It’s make-or-break time for Kirk Hanefeld on the Champions Tour. The former golf director at Salem Country Club is making his last stand on the over-50 circuit in 2008.

He was 0-for-7, with several near misses, in the grueling Monday qualifiers as of the end of April, but may have turned the corner at the FedEx Kinko Championship in Austin, Texas, the first weekend in May. After a 75-74-149 start, Hanefeld shot the low final-round, a seven-under 65, tying for the best round of the week, vaulting from 49th place to 20th, and earning nearly $20,000, his first paycheck of the year. Better still, he gained a berth in the Senior PGA Championship, set for May 22-25 at famed Oak Hill CC in Rochester, N.Y.

“I missed qualifying in five of those seven qualifiers by one or two shots, so I knew I was close, but not close enough,” Hanefeld, 52, told North Shore Golf magazine. “Then I finally got in at Austin, shot a couple poor rounds, then shot one of my career rounds with that 65. Amazing, how it goes from one day to the next. The key is being competitively sharp, yet this was my first Champions event of the year. ”

Hanefeld had told NSG weeks earlier that he was giving himself through the 2008 Champions Tour season to either win a tour event or make enough money (at least $500,000) to gain an exemption for 2009. Otherwise he was going to hang it up after a three-year quest and return to the life of a club professional, ideally in Greater Boston.

But it’s unlikely to be at The International in Bolton, where Hanefeld was the golf director before launching his Champions Tour bid. He severed his relationship with International the end of 2007 to devote full-time to his 2008 Champions Tour effort. He maintains a residence in Acton and a winter home in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“I’ve been playing as well as I did at any time last year (when Hanefeld won $117,000),” he explained, “but the qualifying fields are stronger and you need to shoot four or five under in that one round to get in to the main tournament. I feel good physically. I feel good about my game, but I’ve got to shoot lower; simple as that.”

And he finally did in Texas. His seven-birdie, no-bogey 65 included birdie putts of 40 and 30 feet, one saving-par-putt of 10 feet and a missed 12-foot birdie bid on 18 for 64. He’s obviously encouraged by the 65. “It’s a pleasant reminder I’ve still got some game out here,” said Hanefeld. “But I need to put three or four rounds like that together to win a tournament and stay out here next year. I’m not going back to qualifying school in the fall just to battle in these Monday qualifiers for another year.”

Hanefeld was geared up for Oak Hill. He seems to play his best in the Senior majors. He’s played in nine of the last 10 and made the cut in all of them.

– Gary Larrabee

Quite a turnaround at Turner Hill

What a difference a year makes. One year into its regeneration as a member-owned golf club, Turner Hill in Ipswich has made the kind of progress that gives club president Bob Talbot a grin from ear to ear.

“There’s no recession at Turner Hill,” says Talbot, 48, a founding Turner Hill member who spearheaded the membership’s acquisition of the 288-acre property, including the golf course, surrounding conservation land, clubhouse/pro shop and century-old mansion from original developer Ted Raymond for a fraction of the original development costs.

Turner Hill president Bob Talbot, left, shares a moment with British Open champ Padraig Harrington. Both are quite fond of the Ipswich course.

Led by Talbot and member services manager Paul Casey, the golf membership has increased from 92, when they took over last year, to 160 as Memorial Day approached. They hope to reach the 200-member milestone by the end of the year.

“We’re building toward what great North Shore clubs like Salem, Myopia and Essex have,” added Talbot, a Bangor, Maine, native; “a terrific membership with tradition and history. We look at ourselves as a perfect blend of the new and the old. We are an old world golf club with glorious surroundings, a spectacular new-age golf course and the finest amenities found anywhere.”

The club has already begun to write its own impressive tournament history as host of the 2006 New England PGA and corporate outings featuring Gary Player and 2007 British Open champion Padraig Harrington, both of whom raved about the Hurdzan-Fry layout.

Turner Hill has taken a major step in 2008 with the offering of its first social membership, called the Mansion Club. Created with a $2 million renovation of the former Rice Mansion, the Mansion Club features a restaurant, fitness center, game room, golf course access, indoor hitting room, and renovated two-lane bowling alley that originated with the Rice family. The mansion, which will be available to the public for pre-arranged functions, will also be the scene of a mystery dinner theater, comedy and family nights.

June will mark the start of Turner Hill’s “Kids Club,” offering a wide-ranging summer fun/educational experience.

“What other country club offers all of this?” asks Talbot. “It’s about investing in the club for the benefit of our members, their guests and the regional community that might like to arrange special events here at Turner Hill.”

– Gary Larrabee

Cinderella Story: Front nine at Colonial CC re-opens

The king rail, an endangered species of bird, can often be spotted nesting in the meadow areas of the old Colonial Country Club in Lynnfield. While there is no movement to take the bird off the endangered species list any time soon, the golf course which it calls home has indeed been removed from the list – at least for this summer.

After ostensibly closing for good last November to make way for the Meadow Walk residential and commercial development, the front nine at the Colonial was unexpectedly re-opened this May and will be now known as the King Rail Reserve Golf Course.

“It’s a very challenging nine with two par 5’s that are over 500 yards,” said Lynnfield Town Manager Bill Gustus, who also noted the course’s superior irrigation. “Come July and August it will be green when the other nine hole courses are brown.”

Originally, the course was slated to be closed until the 2010 golf season at which time a new, reconfigured nine-hole course would be unveiled comprised of what used to serve as Colonial’s second through seventh holes on the Walnut Street side of the course. With construction delayed until the fall at the earliest, the Town of Lynnfield was given the green light by National Development to re-open the front nine. The town already owns Reedy Meadow in the center of town and will assume ownership of the new nine-hole course once the Meadow Walk development is complete.

Reedy Meadow Head Pro Don Lyons will now run both courses along with his able assistant Ross Coon. Former Colonial super Mike Johnson will now oversee the greens at both courses.

While a similar reprieve from developers added three years to the life expectancy of Rowley Country Club, now known as Carriage Pines Golf Course, all parties expect the course to close for good in the fall when the permitting process is complete and construction begins in earnest. The shift in plans does, however, give a legion of golfers one more chance to say goodbye to the beloved North Shore golf fixture that opened as nine-hole course way back in 1925 on the old Hawkes Estate.

– Bob Albright