A Perfect Fit

Golfers of all generations have been getting a kick out out of Beverly Golf & Tennis

By Barry Scanlon

In its 95-year history, it has had three different names. First it was the United Shoe Golf Club. Then it became the Folly Hill Golf Club. Today it is known as Beverly Golf and Tennis Club.

Still, long-time North Shore residents affectionately refer to the 18-hole semi-private course off McKay Street as “The Shoe.”

The Shoe. A perfect name, really, for a traditional golf course that can be as cozy as that pair of well-worn loafers you cherish, or as time-tested as those pair of sneakers you refuse to throw out.

“It is a very comfortable golf course to play,” says four-time men’s club champion Steve Swedberg, a Danvers resident. “But once players go out there and get too comfortable, that’s when the course comes up and bites you. You can’t get too comfortable.

“It is pretty much right out in front of you,” he added. “There are lots of places where you can be a little wayward with your tee ball and still be able to score.”

Beverly Golf and Tennis Club is not an intimidating course, from a yardage standpoint. It’s very much an old-school type of layout. Target golf enthusiasts need not make a tee time. There are no marshes to shoot over, no fairways skinnier than Kate Moss.

And that’s just fine with supporters of the course, which hosted nearly 40,000 rounds in 2003.

“I think it treats players fairly,” says the course’s golf professional, Don Lyons. “We have pretty generous driving areas.”

One of the course’s biggest strengths is the speed in which it can be played. During the week, there’s no reason a foursome can’t finish a round in under four hours. Even on a crowded Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the average round is played in 4 hours and 45 minutes, according to Lyons.

That’s not to say that “The Shoe” – so nicknamed because the nearby United Shoe Machinery Corp, now the site of the impressive Cummings Center office park, opened the course in 1909 for its employees – can’t give golfers the boot from time to time.

In fact, holes No. 1 and No. 2 are about as easy an opening set of holes as the SAT is for a third-grader.

The opening hole is a 431-yard (445 from the blues) par 4 test of strength and accuracy. If you’re fortunate to be around the green in two, the work is not over. A pitch that lands above the hole on the heavily sloped green will leave the average golfer with a serious case of the chills.

The 413-yard par 4 second is a monster. Let’s see, all you have to do to walk away with a par is: A.) Stripe a 220-yard drive down the middle. (Hint: Don’t go left, that’s out-of-bounds in the trees. And don’t go right, there are more trees to make life miserable). B.) Rip a blind uphill shot over two mounds to a small green. C.) Manage to ignore a back-to-front sloped green and two putt.

“Those opening holes are two of the toughest holes I have ever played,” Swedberg adds.

Once the knees stop knocking, the work isn’t done.

The third hole is an uphill shot (147 yards from the white tees) in which the flag is barely visible and the first of five par 3 holes, all challenging in their own way.

“It’s not a long course by yardage, but the par 3s on the course are very important as far as scoring is concerned. They are challenging in most regards,” Swedberg says.

Golfers get a relative rest at the par 4 fourth, particularly if you’re playing the whites. A solid tee shot can leave barely a wedge, and birdie is a realistic goal. The fifth hole is deceiving. At only 271 yards from the white tees, it is the second shortest par 4 on the course. But beware. After not seeing a single ounce of sand in the first four holes, No. 5 is a shock as two bunkers – make that two deeeeep bunkers – protect a daunting green.

A couple of par 3 jewels reside on No. 11 and 12. The back-to-back holes are not for the faint of heart.

The 11th is a 245-yard poke from the blues, 235 from the whites. There’s plenty of landing area in front of the large green, but almost no room behind it. Grip it and rip it – and hope for the best.

The 12th isn’t as long (193 yards), but it’s more treacherous and fittingly is directly across the street from Shoe Pond. A large bunker sits to the right of the heavily sloped green and anyone who flies his or her tee shot over the green should pick up and start walking to the 13th tee. A bogey on 12? Take it and run.

The final par 3, the 15th, has been called the “wedding cake” because the green sits up like a cake. This 143-yarder with an elevated tee is a favorite of many club regulars.

Two of Swedberg’s favorites holes are No. 7, a 397-yard par 4 test, and No. 16, a par 4 in which a blind tee shot dictates success or failure 90 percent of the time.

There aren’t many holes like No. 8, which measures 571 yards and features a fairway wide enough to land an airplane on. There are no tricks. No gimmicks. Just a test of strength.

“In 20 years of playing it I’ve probably only seen a couple of people reach the green in two,” Swedberg says.

“Two of the best holes out there are 7 and 10 ... 16 is a great diving hole,” adds Lyons.

Beverly Golf and Tennis Club is owned by the city of Beverly and managed by Johnson Golf Management, Inc., of Weston.

“It’s kind of old school golf,” club superintendent Dave Tormey says.

Norma Yeaton, who turned 88 in March, knows every inch of Beverly Golf and Tennis Club. She should. She’s been playing it since 1929.

“My father was one of the founders of the golf course. He put a golf club in my hand when I was 5 years old. I used to putt in the yard,” the Beverly resident remembers.

Yeaton can even remember when the course featured only nine holes. The course has changed names. Some of its holes have been changed around. But Beverly Golf and Tennis Club still provides a spark for Yeaton to play.

Yeaton, who estimates that she’s won 25 women’s club championships, still tries to play twice a week at the course, once if it gets too hot.

Yeaton captured the Massachusetts junior championship in 1933 and she’s played golf throughout the state. But Beverly Golf and Tennis Club is the only club she’s ever belonged to.

The United Shoe Golf Club. The Folly Hill Golf Club. Beverly Golf and Tennis. Whatever it’s been called, Yeaton has felt comfortable on its fairways and greens.

Sort of like an old shoe.