Date: Fri 19-Feb-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Newtown-Country-Club-Crick

Full Text:

The Sporting Life -- A Newtown Country Club Has Always Been Friendly And Fun

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Mike Kearns has hit a lot of golf balls since he first joined the Newtown

Country Club back in 1946. But the first ball he ever hit on the Country Club

Road links was a softball -- back in 1939.

In the pre-war days, softball was the club's big event on Sunday afternoons.

The diamond was laid out along the ninth fairway. Today, the nine-hole course

is reserved solely for golf, but the memories live on for Mr Kearns, now 75.

"I remember (former Bee publisher) Paul Smith recruited me because he needed a

catcher," Mr Kearns recalled earlier this week while playing cards at the

club. "There wasn't a lot of golf played then. Softball was the thing."

Affordable and friendly, the Newtown Country Club has been a popular golf and

social club since it first opened nearly 85 years ago. With the sport of golf

now more popular than ever, NCC and its 230-person membership appears to be

going strong. Its nine-hole course is rated among the best in the state,

according to club president and reigning women's champion at the club, Joan

Crick.

"It's a nine-hole course and some people `poo poo' it, but it's not a very

easy course. The greens are small and you need a real good short game to play

well," Mrs Crick said. "It's a great course for women. If your drive is short,

you can still have a good score on the hole."

Members will tell you they like the course, but there's something else that

draws them to the Newtown Country Club. It's a family atmosphere where members

have always chipped in beyond the call of duty for the good of the club.

"It's a part of the town of Newtown and its history. What makes it special are

the people," Mrs Crick explained. "We've been told our membership is very

friendly. There are no tee times. Members can come and just play golf."

Unlike most country clubs, there is no minimum charge for meals.

"We've had members who left to go to another club, but left there and came

back because they didn't find the friendly atmosphere they had here," Mrs

Crick said.

The fees are some of lowest for a private country club in the area with

reduced rates for juniors and members over 66.

Town Historian Dan Cruson said the Newtown Country Club has always been a

small town golf club.

"It's never been considered exclusive, and I think that's been the strength of

it," he said.

The local historian recalls the club opening up its fairways for overnight Boy

Scout rallies.

There have been plenty of well-known golfers who have graced this tricky

course over the years. The legendary Gene Sarazen, now 95, put on an

exhibition there in 1936. And recently, Fred Couples and a handful of pros

played a round. Mr Couples had been in town for the wedding of his caddy, Joe

LaCava, Jr, a 1982 Newtown High School graduate and the son of longtime NCC

member Joe LaCava, Sr.

The club professional is Paul Miller. Newtown native Joe Kocet is the longtime

greenskeeper and is said to treat the course as if it were his own.

In addition to the always popular men's member-guest tournament in late

August, there are numerous other events throughout the year. Members are

looking forward to next month's St Patrick's Day party -- a sort of spring

kick-off.

The clubhouse is open year round, but the pro shop operates from April 1 to

October 31. Many of the members choose to play year-round, depending on the

weather.

The Early Years

In 1915, a group of prominent Newtown citizens got together and decided they

wanted to build a country club. Well-known businessmen WT Cole and H.C.

Hubbell, and Newtown Savings Bank President Arthur T. Nettletown were among

those who put up their own money to buy a piece of farmland on the outskirts

of the borough. They sold stock in Newtown Country Club Realty Corp they had

created to purchase the land and formed Newtown Country Club, Inc. There were

100 members when the club finally opened.

The original clubhouse was an elegant looking building and was a hub of

Newtown's social and political life. The Newtown Chamber of Commerce held its

first meeting there in 1928. Eventually, that building, which sat at the

current site of Richard Coopersmith's chiropractic office, was sold. With the

money it made from the sale, the club constructed a new clubhouse during the

1960s, complete with two tennis courts. That building was destroyed by fire on

May 28, 1974 and the existing clubhouse was put up soon after. The tennis

courts were eliminated in favor of parking.

Years ago, the golf course had a different configuration, according to Mrs

Crick. The first hole was the same, but the second and third holes were moved

to allow the second hole to become a par five. Several other holes were also

changed.

The Old Timers

The club is proud to have four members who joined shortly after World War II.

Mike Kearns, George Renda and Louie Iasiello are the club's three

longest-standing members. Each joined soon after they were discharged from the

war. Edmond "Emmy" Farrell joined a year or two later and was club champion

several times. Emmy still jokes about how former NHS baseball coach Harold

DeGroat became angry with him for opting to play golf at the club rather than

play baseball.