Golf Fore the Good

Each spring women golfer’s in Massachusetts enjoy an unusual and unparalleled opportunity to play golf in a format called, most fittingly, “Spring Teams.” Hosted by the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts (which happens to be the oldest state women’s golf association in the United States, having been founded in 1900), the tradition has lasted over 100 years with few changes. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest five week experiences available to any golfer.

Lucky enough to have played Spring Teams most every year for the last decade, my experience pales in comparison to many. There are women who have braved the wild weather of April and May in Southern New England to golf Spring Teams for forty or fifty years and longer. These ladies tell stories of early matches played in the snow which may well be why the schedule starts us off a bit later in the season these days, more toward the end of April.

The tournament lasts five weeks of spring but captures our attention as early as November. Teams are assigned by handicap so based on who expresses an interest in playing, club members wait to hear who will play with whom each year. A few months later the WGAM posts the schedule of matches, always eagerly anticipated. The slate of courses that participate include many exclusive golf clubs and, for some players, offer a once in a lifetime playing experience. But it’s the format that causes the most stir…

“Too good to be true” I thought on my first Spring Teams outing at the distinguished Salem Country Club. Yet here I am today, along with hundreds of other Massachusetts woman golfers, my golf calendar filled with enviable engagements for five Thursdays in April and May.

I’m not sure how the WGAM still gets away with it except, I suppose, that the blue bloods of Massachusetts do take their traditions seriously. Not that I’m complaining. Next to playing the matches each year I have nearly as much fun flaunting my schedule and explaining the protocol to some male golfer unfamiliar with the practice. Consider this; the WGAM stipulates no players shall be on the course in front of “the ladies” as we tee off in twosomes for the match play event. Entire courses shut down for not one but five mornings for hordes of woman golfers! And what really makes the guys shake their heads is the custom that we pay no greens fees, merely cover the cost of the required golf cart. Perhaps it is a kind of a payback for all those lady golfer jokes?

Come a dark morning in April, with the coffee perking well before dawn, with rain suits and wet grips stuffed in golf bags across the state, dressed in layers upon layers, the ladies of Spring Teams will hit the road once again. Clear the men from the courses and thank the WGAM!