NORTON, Massachusetts (May 15, 2025) – In celebration of Mass Golf’s 125th anniversary, the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame is inducting its largest class to date, including seven individuals recognized for their outstanding contributions to the game.
For the first time, the Hall of Fame will introduce 10 inductees as “Pioneers”, a newly established category recognizing early trailblazers who helped shape the foundation of golf in Massachusetts. These Pioneers include the founders of both the Women’s Golf Association of Boston/Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Golf Association.
“This is a truly special moment for Mass Golf,” said Thomas F. Bagley III, Committee Chairman of the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame. “As we celebrate 125 years of our organization’s history, it’s only fitting that we honor a class this expansive and diverse. Their contributions have helped shape the wide-reaching legacy of golf in Massachusetts, and each of them has rightfully earned their place among the legends enshrined in the Hall of Fame.”
The official induction ceremony will take place as part of the Mass Golf Annual Meeting, with an early afternoon ceremony and luncheon on October 16, 2025, at Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton. More details will be released at a later date.
Born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Edith Noblit Baker married in 1914 and played out of Oakley Country Club, going on to win the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts State Championship five times. Known for her wit, intelligence, and “lovable bossy” personality, Baker took junior golfers under her wing and earned the affectionate nickname “Boss Baker.” She demanded discipline and sportsmanship while fostering a deep connection with the players.
In 1950, Baker established the Edith Noblit Baker Tournament, a 36-hole competition designed for working women golfers that continues to be played every summer. She also served as a USGA official, a former president of the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts, and one of the founding members of Scituate Country Club.
Golf brought her some of her greatest joys, including the thrill of shooting a round in the 70s on her 70th birthday in 1958. Beyond golf, Baker was a member of Marshfield Country Club, the Women’s City Club of Boston, and the Harvard Clubs of Boston and New York.
A member of Charles River Country Club from 1990 to 2005, Marion Maney achieved national acclaim in 1992 when she won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Old Marsh Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, defeating legendary golfer Carol Semple Thompson in 19 holes. This victory was particularly notable as Semple Thompson, a seven-time USGA champion and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, was considered one of the greatest women amateur golfers of all time.
Maney is one of only three Charles River members to claim a USGA title, joining the ranks of Francis Ouimet and Ted Bishop. Her decorated career includes competing in nine U.S. Women’s Amateurs, 15 U.S. Mid-Amateurs, and representing Massachusetts in the 1995 Women’s State Team Championship. Her state-level achievements include victories in the 1992 Massachusetts Women’s Open, the 1987 Massachusetts Women’s Amateur, five titles in the Massachusetts Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship for the Keyes Cup, and two victories in the Massachusetts Women’s Stroke Play Championship for the Baker Trophy.
Florence Ogg McClusky was a highly accomplished amateur player in the state between the 1940s and 1970s. Known affectionately as “Floss,” she played out of Worcester Country Club and won the women’s club title there 26 times between 1941 and 1986. She was also the daughter of Willie Ogg, the former head professional at Worcester Country Club, who was instrumental in getting the U.S. Open and the first-ever Ryder Cup played at Worcester.
McClusky won five Massachusetts Women’s Amateur titles between 1948 and 1966, and her nine Grace Keyes Cup victories between 1952 and 1968 give her more than anybody in the history of the event, which dates back to 1950. Additionally, she won the Massachusetts Women’s Stroke Play Championship for the Baker Trophy, the Massachusetts Mixed Four-Ball Championship for the Stone Cup (3 times), the Endicott Cup, and the Women’s Four-Ball Championship for the Townshend Cup (twice). She finished T29 at the 1960 U.S. Women’s Open, which was held at Worcester CC. She later went on to win three Massachusetts Women’s Senior Amateur titles, her last in 1974.
Alex Ross grew up in Dornoch, Scotland, where he learned golf along with his older brother, Donald Ross, who was an inaugural 2002 inductee into the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame. In 1903, Alex took his first head golf professional position at Brae Burn Country Club, a job he held until 1916. In the winters, he went to North Carolina and assisted his brother Donald at Pinehurst.
Ross won the 1907 U.S. Open at Philadelphia Cricket Club and competed in it 17 times, finishing in the top 10 five times. Locally, he won five of the first six Massachusetts Open championships. His six titles are tied with Geoff Sisk for the most all-time. Ross also holds a tournament record with six wins in The North and South Open, founded at Pinehurst in 1902. He won the first title in 1902, and his last came in 1915.
In the 1920s, Alex competed in Europe, where he became the first golfer to win the Swiss Open twice and also the first to win it three times. At the urging of Horace Rackham, Henry Ford’s first attorney, Ross became the first full-time golf professional at Detroit Golf Club in 1916, where he remained until 1947. His brother Donald designed both courses at Detroit, which debuted in 1918. The Michigan PGA elected Alex Ross as its first president in 1922.
