By Tom Cunneff
Living in Charleston, S.C., I don't get to play many MGA events, but having turned 65 last year, there was one event that caught my eye: the Senior Masters for Medicare-eligible players with a Handicap Index not exceeding 10.0. The playing of the 14th iteration this year on Oct. 8th at Anglebook Golf Club in Lincolndale, N.Y., also coincided with the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s annual awards dinner, so I circled both on my calendar. In fact, the MGWA has a club without real estate, the Quill & Tee, that makes me an MGA member, so it seemed as if the stars were aligned.
The Senior Masters is one of more than 90 tournaments the MGA conducts every year, many of which are multi-day championships so there are over 100 event days throughout the limited season that the MGA is putting on an event throughout the Met Area. The Senior Masters began in 2012 and takes advantage of the area’s wide array of talent in the “super senior” age class.
What a great day it was, too, and what a great value. For $200, we got to play an undulating Robert Trent Jones Sr. course in terrific condition, get paired with good players, served lunch and dinner, and received a stylish B. Draddy hoodie with the MGA logo as a tee prize.
In thanking everyone before the round, Anglebrook General Manager Matt Sullivan said, “This is the most skilled field we’ve had here since the MGA Mid-Am in 2013.” The club has also hosted U.S. Amateur qualifying in 2007, U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying in 2016, and New York State Open qualifying on multiple occasions.
Since I didn’t have a chance to play a practice round, my goal was to break 80, but I didn’t get off to the best start when I double-bogeyed my opening hole (the 335-yard 12th). I righted the ship a little with pars on five of the next seven holes. I had studied the holes on Google Maps, so I wasn’t completely blind going in, but I wasn’t ready for the elevation changes, which made club selection a little trickier. Throw in the fact that it was cart-path only after some rain that morning, a bit of wind, and a new GPS watch that hadn’t charged properly, and I had to guess at some yardages on approach shots.
Now in its 28th season and set on a rolling, 240-acre site, Anglebrook is Robert Tent Jones Sr.’s last design, and the clubhouse is the first clubhouse by renowned post-modern architect Robert A.M. Stern, the former dean of architecture at Yale University, and the creator of some iconic buildings in New York City. Jones routed the course through and around 50 acres of protected environmental areas, so golfers feel like they’re playing in a nature preserve.
“When selecting clubs for our championship events like the Senior Masters, we are traditionally looking to rotate the event through the MGA’s main regions every three years – Long Island, Westchester/Connecticut, and New Jersey,” Gaffney notes. “Many clubs see this as an opportunity to showcase their golf course and facilities, give back to golf by supporting the associations working to grow the game, and have a history entrenched in championship events to foster the competitive side of golf.
“Anglebrook was a perfect venue for this event as they cover every significant detail perfectly for this event,” he adds. “The course is a great championship test while providing various teeing areas that allow us to set up the course with a variety of yardage. The par-5 13th hole was featured in the MGA’s ‘Modern Dream 18’ back in 2017, which is a testament to the course. They have exceptional hospitality and were excited to host this event. General Manager Matt Sullivan made sure that the player experience was first class for both the food service and the course.”
No argument here. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves on a beautiful fall day, and I was on track to reach my goal before finding hazards on my approaches on two of my last three holes and shooting 85. The winner, Anthony Fiorretti of Newton Country Club in northwest New Jersey, was the only player under par with a 71. It helped that he was able to play a practice round a few weeks prior and qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur at Anglebrook in 2016.
I’m already eyeing next year’s Senior Masters because I know it will be a first-class event. I’m just going to make sure I get in a practice round and charge my GPS watch correctly.