Heavy Hearts in Haverhill

With the passing of George Gelt, Crystal Springs Golf Club vows to remain the modest golf course it has always been

By Barry Scanlon

Golfers should have been walking around, enjoying one of their first rounds of the spring. But Mother Nature would have none of it, sending numbing winds and heavy wet snowflakes across the fairways at Crystal Springs Golf Club, and delaying the 2007 opening.

Crystal Springs - Haverhill

The head pro/general manager found the early April weather depressing. And that’s not the only thing that Ed Tompkins felt blue about days before the 18-hole semi-private club opened for business this season.

For the first time since the course opened as a 9-hole layout in 1961, the owner, George Gelt, the guy whose life revolved around Crystal Springs, would not be around for a season opener on the former cattle land. Gelt, who lived on the premises and rarely left Crystal Springs, except to jump into his car to buy food and supplies for the next day, died last year at the age of 89, leaving a giant void in the Merrimack Valley golfing world.

“He always had at least two dogs who [walked] 18 holes of golf with him. At least two, as many as four,” remembered Tompkins as his smile cut through the day’s gloom. “It’s a known fact that in the Merrimack Valley he was probably one of the most generous guys you’d ever want to meet as far as the golf business goes. He was a legend around here in the Merrimack Valley.”

Tompkins, the Crystal Springs’ head pro for 35 years, said Gelt made it clear that he wanted the land to remain a golf course.

“That’s what he wanted. He was very, very firm about that,” Tompkins says. “I’m working real hard to see that his wishes are fulfilled. Hopefully it’s going to be a golf course forever because that’s what his intentions were.”

Haverhill resident Jim Drohen, the 18-time Crystal Springs club champion who lives just down the street from the course, also hopes the course continues on.

“It’s one of the courses that we can all afford,” said Drohen, the 2003 Massachusetts State Senior champion and a Crystal Springs member for more than 30 years.

“It has a good layout to it, they’re putting a lot of work into it. You’re not playing Augusta (National), but it can be a challenging course. Two of the most challenging holes in Massachusetts are probably four and five. If you get away with par on those two holes you should be very happy.”

Drohen, 60, is the head of a famous golfing family. Son Andy is a former Massachusetts State Amateur champion. Son Billy has captured a Massachusetts State Publinx title. Son John is a two-time runner-up of the Rhode Island State Amateur. And another son, Michael, thrives in long-drive competitions.

Jim Drohen is one of 210 members at Crystal Springs, but the course is open to the public during the week and afternoons on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Crystal Springs plays 6,706 yards from the back tees and 6,436 yards from the white tees with a slope of 114 and 112 respectively.

“If you play this course properly from the back markers, you’ll need [every club in your bag].” Tompkins says. “It’s nothing like a pitch-and-putt course at all. And it’s a course you never get tired of. It’s a different course every day.”

Crystal Springs features long par 3s, challenging par 4s, and large greens. And its green fees - $30 for 18 during the week, $35 for 18 on weekends and holidays - are tough to beat.
“We probably have the most reasonable membership and green fees in the Merrimack Valley, probably north of Boston,” Tompkins adds.

“No swimming pools, no committees. [Gelt] wanted to keep it priced down so it was affordable to everyone. This was Mr. Gelt’s legacy. I used to have to fight with him to get him to raise prices. His answer to me would be, ‘I don’t want to price anyone out of the business, out of golf.’ If they couldn’t afford to play, he used to let them play for nothing.

“Members would come up to George and say, ‘Geez, I had a bad winter ... my daughter’s in college... I’m going to have to turn in and resign for awhile,’ and they’d hand in their key, and he’d say, ‘Keep it. Just keep playing. I want to see you around here. When you get better you can start paying me again.’”

Tompkins is motivated to move forward in memory of his friend.

“In the last year, year and a half, we’ve really turned it around and gotten it into real good shape,” says Tompkins of the course that opened a second nine holes in 1964, three years after the opening nine was opened.

“And we’re continuing on that tradition to make it much better this year. We’re making the greens faster; they were always slow. And we’re cleaning up years of growth. The integrity of the golf course had been compromised because we never trimmed trees.”

Crystal Springs consists of two distinct nine holes. The front nine isn’t long,  but it is tight. Get by holes 4, 5, 6 and 7 in good shape and a strong round is possible.

The four-hole stretch features holes cut through granite ledge and No. 4, a dogleg left protected by a large pine tree that sits in the middle of the fairway, may be the signature hole of the Geoffrey Cornish-designed course.

“Most people have a love/hate relationship with the fourth hole,” a laughing Tompkins says. “They love it if they can get it on the green in two, but they really hate it if they can’t.”

“Once you get past the seventh hole you can have a lot of fun,” Tompkins adds.

Ironically, on the section of the course furthest from Crystal Lake - holes 10, 11 and 12 - the fairways are prone to becoming waterlogged.

“That’s something we’re working on,” Tompkins explains. “We’re working on the drainage. The drainage system needs to be updated. Though the fairways on some of the low holes are a little bit wet and soft, the greens are all elevated and none of the greens are ever soft.”

Tompkins has every intention of changing with the times, and making improvements - without forgetting what George Gelt always felt Crystal Springs should be.

“I have no intention of making this high-priced and changing what George always wanted,” Tompkins says.

“I would say the insight of Mr. Gelt has kept us alive because when the boom of golf started, everybody just went sky high on their prices. Now that golf has slowed down a little bit and probably taken a downturn, a lot of golf courses in our area are actually folding.

“We seem to continue on pretty level. We never really had a problem keeping members. George was just a great guy. People didn’t want to leave; they’d feel guilty if they left because he was such a great man.”

Barry Scanlon is the assistant sports editor of the Lowell Sun.