MARBLEHEAD — When Peter Hasak’s grandmother, Helen, gave him a little plot of land when he was 6 years old to grow vegetables, who knew the 45-year story that would follow?
“Two things: I always loved to grow things, and as a teenager, I got into golf,” Hasak said. “Eventually, the two merged.”
That they did. Hasak, 67, is retiring at the end of 2025 from being the Director of Grounds at Tedesco Country Club, where he spent 37 years.
“I’ve been in the business for 45 years when it comes down to it,” said Hasak, who studied for two years at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst. “It’s been a really long career. There are definitely some folks who I’ll be in touch with and I haven’t played a lot of golf for the last few years. I’d love to play more golf at the club with the members.”
Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England Executive Director Don Hearn said he’s not sure if Hasak’s tenure at Tedesco is a record for a superintendent at one course, but, “It certainly ranks as one of the longest.
“Peter has always carried himself as a proud representative of Tedesco Country Club and elevated course conditioning to the highest level in the state,” Hearn said.
But it all started in March of 1988, when Hasak landed at Tedesco.
“It was very different. Golf hadn’t boomed… it was just starting to,” he said. “In the industry, we call it The Masters effect, where everyone was starting to upgrade and go toward their renovations and restorations and things like that.”
A lot of that booming had to do with the 1988 U.S. Open, held at The Country Club in Brookline, according to Hasak.
“And that, kind of, lit up the whole North Shore and Northeast area with improving our facilities,” he said. “It was a game-changer, and the next thing you know, all the private clubs within three or four years, five years, were renovating their golf courses or restoring them.”
With all of the changes happening within the industry, Hasak remembers the adjustment periods.
“In my time here, we used to work with tractors and pull gangs. We’re now a computerized business,” he said. “To watch that and keep up with it over the decades, it took a lot of work, but it was so worth it because we’re putting out a product now that we couldn’t have produced in the early ’90s – not even close.”
As for a consistent part of Hasak’s life, look no further than the people at Tedesco.
“We have a handful of major club events every year that have really been a blast,” he said. “Being there for as long as I have… members often bring the same people year after year. To be a part of that… quite honestly, it’s joyful. They’re good folks and I love that part of the job.”
Former Tedesco Head Golf Professional Bob Green, who worked with Hasak for 32 years, said “Peter was outstanding to work with.
“We got along extremely well because we communicated constantly,” said Green, currently the head golf coach at Marblehead High. “We supported each other in our programs and I have the utmost respect for Peter as a person and as a golf course superintendent.”
Green noted that spending so many years at one country club is a rarity, considering the ever-changing leadership at the board-of-directors level.
“It’s extremely rare for anybody at the management level of a country club to last 37 years like Peter did,” Green said.
Current Head Golf Professional Ryan Train, who has been at Tedesco for five years, credits Hasak for always providing a helping hand.
“Peter has been an incredible resource for me as far as learning the ins and outs of the club, some of the history of the club, and specifically the golf course,” Train said. “He was instrumental in me becoming the golf professional at the end of 2021. Peter was a treat to work with.”
Tedesco General Manager Michael McGillicuddy said he only knew Peter by reputation before arriving at the club seven years ago.
Fast forward to today, and there are plenty of memories to go around.
“I got to know him at a different level. We developed a strong professional relationship very quickly because we both had high standards and it was easy to see things the same way. We spent a lot of time driving around the golf course talking,” said McGillicuddy, who added that Hasak has a big heart and always looks to do the right thing. “Within a short period of time, we became friends, and now, we’re really good friends.”
Now, for Hasak, it’s on to “catching up on all the things I’ve wanted to do for so long.
“I haven’t seen a whole lot of the United States. I’d really like to do that,” he said. “With my career, I came right out of school and took a superintendent’s job, and the next thing you knew, I had three kids (Spenser, Sam, Morgana) and am doing the job. It’s time to give myself a little bit of time and enjoy life.”
