An open plea to Myopia

By Gary Larrabee

I love Myopia Hunt Club. The people, the tradition and, most important, the golf course. It’s the only area layout – and clubhouse –that makes you truly feel like you’ve been taken back in time to the origins of golf in this country in the late 1800s. The membership should be roundly applauded for their dedication to their unique property situated off Route 1A in South Hamilton.

I make no apologies to our two other nationally revered, classic courses, Essex County Club and Salem Country Club. They boast their own adoring qualities that perennially keep them on the United States Golf Association’s national championship “A” list.

But this is about Myopia. Simply put, it’s time for the Myopia golf leadership to end a nearly 100-year absence from the USGA tournament schedule. It’s time Myopia extended an invitation to the USGA to bring one of its 13 championships to their famed course.

We thought it might happen in the early 1990s after David Fay, the USGA executive director, paid a visit and played a round of golf with head pro Bill Safrin, club president John McKean and Fay’s college chum, Bill Whelan, a Myopia member. But the membership wanted a “major” USGA event, such as a Senior Open, while Fay and USGA colleague Mike Davis felt Myopia would be ideal for a lower-keyed championship, such as a Mid-Amateur, Women’s Amateur or Senior Amateur.

Myopia didn’t agree, and discussions between the club and the nation’s governing body for golf have been on hold since.

Well, the Myopia membership should borrow a page from its founders, after what they did for the USGA between 1898 and 1908, and send a formal invitation to Far Hills, N.J., promptly.

What a grand way for the Myopia leadership to honor its founders, who offered their incomparable Herbert Leeds-designed masterpiece to the USGA when the fledgling organization, formed in 1894, needed it most – for U.S. Opens in 1898, 1901, 1905 and 1908. Myopia will always hold an indelible piece of American golf history within its distinctive canary yellow-colored clubhouse. Why not add another chapter to that extraordinary story with – finally – a fifth USGA championship – after all these years?

I respect Myopia’s right to accept or reject this advice. After all, this is America. But I also believe the membership has an obligation and responsibility to promote this grand game in ways beyond the membership realm. The many charity events they welcome on an annual basis and the occasional local, state and regional competitions (next up: the 2010 Massachusetts Amateur) are nice gestures. But it’s time, as the 100th anniversary of its last U.S. Open approaches, to open its breathtaking real estate to the golf community and host a USGA event.

When I chat with my fellow inked-stained golf-writing wretches, the first thing they ask me as they plan their New England holiday is: “Can you get me on Myopia?” They love Salem, Essex, The Country Club and Kittansett, to name a few of our golfing gems. But Myopia is No. 1 on their “begging list.”

Salem and Essex have proudly recognized this obligation and offered its fabulous properties for the golf world to enjoy. Essex currently has an invitation on record for the USGA to conduct the 2010 Curtis Cup (what a natural). Salem received extraordinary accolades after hosting the 2001 U.S. Senior Open.

Now, it’s Myopia’s turn. C’mon guys. After a century away from the national spotlight, it’s time to show the world the magnificence of Myopia, 2006 version.