AMHERST — The lights in Amherst Golf Club’s pro shop flicker around 6 a.m. That’s around the time PGA professional David Twohig typically arrives to work. He’ll remain at the club often until at least the sun goes down.
“It’s a full day, but I enjoy the whole day,” Twohig said. “Could be worse, I could be in an office.”
On a tournament day, Twohig may stay until 8 p.m. or later. He tries to take Mondays off. It doesn’t always happen.
“If you’re in charge, you’re pretty much here whether you’re here or not,” said Twohig, who celebrated his 65th birthday in July.
He’s been here for 40 years. Twohig took over as the club’s head pro from his father, Ed Twohig, in 1979. Ed Twohig started in 1944, so there has been a Twohig running Amherst Golf Club for 75 years.
Six Twohig brothers grew up on the greens and in the clubhouse. Ed Twohig Jr., the oldest, was his father’s assistant until the mid 70’s when an opportunity to become the head pro at Northampton Country Club emerged. David held the position of assistant pro at Amherst until Ed Sr. retired.
“I learned a lot from my dad,” David Twohig said. “Three of my brothers served (in the military). You know what it’s like working with dad, it’s almost like going to war.”
David has upheld the standard Ed set for the last four decades. He handles all aspects of the club’s management from renting carts and selling clubs to organizing tournaments and leagues and teaching lessons. On occasion, he’ll grill a hot dog or help a member move clubs from their trunk to a golf cart. Most of his duties fall under the umbrella of satisfying membership.
“We have a great membership,” Twohig said. “A lot of clubs, with changes of ownership, a lot of their history has changed. Their model, their makeup has changed. We pretty much have stayed the same – a membership course first, also open to the public.”
Jay Morgan III and his wife Michelle started their membership during Ed Twohig’s final year and have maintained it for 41 years. They are two of the only people that have been at AGC longer than David Twohig.
“We don’t know what it would be like without him,” said Jay Morgan, a 15-time club champion.
The Morgans live in Belchertown but called Amherst and the club home for 28 years. Michelle Morgan coached women’s golf at Amherst College for 25 years until she retired in 2015. Amherst College owns the club, and Twohig works closely with its teams, students and administration.
“He was a tremendous help to me as a coach,” said Michelle, who has won 14 club championships.
Twohig has made a constant effort to grow the game in Amherst. He dedicates large portions of his time to youth lessons and women’s leagues.
“He listens and he wants to hear your viewpoint. Over 40 years, he’s seen a lot of changes,” said Jean Gowdey, a member of AGC’s board of directors and who is in charge of women’s tournaments. “Women’s golf used to be elegant dinners where they had white tablecloths. Now we have pizza. He goes with the flow.”
AGC hosted its Women’s Club Championship in mid-July. Twohig met each competitor at the first tee and handed them their card.
“We could just take it from the counter and go, but he treats everything with respect,” said Gowdey, who lives in Hadley. “It’s very personal, it’s very homey. He doesn’t brag at all. When David retires someday it’s not going to be easy to replace him at all, probably impossible.”
His commitment also extends to youth golf in Amherst. The club is the home course for Amherst Regional’s high school team, and Twohig coordinates with Hurricanes coach Carl Vigeland to support the team.
AGC also hosts an annual Jack Shea Scramble tournament, and the proceeds are used to fund scholarships for junior members.
“Our sport is a sport of a lifetime,” Twohig said. “It’s something they’ll have after they’re done with their soccer and hockey and all that.”
All of the teaching, organizing and monitoring of thunderstorms has left Twohig little time to focus on his own game. He doesn’t play as much as he would like to.
“He sacrifices his own game for the benefit of the members,” said Ed Twohig Jr., David’s older brother and golf instructor at several area courses. “He’d rather do that than work on his putting or chipping.”
Whenever a rules-related question arises, AGC members turn to Twohig. He’s developed a toolbelt of strategies for administering the proper verdict.
“Dave is a walking rule book and an authority we go to when we have a disagreement,” said Vigeland, former club president and current greens chairman.
Sometimes Twohig will drive a cart out to a hole and show the players the proper club length on a drop. Others, when they visit him in his office, he’ll point to the actual tome and tell them what page the rule resides.
When teaching a lesson, Twohig first tries to identify what kind of enjoyment the player wants from the game. Are they looking for competence on a fun day out with their buddies? Competitive success? The answer informs his teaching style.
“They’re all wired differently. You say to yourself, ‘How am I going to help this person today?’” Twohig said. “It’s a simple game played by complicated people.”
He didn’t always know how to approach a lesson or a difficult player.
“You look back at a lot of the people you gave lessons to when you first started and you’d almost like to contact them and give them their money back,” Twohig said. “You learn more and you get better at what you do. Not that you know more about the golf swing, it’s how you get across to people.”
Susan Plante takes a couple formal lessons a month with Twohig. She lives in Greenfield but is a member at AGC and won the Greenfield Country Club women’s championship in 2017.
“Even after the most perfect round you’ve ever had, he always says you could do better,” Plante said. “I always get the sense that it wasn’t just about golf, but it was a life philosophy.”
Twohig doesn’t administer most of his lessons in a formal setting. Plante once sat at the clubhouse, beer in hand, when Twohig mentioned her grip looked tight on the sixth hole.
“Every time I’m in the clubhouse I’m having a lesson,” Plante said. “He’s constantly in teacher mode.”
Twohig taught Jack Palley golf since he could swing a club. Palley began lessons at three years old then rose through junior golf, winning four junior club championships.
“I’ve known Dave for my entire life I can remember,” Palley said. “He’s been a really great force in my life.”
After graduating from Amherst Regional, Palley starred at Trinity College in Hartford. He won the 2011-12 NESCAC Player of the Year.
Twohig watched his swing develop and provided advice even when Palley was away at college.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a forced approach. It’s one of those mentorship collaborative styles,” said Palley, who now works for Flywire in Boston. “He’s seen my swing progress from small junior golfer with plastic clubs all the way through and could tell if something was a little bit off and how to right that.”
Palley’s best memories of AGC are of the end of a summer day. Members and their guests drink beer on the deck. He fires some last practice drives in the first tee box. Twohig stands on the porch or nearby, offering observations. He watches the sun set over the course and collects balls from the fairway and the rough. The clubhouse basks in soft, golden light. No one’s in any hurry to leave.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.