Another milestone for Lynnfield’s Tobin

By Gary Larrabee

So many of us love to play the game of golf. But how many of us make the effort to give back to the game? I would say virtually no one to the level that Lynnfield’s Anne Marie Tobin has.

Arguably the most accomplished woman in the history of Massachusetts golf, Tobin has attained yet another milestone in 2003 by assuming the presidency of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund – the commonwealth’s golf charity.

“Golf has been a tremendous blessing in my life,” said the Thomson Country Club product. “As much satisfaction as I have received through playing the game, I have received just as much, if not more satisfaction, from my involvement with our various golf organizations. Call me selfish, because I enjoy serving the game as much as playing it.”

Tobin, 46, is only the second woman to serve as president of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, following Belmont CC’s Gertrude “Gitty” Scheft, who presided in 1990. There have been 23 presidents before Tobin, including fellow North Shore notables Ozzie Keiver Jr. of Tedesco (the first president in 1949 and 1950), Joe Batchelder of Salem and Fred Thorne and Denny Goodrich of Essex.

“When I was asked to consider taking this office, well, I couldn’t say no, simple as that,” said Tobin, the only seven-time winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts (WGAM) championship. “Other people have given their time to benefit people like me, such as Bill Foley, a fine player, gentleman and the Ouimet president before me. How could I say no to Bill Foley, or Dick Connolly, who has served the Ouimet Fund for more than 30 years?”

Yet, everyone would have understood if Tobin had, in fact, said no. She maintains a hectic daily schedule as wife to long-time Bellevue head professional Jim Tobin and mother to her 11-year-old daughter Abby. She’s also a practicing attorney and legal counsel to the New England PGA as well as an erstwhile competitive golfer.

She was active with the WGAM between 1980 and 1996, during which time she served a two-year term as president. Tobin also served an eight-year stint on the executive board of the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA), the first woman to sit on the board, and has been involved with the Ouimet Fund since 1994.

“It’s a big plus for us to have Anne Marie as our president at this critical time in our history,” said Ouimet Fund executive director Bob Donovan. “She is enormously respected in golf. She’s a great selection.”

As the largest golf charity and the second largest caddie scholarship program in the United States, The Ouimet Fund stands tall in the national golf community. The Fund awarded $940,000 in scholarship aid in 2002 and held the largest one-day golf banquet in the country last fall when former president George Bush was honored in Boston as the winner of the Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf.

?Our goal is to raise that scholarship number to $1 million, whether it be in 2003 or 2004,? added Tobin.

?I’m proud to say that I eased Anne Marie along as an important member of The Ouimet Fund,? said Foley, another unique golf benefactor in the Bay State. Foley also served as president of the MGA and is a former winner of the Massachusetts Amateur.

When Foley speaks, everyone listens.

“She is more than qualified to take over as president, considering her continued involvement with the game and her long-time support for caddie programs,” he said.

Tobin’s life has been one long success story. Her playing resume includes being the only woman to win five successive WGAM titles, the 1990 New England Amateur champion, a three-time winner of the WGAM Player of the Year Award (named in her honor), six-time winner of the WGAM Keyes Cup (stroke play championship) and a former U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist.

But she is equally proud of her accomplishments as the founder of the WGAM Junior Scholarship Fund with renowned teaching pro Jane Frost. Tobin and her husband are also proud founders of the Massachusetts Women’s Open.

?There is nothing like being involved with golf; as a player, administrator or supporter,? Tobin explains. The cause, the environment, the people you work with. It all adds up to something very special, something you truly feel privileged to be a part of. And at this stage of my life in golf, serving as the president of the Ouimet Fund is the perfect place for me. I’m honored to be in this position.?