Geoff Sisk is a professional golfer who won six Mass Open titles between 1995 and 2007, tying Alex Ross for the most all-time. He also had a successful career on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. As an amateur, Sisk had an outstanding career, earning All-American honors and winning eight tournaments at Temple University. In 1984, at just 19 years old, he was named the youngest-ever Mass Golf Player of the Year.
Sisk turned professional in 1989. In addition to earning status on the PGA Tour, including a full season in 1999, he achieved notable success on the Nike Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) and other regional circuits. On the New England Pro Golf Tour, Sisk became a dominant force, winning over a dozen events and earning Player of the Year honors four times.
Known for his precision and mental toughness, Sisk overcame setbacks, including injuries and near-retirement, to remain a competitive force for decades. His achievements extend beyond New England, with seven appearances in the U.S. Open, including a top 40 finish in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Richard F. Connolly, Jr. grew up in Woburn and got his start in golf at age 8 when he was a caddie at Woburn Country Club. He also got to caddie for Francis Ouimet at Charles River Country Club. Connolly began tending greens at 15, but he was also a golf prodigy in his teenage years. Connolly graduated from Malden Catholic, and despite being offered a scholarship to Wake Forest, he decided to attend Holy Cross, where he was a two-year captain of the golf team. He also earned an MBA at Babson College.
Connolly was a recipient of the Ouimet Scholarship and, over 40-plus years, has served as a Director, Trustee, and President for the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. In 1979, Connolly became the Ouimet Memorial Tournament chairman. In 1990, he donated the Championship Division trophy, which is named after his father, Richard F. Connolly Sr. He also added a Senior Division in 1999 and named it the Lowery Division to honor Eddie Lowery, the caddie for Francis Ouimet in his 1913 U.S. Open victory. The Women’s Division was then added in 2004.
One of Connolly’s special projects has been making the Ouimet Fund annual banquet the largest golf banquet in the U.S., averaging 1,500 attendees, and the largest fundraising event and visibility tool for the Ouimet Fund. When the inaugural “Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf” was presented to Connolly’s lifelong friend Arnold Palmer in 1997, the dinner kindled national interest. Connolly received the same award in 2025.
In recognition of his incredible contributions, Connolly received the Ouimet Fund’s Spirit of Golf Award in 2008. In 2016, he was honored by Mass Golf with the Frank H. Sellman Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes Exemplary Service to the Game of Golf. He was also inducted into the National Caddie Hall of Fame in 2023.
Donald E. Hearn, CGCS, has devoted over five decades to advancing the game of golf and the profession of golf course management in Massachusetts and beyond.
Beginning as a caddie at Woburn Country Club, Hearn became a Certified Golf Course Superintendent in 1977, serving at renowned courses like Weston Golf Club and Vesper Country Club. His leadership includes serving as President of both the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England (GCSANE) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), where he oversaw significant advancements, including the construction of the GCSAA headquarters.
As Executive Director of GCSANE from 2011 to 2024, he championed education, mentorship, and sustainability. His numerous accolades include the GCSAA Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award, the USGA Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of service, and having GCSANE’s Distinguished Service Award renamed in his honor. Hearn has also been a passionate advocate, educator, and mentor, shaping the profession and highlighting the critical role of superintendents in the game of golf.
In addition to several golf media contributions, he contributed to the first-ever Best Management Practice guide for Massachusetts golf courses, standardizing environmental practices for the industry statewide.
The Women’s Golf Association of Boston (later the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts) was founded in 1900, three years before the Massachusetts Golf Association was formed. It became the first organized amateur golf association in Massachusetts. On March 5, 1900, six women representing The Country Club, Oakley Country Club, Brae Burn Country Club, and Concord Country Club met in Boston for the purpose of forming a golf association among women. On March 19, they voted in officers: Mrs. Fran Zerrahn (President), Mrs. William Swan (Vice President), Louisa Wells (Secretary), and Miss. Grace Keyes (Treasurer). On May 2, 1900, 16 women representing four teams of the WGAB played their first team matches at The Country Club. The club hosted its first association championship (now the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur) in October 1900 at Oakley Country Club, with Grace Keyes winning the inaugural title.
The Massachusetts Golf Association was organized at the Exchange Club in Boston on February 24, 1903. More than 60 delegates from clubs across the state were present for its founding. The following were elected as officers: G. Herbert Windeler (President/The Country Club), Herbert C. Leeds (Vice President/Myopia Hunt Club), R.R. Freeman (Secretary/Wollaston Golf Club), and C.B. Conant (Treasurer/Vesper Country Club). Arthur Lockwood won the inaugural Massachusetts Amateur Championship in 1903 at the Myopia Hunt Club. In 2018, the WGAM officially merged into the MGA to form Mass Golf, the current golf association representing the entire state of Massachusetts.
Willie and Georgina Campbell made significant contributions to golf in Massachusetts. A top match-play competitor, Willie was also a course designer and club maker, serving as the first professional at The Country Club in 1894 and later at Myopia Hunt Club. He expanded and designed several courses, including Franklin Park, where he became the first municipal golf pro in the U.S. After he died in 1900, Georgina became the first female golf professional in the U.S., continuing at Franklin Park until 1926. Willie had eight top-10 finishes in The Open Championship and placed sixth in the 1895 U.S. Open.
Laurence Curtis was a founding member of the USGA, serving as its first vice president and second president. He helped popularize the game in the U.S. after witnessing his first exhibition in 1892, proposing and assisting with building a six-hole course at The Country Club. Curtis played in its inaugural match, sparking interest among members. He was also the uncle of Hall of Famers Margaret and Harriot Curtis, whose success helped establish the Curtis Cup Match.
Dr. George Franklin Grant invented the modern golf tee, receiving the first U.S. patent for a wooden tee on December 12, 1899. His design featured a tapered wooden base and a flexible gutta-percha crown to hold the ball, closely resembling today’s tees. Though he never marketed it, his invention became a key part of the game, and the USGA honored him in 1991. Grant was also a trailblazer in medicine, becoming the first African American faculty member at Harvard University and a pioneer in cleft palate treatment.
Edward “Eddie” Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old caddie for Francis Ouimet during his historic 1913 U.S. Open victory at The Country Club, a defining moment in American golf. Lowery later won the Massachusetts Junior Amateur (1919, 1920) and the Massachusetts Amateur (1927) and competed in USGA events across five decades. Lowery also served on the Executive Committee of the United States Golf Association and was posthumously inducted into the National Caddie Hall of Fame in 1999.
Willie Ogg (1888-1959)William Robertson Ogg Jr. revolutionized golf equipment by developing the first heel/toeweighted iron, which Gene Sarazen called “the single greatest contribution to modern golf equipment.” After emigrating to the U.S. in 1914, Ogg worked at Brae Burn and East Lake, where he mentored Bobby Jones, before serving as head pro at Worcester Country Club for 25 years. There, he secured the club as host site for the 1925 U.S. Open and the first Ryder Cup in 1927. A founding PGA of America member, Ogg also won the New England PGA and Massachusetts Open in 1924.
The Spalding Company was a key innovator in golf equipment during the early 20th century. In 1932, under the leadership of J. Victor East, Spalding developed the first matched set of flanged-soled irons with steel shafts in collaboration with Bobby Jones and Longmeadow Country Club member Milton Reach. This breakthrough enhanced club performance and helped Spalding thrive during the Great Depression. Longmeadow became a testing ground for Spalding’s clubs, attracting top golfers like Byron Nelson and Tommy Armour. The club’s close ties to Spalding and cutting-edge equipment helped shape the evolution of modern golf.
Edward S. Stimpson revolutionized golf course maintenance with his invention of the Stimpmeter in the 1930s, a device used to measure the speed of putting greens. Adopted by the USGA in 1978 and later updated in 2012, the Stimpmeter became a standard tool in both professional and amateur golf. Stimpson, also an accomplished player, won the Massachusetts Amateur Championship in 1935.
George Wright, a Hall of Fame baseball player, helped introduce golf to the U.S. after a stellar career with the Cincinnati and Boston Red Stockings, winning six championships from 1871 to 1878. After moving to Boston, he founded Wright & Ditson, a sporting goods company that displayed one of the first sets of golf clubs in America in 1886. By 1890, Wright and friends played on a makeshift course in Franklin Park, paving the way for the public to play. He later donated land for Boston’s second municipal course, now the Donald Ross-designed George Wright Golf Course in Hyde Park.
The Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame was founded in 2002 with the opening of the William F. Connell Golf House & Museum, which is located on the grounds of TPC Boston in Norton. The Golf House hosts the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame & Museum as well as the offices for Mass Golf, the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, and several other allied golf organizations within the Bay State.
The Hall of Fame has had four induction classes since its opening — 2002, 2014, and 2016, 2021 — with legendary figures including Francis Ouimet, Pat Bradley, Donald Ross, Fred Wright, Margaret and Harriot Curtis, Herbert Warren Wind, Frank Vana Jr., and Tara Joy-Connelly among those previously enshrined.
In 2014, the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame introduced the Ring of Honor to celebrate the individuals, golf clubs, and companies who support the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2025 Induction Ceremony as well. Please email Jesse Menachem, Executive Director/CEO of Mass Golf, at jmenachem@massgolf.org, to learn more.
Mass Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing golf in Massachusetts by building an engaged and inclusive community around the sport.
With a community made up of over 130,000 golf enthusiasts and over 360 member clubs, Mass Golf is one of the largest state golf associations in the country. Members enjoy the benefits of handicapping, engaging golf content, course rating, and scoring services along with the opportunity to compete in an array of events for golfers of all ages and abilities.
At the forefront of junior development, Mass Golf is proud to offer programming to youth in the state through First Tee Massachusetts and subsidized rounds of golf by way of Youth on Course.
