one on that Saturday morning, hitting a 7-iron into the cup on the 165-yard sixth hole. Fortunately, his hole-in-one insurance paid for the bar bill with a larger than usual crowd on hand.
After upgrading the course and clubhouse in recent years, Tatnuck has an all-time high of 265 members, but the club would like to boost membership even more. So the club chose to host the WCWA to promote women’s golf and Tatnuck CC at the same time.
“We’ve always been this hidden place that nobody knows about,” Spellane said.
In last year’s WCWA, 14-year-old Vincenza “Vinny” Papa of Foster, Rhode Island, shot 69-73 for a 4-under 142 total to win by four shots over runner-up Mackenzie Whitney (69-77-146) of Westminster and Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg.
Papa and Whitney each set what is believed to be the women’s competitive 18-hole course record with their opening-round 69s. The two signed scorecards are framed and hang in the pro shop.
Mary Gale, 73, played in the inaugural WCWA against golfers who were young enough to be her granddaughters.
“It’s challenging because they hit it so far, and they’re playing a lot of golf,” Gale said. “Good for them. It’s great for golf, it’s great for Mass Golf.”
Gale, whose husband Jack was a longtime head pro at Tatnuck, is back in the field this year. On Tuesday, she shot an 86 in a Worcester County Women’s Golf Association event at Tatnuck CC. Christine Gagner placed first with a 76.
Last year, 21 women played in the WCWA. The club hopes to approach 40 this year.
Spellane said Whitney has registered to play this year and that Papa and her sister, Gianna, have expressed interest in playing but have not yet committed. Gianna, then 16, tied for sixth last year in her first tournament in nearly two years after being sidelined with epilepsy.
After Caroline Dubrey, a rising senior at St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School at the time, played in last year’s WCWA, her family joined the club.
The tournament is open to any female amateur with a handicap of 12.0 or lower. The registration fee of $129 includes two rounds of medal play, a practice round, a luncheon on Friday, a tee gift and prizes. Golfers will have tee times on Friday morning and Saturday afternoon, and they will play the nine-hole course twice each day from the red and yellow tee markers at a distance of 5,500-5,700 yards.
Golfers can register to play at tatnuckcc.com or at worcester_women’s_amateur on Instagram. Papa learned about the tournament through Instagram last year.
Superintendent Craig Resley and his staff are restoring the course to its original design. Over the years, the greens have shrunk, and now they’re being expanded. The sixth and eighth greens have been doubled in size, and the others have been increased by a third. A few fairways are being expanded as well and trees have been removed.
Resley said he’s halfway through reconstructing or repositioning the course’s 18 bunkers. Probably the most noticeable difference from last year’s event are the trees that have been removed from the right side of the short, par-4 fifth hole to allow golfers to shape their tee shots from the right. The fairway is much more visible now to cars and pedestrians on Pleasant Street. That could help more people take notice of the course.
Drainage work was done alongside the left side of five near the sixth hole and on the front and back eighth tees.
Mass Golf reached out to Tatnuck CC to host one of its Member Days on Aug. 12, and the club agreed. Member Days cost $110 to play 18 holes and are open to golfers of all ages and playing abilities with handicaps at Mass. Golf member clubs. Register to play at massgolf.org.
Need low scores win Cosgrove Four-Ball
You have to shoot low scores to win the Walter Cosgrove Four-Ball at Green Hill Municipal Golf Course.
Last year, Kyle Tibbetts and Nick Maccario shot 67-62 for a total of 15-under 129 to defeat twins David and Dan Falcucci (67-65-132) of Cyprian Keyes GC by three shots.
In 2022, the Falcuccis shot 62-64 for a total of 18-under 126 to win by two strokes.
“First off, it’s fun,” Green Hill head pro Matt Moison said. “I’m a big believer that golf should be fun. Shooting 18 under is fun. It’s not like even par wins this where you’re grinding it out.”
At 6,392 yards from the back blue tees, where all three divisions play in the Cosgrove, Green Hill isn’t a long golf course. Two, maybe even three, of the par 5s play more like par 4s for many of the long hitters. Birdies are common and eagles aren’t unusual. The par-5 third is only 432 yards, the par-5 ninth is 485 and the par-5 16th is 502. The longest par 5 is 12, which is 584 yards from the tips.
The length of the modern golfer continues to grow, but Green Hill doesn’t. Hitting the ball far, however, is only part of the winning recipe.
“Everybody who wins the Cosgrove wins it by putting well,” Moison said.
You also must play smart golf.
“I think those upper level players know when they can attack and when they can’t,” Moison said. “That results in a lot of pars when you have to make them and a lot of birdie opportunities along the way.”
The Cosgrove is scheduled early in the golf calendar, between the Hornblower Memorial at Plymouth CC this weekend and the Mass. Open, which will begin the day after the Cosgrove.
Moison scheduled the Cosgrove a week later last year to avoid finishing the day before the Mass. Open, but the Cosgrove field wasn’t impacted so he moved it back to its usual weekend this year.
Tibbetts, Maccario and the Falcuccis will tee off in the Cosgrove again next Saturday and Sunday.
Tibbetts, 36, of South Boston has played in the Cosgrove for nearly 20 years with various partners, but last year was the first time he played with Maccario and the first time he won.
Tibbetts grew up in Milford and helped the St. John’s High golf team capture the state title his senior year. He plays out of Framingham CC.
Former Assumption University teammates Sean Magarian and Ryan Fillebrown won the Cosgrove in 2021 and will tee off again next weekend. Don Hein, who won the Cosgrove in 1994 and 1995 with Jim Ruschioni, is scheduled to play with T.J. Ryan. Sadly, Ruschioni, one of the most accomplished golfers in the state, died at age 76 on May 14.
When registration for the Cosgrove opened in February, the event sold out in three days at $350 per team. There will be 112 two-man teams, 41 in the championship division for combined handicaps of 7.0 or less, 38 in the A Division for combined handicaps of 7.1-13.0 and 33 in the B Division for combined handicaps of 13.1 or higher.
“In the last three, four years,” Moison said, “golf has exploded. New golfers are looking for a competitive place to play.”
There will be double shotgun starts at 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m on Saturday and Sunday. The championship division will tee off on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.
Welcoming ideas
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—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BillDoyle15.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Tatnuck CC excited to again host Worcester County Women’s Amateur golf
