Sports

A scratch family

By Evan Mugford
Staff writer
Published: August 27, 2008

One particular family prepared to strut down any golf course fairway is the golfing clan of Newbury, the Fecteaus.

Mike is the patriarch, a 51-year-old who started the game at 26 when he decided he'd reached his apex in baseball.

"Baseball was my sport, but after a while, I was ready to try something else," said Mike, who began playing golf with his sons at the Rowley Country Club. "My brother Phil was always praising the sport so highly, so with some of his tips, I decided to pick it up.

"I enjoyed it from the start, and after playing with my friends a few times and shooting under 80 on a couple different occasions, I actually surprised myself and figured that this could become a nice new hobby."

As Mike continued to improve, so did his understanding of the game. Soon, every match became a personal test.

"I really began to appreciate the game," said Mike, whose brother Phil is the head golf coach at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina. "To play the game is simple, but to play it well, that's a different story."

His son Andrew, a Daily News All-Star, is a 17-year-old captain of reigning Cape Ann League champion Triton — a squad that posted an undefeated regular season en route to finishing 16-2.

"I remember always being around my dad when he was playing," said Andrew. "He would lift me up on his shoulders every time we would have to walk to the next shot, and one day he gave me a golf club, and I swung it just like I do now. I've never stopped playing."

And the reason why Andrew hasn't stopped playing? He wins.

"Winning, victory, is what makes me love golf so much," said Andrew, whose favorite golf memory this far was winning his first tournament this summer, the CYO (Christian Youth Organization) 17-18 Division. "It's just a great feeling you can't tire of. It's not a pleasant sport when you're playing poorly, but like anything else, you can grind through it, and once you start playing well again, overcoming that hardship makes it that much sweeter."

Andrew's younger brother Richard, a 14-year-old freshman at Triton, will join his brother this fall. Richard also plays baseball and basketball and started playing golf at 3.

"I started playing golf basically because I wanted to hang with Andrew," said Richard, who admits that he still looks up to his brother.

His sweetest memory "definitely" occurred when he was 8. At the Rowley Country Club, at the par-3 seventh hole, Richard blasted a shot that he feared was short and may have been caught in the sand. That shot turned out to be a hole-in-one.

"I couldn't see it go in because the bunker was in the way, but once I saw Andy and how excited he was, I knew I had done something right," recalled Richard, who is prepped for his first year in high school sports. "I'm hoping to earn a spot on the golf team and to keep improving as the year goes on. The team looks pretty good, so I'm excited to see how the season moves on."

The three play golf as a unit as well, as Andrew and Mike enter and occasionally win the Mass. State Father and Son Tourney, and the trio unify as a singular omnipotent driving and putting combination in the Cup Challenge and at some events at Ould Newbury.

"Between baseball and golf we spend a lot of time together," said Mike. "I'm very happy with Andrew's progression and I'm sure he'll have a great senior year."