The benevolent soldier

By Gary Larrabee

Block-fading and pull-hooking my way around the North Shore golf scene in our final ramblings of 2005, starting with the loss of yet another of the region’s very best golf people, Mike Frangos.

Frangos wasn’t just a good family man and ever-smiling figurehead for The Commodore in Beverly, one of the most popular restaurants in the region for more than 40 years. He put his restaurant and money where his heart was, in the support of the Commodore Open charity golf tournament.

The foundation for the Commodore Open was developed from a few casual conversations in 1969 with fellow Norwich University alumnus Paul Masur, who was running the North Shore Association for Retarded Citizens.

Thirty-three years after the first tournament attracted 60 golfers to Far Corner in West Boxford, Frangos was able to see the one millionth dollar raised for the North Shore ARC during the 2003 event at the magnificent Myopia Hunt Club. The 36th annual event is set for Monday, Sept. 19, back at Myopia, and with Frangos’ passing on June 9, there will be a lot of golfers playing with heavy hearts at this year’s event.

For all the legacies Frangos left us, including a long-time devotion to the Lynn-based Harry Agganis Foundation, the greatest, after his wonderful family, must be the Commodore Open. This was the grand-daddy of all charity events held in New England. The first. All the others have come after.

Boxford’s Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of the Commodore’s primary sponsor, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, plans to have the 2005 Commodore Open played in memory of Frangos.

“Mike had a remarkable dedication and commitment to give back to the community,” Thompson said of Frangos. “One of the ways he did this was through the Commodore. We’ll make every effort to make this as successful of an event after his passing as it was through his leadership.”

Mike’s resume of community involvement and recognition required nearly 70 lines in his Salem News obituary. That really says it all about this giant of a man who enriched so many lives, especially those of the North Shore Golf family.

Elsewhere around the world of golf, both near and far:

• The Massachusetts Golf Association would love to get Salem CC to commit for a Mass Open in 2011, which would mark the 20th anniversary of John Elliott’s stirring victory.

• Don’t be swayed by the recent departures of presidents Mike Zmetrovich at The Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill and Neal Vohr at Turner Hill in Ipswich, the North Shore’s exciting new private club projects. Though exceptional talents, they are not leaving their partners in the lurch. In fact, they have left their clubs in good shape. The Renaissance Club is on schedule to open all 18 holes this fall. Turner Hill, which drew rave reviews after hosting a Mass. Open qualifier in June, anticipates a strong second half of 2005 for attracting new members and home buyers.

• At 72, Carl Berry, a major supporter of Frangos’ Commodore Open, became the oldest winner of the Salem Four Ball with partner John Spatharos.

• Nice touch by Tedesco CC, which honored its greatest champion and benefactor of the game, the late Ted Carangelo, with a granite bench next to the practicing putting green and renamed the gross division of the Tedesco Cup the Carangelo Memorial Cup.

• Warning Sign: After learning from the National Golf Foundation that the total population of “core golfers” (those 18 and older who play at least eight rounds annually) dropped 4.7 percent to 12.8 million in 2004, it’s time to make the game easier for everyone, particularly the beginners and high handicappers among the public course players. That means wider and higher cut fairways (making the ball easier to get airborne), shorter (if any) rough, few if any water hazards and bunkers, flatter greens. Anything that will increase the chances that those targeted will find adequate enjoyment and gratification to stick with the game. Golf in America lost 1.1 million golfers among all adult participants in 2004, a 3.9 percent slippage to 27.3 million, including those who play only one to seven times a year.