NORTON, Massachusetts – Mass Golf has announced the selection of its 2021-2022 Board of Directors following the Mass Golf Annual Meeting on October 14 at Charles River Country Club in Newton.
Alan G. Macdonald, of Winchester Country Club, becomes the 61st person to serve as President of Mass Golf. Since joining the Mass Golf Board of Directors in 2007, he has been both Treasurer and most recently Vice President.
“I’ve always been delighted to be given the chance to be involved with Mass Golf,” said Macdonald, a lifelong Massachusetts native. “I just know how much I enjoy the game, the atmosphere, the friendships, and the history that Mass Golf has is special. This is a real honor and a heavy responsibility to make sure that we continue to grow the game and strengthen the association itself, and I’m thrilled to be involved with it.”
Macdonald, 77, succeeds Thomas R. Berkel, of Wyantenuck Country Club, who has served for the past two years. During his tenure, Berkel was steadfast in his commitment to volunteering at as many Mass Golf events as possible and successfully helped Mass Golf navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Tom did a fabulous job. He was ever-present, and you could count on that,” Macdonald said of his predecessor. “It was a reminder each and every time you saw him about how important the volunteer element was. He set a high bar and one that I fully appreciate.”
Mass Golf is also excited to welcome three new members to the Board of Directors:
-Eduardo E. Cordeiro (Belmont Country Club)
-Denise A. Eddy (Marshfield Country Club)
–Peter T. Frodigh (Dedham Country & Polo Club)
“Mass Golf is so fortunate to be able to welcome these new Board Members this fall, and their perspective and experiences will help guide us to a promising future,” said Jesse Menachem, Executive Director/CEO of Mass Golf. “I’ve always found Alan to be a leader and someone that I’ve been able to lean on based on his past experiences through business and through his work at Winchester and as a very involved committee member. I think his familiarity is going to prove to be extremely beneficial, as we work through the next few years together.”
Alan Macdonald has had a longstanding career managing public policy. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, he served as an assistant attorney general for Massachusetts and later the Government Affairs Director for General Electric. He’s also made significant contributions to Massachusetts healthcare policy and community healthcare services, most recently serving as President & CEO of Hallmark Health/MelroseWakefield Healthcare from 2012-2018. He also served for 23 years as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.
At age 30, he joined Winchester Country Club where he’s been a member ever since. (He maintains a 14.2 Handicap Index). After working his way up and serving as club president, former Mass Golf Executive Director Tom Landry brought him over to Mass Golf, where he became a Rules Official and active committee member.
In addition to chairing Mass Golf’s finance committee, Macdonald has been at the forefront of supporting youth golf in Massachusetts. He chaired the committee for First Tee Massachusetts, a Mass Golf-affiliated program where kids and teens are learning to play golf along with life lessons and leadership skills.
Macdonald said his enthusiasm toward youth golf is fueled by his lack of access to golf in his early years growing up in both Cambridge and Winchester. In fact, his first exposure to golf was at age 14 when he attended Poland Spring Caddie Camp in Maine, where he spent five summers.
“That’s the first time I had seen a golf course,” Macdonald said. “We went to the first tee to learn how to caddy and I was immediately in love with the atmosphere and the entire positive sense of the beautiful open area and people enjoying themselves and really enjoyed it as a young person.”
“As I look at the chance to bring young people into First Tee, they get to learn the things I learned as a caddy — sportsmanship, respect, friendship, and honesty,” Macdonald added. “To me, it just was so close to what I remember about myself at that age and wishing I had gotten involved sooner.”
Macdonald said he hopes to continue the growing success of Mass Golf’s schedule of events, which had a record number of entries in 2021. But his main focus is making sure that Mass Golf is a valuable resource to all levels of golfers across the Commonwealth.
“Our mission is to attract golfers of all levels and abilities,” said Macdonald. “We want to continue to appeal to all those who are interested in the sport for whatever reasons. It’s much more than just tournament play or hitting golf balls, it really is about personal development and recreation and enjoyment for people of all levels, and we want to be there for all the folks who care about the game.”
Macdonald will also be key in making sure Mass Golf meets the objectives of its strategic plan, which was put into motion in 2020.
Mass Golf would also like to thank its outgoing Board members — Mike Dowling, Christine Veator, and Thomas Berkel — for their decades-long service to the game in Massachusetts. Dowling and Veator were both instrumental in the merger between the Massachusetts Golf Association and the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts (WGAM), and they each earned the Mass Golf Andrew J. Blau Volunteer of the Year Award, in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
Mass Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing golf in Massachusetts by building an engaged community around the sport.
With a community made up of over 90,000 golf enthusiasts and over 360 member clubs, Mass Golf is one of the largest state golf associations in the country. Members enjoy the benefits of handicapping, engaging golf content, course rating and scoring services along with the opportunity to compete in an array of events for golfers of all ages and abilities
At the forefront of junior development, Mass Golf is proud to offer programming to youth in the state through First Tee Massachusetts and subsidized rounds of golf by way of Youth on Course.
For more news about Mass Golf, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
