It all started with smacking balls around Happy Valley Golf Course as a junior golfer in the 1960s, and the game of golf has taken Brian Hamilton to many places since then. And at the end of the 2019 golf season, Hamilton — a Peabody native — will close out his 41-year career by retiring as the head golf professional at the legendary Eastward Ho! Country Club in Chatham.
“It’s been a long career, but I’ve loved every minute of it,” said Hamilton, 67, who has been at Eastward Ho! since 1999. “I’ve learned so many things about the game and the business of golf over the years from so many great people, and I’ve done my best to pass that knowledge along in my time as a professional.”
The great people that Hamilton refers to came to him at all different times in his life, and each taught him crucial lessons about the game that would become his profession.
It started with his older brother, a caddie at Salem Country Club who introduced the game to Hamilton when he was nine years old. From there, Hamilton started playing junior golf at Happy Valley (now Gannon Golf Club) under the tutelage of Larry Gannon. As a golfer at Peabody High, Hamilton was a standout who went undefeated in his junior and senior seasons for the powerhouse Tanners.
“We had a great team for years in Peabody, we had a lot of really talented players,” Hamilton said. “We beat pretty much everybody, but for some reason we always ran into trouble against Haverhill. They were the only team who got the better of us in those years.”
After high school, Hamilton played a year of college golf at Texas Christian University before returning home to study journalism at Suffolk University. But the game of golf wouldn’t stop calling, and Hamilton returned to work in the game as an assistant pro in 1976. His first job was at Wollaston Golf Club under head professional Warren Birch.
“Warren really taught me the business of golf,” said Hamilton. “To be honest, when I got started I really didn’t know what a head pro did besides play golf and give a few lessons. Warren really showed me what it means to run a pro shop and a golf course like a business.”
After two years at Wollaston, Hamilton moved a little closer to home when he got a job at Kernwood Country Club under head professional Cotton Dunn. And while Birch may have taught Hamilton about the business of golf, Dunn — a respected player in his own right — taught Hamilton how to play.
“Cotton was a great player, he even beat Jack Nicklaus (in the 1955 USGA Junior National Championship) back in the ’50’s,” said Hamilton. “He really taught me how to play. Back then, playing was a crucial part of the job because if you were a good player, you got the better head pro jobs. I learned a lot about playing golf from Cotton in those days.”
But eventually it was time for Hamilton to strike out on his own as a head professional, and he got that chance in 1979 when he accepted the head pro job at a struggling semi-private club in New Hampshire– Concord Country Club.
“They took a chance on a young guy, I was 26 at the time,” said Hamilton. “The club was struggling as well, and it was tough in those early years. But little by little we were able to start turning things around until we were able to get the club to where it is today. I’m really proud to have been a part of that.”
Over the 20 years he was there, however, things turned around. The catalyst came in 1983, when Concord hosted a professional tournament on what was then called the Hogan Tour (now called the Korn Ferry Tour) — which is essentially the minor leagues of the PGA Tour. Behind the success of that tournament, Concord invested heavily in the club and the course made serious improvements. By 1984, the club was flourishing as a private club.
Then, in 1998, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came up. The New England chapter of the PGA sent out a notice that the legendary Eastward Ho! Country Club would be looking for a new head professional. Hamilton discussed it with his wife, who urged him to apply for the job.
“I give my wife a lot of credit, we had a second-grader and a four-year-old at the time,” Hamilton said. “She very easily could have said ‘no, let’s stay in Concord,’ but she told me to go for it.”
A few interviews later, Hamilton was offered the job and has been at Eastward Ho! ever since. Being the head pro at such a famous golf course — it’s ranked as the No. 7 club in Massachusetts and is No. 153 on Golf Digest’s “America’s Best 200 Courses” list — is a “dream job” according to Hamilton.
“Eastward Ho! has everything, really,” Hamilton said. “It’s historic, beautiful, unique and challenging as a course, and the people who make up the membership really care about the place and make it feel like a true family atmosphere. There isn’t a better place to be a head pro in my opinion.”
And now, after 20 years, Hamilton will call it quits at Eastward Ho! when the season ends in November. But don’t be mistaken, he’s not leaving the game of golf by a long shot. He’s been spending a lot of time mastering the rules of the game and is now certified as an official, and he’ll return to his old stomping grounds in Concord next week to be a rules official at the New England PGA Section Championship.
“Being an official is something that I really enjoy doing, and it will allow me to go out and be at tournaments and follow the game,” said Hamilton. “I also might try to get onto the PGA National Rules Committee if they ever have an opening, we’ll see that happens.”
