From the Editor

Anatomy of a cover photo:

Take one ambitious, middle-aged photographer, add a 12x8 foot waterproof tarp, a dozen or so beat up range balls, and one industrious clubhouse assistant who doesn’t mind having 10 frames a second snapped of him posing after what appears to be an approach shot gone awry and you may be able to come up with the shot you see on the cover of this month’s magazine.

“Just let me know if there are any of those black, rope-like snakes around me,” said our intrepid photographer, Jim Vaiknoras, as he slithered on to a tarp at the edge of the large pond on the ninth hole at Hillview Country Club. “I hate those things.”

While we never found a snake, we did come up with this month’s cover photo. After emerging from the muck, muddied, undaunted, and with the shot, Vaiknoras clearly gets MVP honors for this photo shoot. Hillview’s Sean McGuinness is a close second, however. A proficient golfer, the Billerica resident gamely swallowed his pride and held a picture-perfect finishing pose from several different locations while we worked on producing the splash in the foreground.

My job – watching out for those rope-like snakes – was by far the easiest.

There’s nothing easy about the top seven water holes we profile in this magazine. We came up with the list after polling several golfers, golf pros and our staff at NSG as to their favorites. The primary criteria we used was the sheer toughness of the hole, but we also factored in aesthetics and history.

There are two par-3’s on the list, two par-5’s and three par-4’s. Three can be found on public courses while four are on private tracks.

Each one is unique and poses its own challenges. One thing is for sure: they all play a key part in the two-million dollar used ball business. Admittedly, it’s a very subjective list and if you think we missed one or two, or would like to offer your own list, we welcome you to sound off at letters@northshoremassgolf.com.

Speaking of both water snakes and the used golf ball industry, you will want to check out the profile on veteran golf ball diver/ecologist Ron Sebastian. A survivor of six snapping turtle attacks, not to mention countless less severe encounters, he gamely keeps coming back to the green-side ponds and rivers all over the state and shares a few of the stories and sunken treasures he’s found along the way with NSG.

Here’s hoping you stay dry this July,

I’ll see you just off the 18th green, until then, email me,

Bob Albright, Editor
balbright@northshoremassgolf.com

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