Shawn Durocher spent her weekend mornings and afternoons wheeling a small gas grill behind the clubhouse at Amherst Golf Club, where she would cook hamburgers and hot dogs for those playing. She was in high school and needed a way to make some money, so Amherst’s head golf professional, Dave Twohig, hired Durocher – an Amherst native – to handle grilling duties.

Fast forward nearly 40 years, and Twohig hired Durocher again.

Twohig was the head pro at AGC for 46 years, and after last season came to a close, he retired. While he didn’t technically make the hire himself, he put in a good word for Durocher to take his place the following season. Not only did Durocher, who turns 55 in June, grow up playing at Amherst Golf Club, she also learned the game from Twohig.

About two years back, a friend asked her if she would be interested in the head pro job at AGC when Twohig eventually stepped away. Hesitant at first because she and husband Rick were planning a move to Florida, Durocher brushed the idea to the side – but always kept it in the back of her mind.

Then she received a phone call last summer and was informed that she was at the top of Amherst Golf Club’s list to replace Twohig. Durocher threw in her resume, went through a handful of interviews and got the job.

Home, sweet home.

“I just feel like this has always been the place I’m supposed to be,” Durocher said. “It’s always been my second home, because I grew up here and I worked for Dave back when I was in high school. He taught me the game along with my family, so it really feels like a nice come-home story. It’s very exciting to me. It’s still surreal. I don’t even believe I’m here yet even though I’ve been here six or seven weeks. But it’s awesome. It was always my ultimate goal, I just never thought it would happen.”

As a player during her collegiate days, Durocher won the Massachusetts and New England Intercollegiate Championship in 1992 at UMass. Durocher earned her PGA Membership in 1998, and has built quite the resume since then. She worked at several places in Florida before moving back to western Massachusetts to serve as the head coach of Mount Holyoke College from 2001-2010, twice earning the National Golf Coaches Association Coach of the Year award. She’s also a two-time winner of the NEPGA Women’s Section Championship.

After Mount Holyoke, Durocher moved to central Mass. and took a job at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston. She spent a dozen years there as the assistant and head golf professional before her hometown golf course came knocking. Her husband Rick will be her assistant at Amherst Golf Club as well.

“He’s coming with me, which is really special because we met here,” Durocher said. “He happened to join the club, so we started a friendship and used to play golf every weekend after he’d play with the guys in the morning. Just so many fond memories.”

In terms of the near-half century of tradition that Twohig has established, Durocher said that it’s not going anywhere. She mentioned that there are plenty of upgrades to be made on the technological side of things, but most of what Twohig created will remain in place.

“It’s a legacy; he created something special here,” Durocher said. “I’d like to keep a lot of those traditions the same, but as with anything, you do have to change a little bit. Dave stayed as far away from technology as possible, which isn’t always a bad thing. But everything’s done that way now, and you kind of have to change with the world.”

Amherst opened for the season to the public on March 28.

Courses in Hampshire County open for 2025

It’s finally that time, although spring weather hasn’t been friendly to golfers so far as we approach mid-April.

Northampton Country Club opened a little later than most courses, as owner and head golf pro Jim Casagrande invited the public to his 9-hole track in Leeds on April 5. Casagrande said his opening date depends on the weather, but also on how fast his crew can get all the branches and debris cleaned up from the winter.

“There’s courses that feel it’s more worthwhile for them to open early, but for us, it’s somewhat weather dependent,” Casagrande said. “We get the rollers out there, roll the greens and get them smooth and get a couple cuts on everything instead of opening up and everything is kind of rough out there. It’s just a bit of a process before I prefer to open.”

Outside of the weather, Casagrande and his superintendent gauge several elements to ensure Northampton Country Club is fully ready for the burden of an entire day of golf seven days a week.

“Ground temperature is really important,” Casagrande said. “You see a couple nice days, but there’s still frost coming out of the ground, or still very cold nights. And so you’re getting that ground temperature up a little bit where your plant that’s out there is starting to come out of winter mode. If somebody wants me to pin down a date, I usually say around April 1. This year winter just seemed to hang on a little bit longer.”

As warmer (but still not warm enough) weather approaches this week, golfers are finally sensing the end of winter – even after receiving a dusting of snow in Hampshire County over the weekend. Let’s hope rain stays away as we head closer to May.