PLYMOUTH, Massachusetts – When it comes to the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship, the achievements of the Welch/Adams family is growing once again in 2021.
For decades, Jane Faxon Welch competed in the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur, and her daughter Tracy Welch (Winchester Country Club) naturally followed. Now this year, her teenage daughters Victoria ‘Tory’ Adams, 17, and Amanda ‘Mandy’ Adams, 15, also Winchester members, are participating in the state amateur.
Though Jane Faxon Welch isn’t competing, she is on course to support her family.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” Tracy said. “I don’t know how many families in this tournament have three generations of women that have played.”
Jane Faxon Welch doesn’t play much competitive golf these days, but she has a winning legacy. In 1957, she won the Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship in the Junior/Junior Division. In 1960, she won the Championship Division at the event.
It didn’t take long for success to come alongside her daughter. In 1998 they won the Mother Daughter Chapman/Member Junior Tournament at Foxborough Country Club. They did it again in 1999 at Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow the following year.
Though Tracy and her mother don’t believe they ever overlapped in the Women’s Amateur, both had success in the event.
Jane often made it into match play, while Tracy won the championship in 1998 at Kernwood Country Club and again in 2006 at Brae Burn Country Club. Victories aside, Tracy is now just excited to have her children continue on the family tradition of competing in the event.
“Golf is something I’m really passionate about, and it’s been fun to see that it’s now driven by them,” Tracy said. “They love to golf on their own now and they’ve really improved a lot, so I think it will be a great experience for them. It is super special for me that they’re in it and this is something that we will be sharing together. It’s a fun way to spend time together.”
As the years passed, and Tracy’s own children grew old enough to compete, they too started winning. Tracy and Tory teamed up to win the 3rd Division in the Mother Daughter Chapman in 2015 and 2017.
Since 2017, the family has had some winning combination each year. Tracy and Amanda were 9-Hole Champions in 2018 and 2019. Also in 2019, Tracy and Tory won the 2nd Division. In 2020, Tracy and Amanda were Overall and 2nd Division winners. This past summer, they again won Overall and 2nd Division honors.
Both Tory and Mandy are excited to be competing, and they’ve been putting in a lot of work on their golf games in the past year. Between tips from mom and grandma, practicing on their own, and some short game help from Tracy’s cousin and professional golfer Brad Faxon, they certainly have a number of resources at their disposal.
“I love playing, and this past year has really been a great opportunity for me to play a lot more because I’m a soccer player and a ski racer as well,” Tory said. “It’s been a lot of fun to play more. I’ve done a lot of work on everything and it’s nice to see that it’s finally starting to work itself into my game and show in the scores a little bit more.”
Added Mandy: “It’s been so fun for me to see my improvement and my personal growth throughout the time I’ve been practicing. At the beginning of the year I really liked golf, but I did it more as something on the side. Now, it’s one of my main focuses and priorities and I try to practice as much as I can so I can be the best I can.”
For Tracy, she has been happy just to see her girls taking a liking to the game very naturally.
“It’s self-driven and it’s something that they want to do and be good at for them,” Tracy said. “I never wanted it to be something that I was making them do. They would go to golf camps before, but really since COVID-19 hit and there was nothing else to do, they see their improvement and they know they can be better. They want to be more consistent.”
The talent level in the Women’s Amateur field certainly presents a steep challenge in terms of vying for the 32 spots into match play, but the experience alone of being out on the course with so many other talented players should only benefit Tory and Mandy, with both of them still being so young in their competitive golf careers.
And while she prefers to let her girls fall in love with the game on their own, Tracy is still a mom and givers her girls some tips and advice when it comes to the game. Rather than skill work, she focuses more on helping her girls’ mental approach. She even shared Bob Rotella’s book, Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect as a resource for the girls to explore.
“I love going out and playing nine holes with my mom all the time and just watching her course maintenance and how she thinks about things has always been super interesting to me,” Tory said. “I love getting tips from her.”
Through one day of stroke play competition, Tracy shot 3-over-par 73 and finished T5. She stands the best chance of making match play, but the experience is still what matters for the family. It’s the first time Tracy is playing alongside her daughters in the field, but there’s a good chance it won’t be their last time doing so.
“It’s really special for me,” Mandy said. “I love playing with them both, and it’s an honor to see my mom play. I admire her so much and I look up to her. She’s definitely a role model for me. I love playing with my sister because it brings us closer, we’re very competitive, but we love playing together.”
No matter who performs best, Tracy is proud of her two girls. Having her mom and the girls’ grandmother down for the event also added another plus to what was already going to be a special week.
“I’m proud of them for all the hard work they put in,” Tracy said. “It’s not an easy game. Over the past 12 months, but particularly this summer, they ask to be brought to the practice range or they go by themselves. They’ll walk to the Winchester range. It’s all being driven by them. Sometimes I don’t even know they are there and I’ll get a call asking for me to pick them up. It’s stuff like that. That’s actually been really fun to see because I want this to be self-motivated and driven by them.”
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