This story was originally printed in Volume I of The Massachusetts Golfer, which was published in April 2024. The Massachusetts Golfer is a print publication, first and foremost, which is exclusively available, at no charge, to Mass Golf Members.
If you are a member and have not received a mailed copy (note that copies are limited to one per household), please update your address on file. Kindly direct any enquiries to Stephen Hanjack: shanjack@massgolf.org
Walking around Essex County Club feels a bit like clicking through an old Kodak Carousel projector. Everything you look at seems part of a vintage New England time continuum. Perpetual history with softened, dreamy edges.
The summer evening light on day two of the 2023 Massachusetts Amateur was dazzling. You wondered if someone was tucked in a secret room inside the clubhouse, tweaking the levels in Photoshop to dial up the gold.
John Broderick wasn’t content to simply observe Essex’s picturesque slides. Instead, he jumped directly into the frame. The young lefty shattered the course record by three strokes, carding birdies on 8 of his last 14 holes to post 62.
Donald Ross’ brilliant final two holes at Essex stands as perhaps the most dramatic finishing stretch in the Commonwealth. The back nine carefully circles an enormous, looming crag that sits in the middle of the property, until, at last, the par-4 17th plays directly up the slope.
The summit is the center of the carousel, the payoff: 360° views of the entire golf course, the stately brick clubhouse, and surrounding, sleepy Manchester-by-the-Sea. On a clear day, you can even catch the Boston skyline breaching the horizon.
After his birdie bid on 17 burned the edge, Broderick traipsed up the dirt path to the 18th tee. It’s generally a quiet walk, but word had spread around the property, and a gallery grew as the blazing red leaderboard figure dipped lower and lower.
The sinking sunlight washed the scene in sepia tones, as though the print was already being developed, a frame on order.
The 18th is a thrill ride, whisking players down the slope, away from the harsh terrain of the crag, and back home, where the lights of the clubhouse were twinkling in the distance.Broderick split the fairway, hit a wedge to 15 feet, then confidently held his putter aloft as the ball slid from right to left, before disappearing into the cup.
It made for quite a picture.
