History of Webhannet
LAWRENCE W. WARD
.....reflects on a lifetime of wonderful Webhannet memories
On hot July days in the mid-1930s here at Kennebunk Beach, Larry Ward and his brother Elmer (Jr.) started their mornings by going fishing or “sometimes we’d pick blueberries,” he said. “Our mother always seemed to know the best spots to find the ripest berries.” Sunny afternoons enticed him and Elmer to Mother’s Beach where they’d ride the waves and build sand castles. And almost every day Larry and his brother headed to Webhannet Golf Club to practice golf and then hone their skills while playing “the triangle.” He added, “I was 10 when I played my first ‘official’ round of golf and started caddying for my dad at Webhannet.”
Larry’s dad, Elmer L. Ward, was chairman of Palm Beach Inc., the Cincinnati-based clothing manufacturer, one of the first companies in the country to sponsor PGA Tour events. Elmer was also an accomplished golfer who won the New England Amateur and who frequently brought noted tour players to Webhannet. One of those notables was “Champagne” Tony Lema, winner of 12 PGA Tour events and the 1964 British Open and, Larry states, “a very dapper dresser. He had fun playing Webhannet too. I remember his drive on 8 almost went in the water. On 13 he was dared to try to put his ball in the brook, which he did, but with no penalty.”
“One year my dad and John O. Levinson (three-time New England Amateur) played scratch here against Babe Didrikson and Gene Sarazen,” Larry recalled. “John had a less-than-spectacular front 9 but Elmer kept them in the match with a commendable 37. Then, on the back, Levinson’s skills kicked in. One of the highlights was when he drove the 16th green and sank the putt.” Asked who won the match, Larry just smiled.
“Dad also became good friends with Francis Ouimet (1913 US Open Champion and two-time US Amateur Champion), and consequently I got to know Francis,” Larry said. “In 1967 and 1968 I invited him to play in our annual Member-Guest. We were vying against Rod MacPhie and his guest in the championship flight in 1967. Even though they won, we gave them a good fight, especially on the 12th when we were one down. I hit a pretty good drive off the tee, but then I hooked my second shot into the woods on the left. It was a jungle in there. After I found my ball I could hardly see the flag, but somehow I hit it through the trees and under the pine boughs and over the telephone pole wires and watched it fly across the bunker and then roll along the green and drop into the cup for a birdie. Ouimet turned to me and said, ‘Lawrence, you’re a man and a half!’”
Larry also recalled the year Francis Ouimet became the first American selected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. “Francis asked my dad to join him on the trip to St. Andrews, along with Red Sox shortstop and manager Joe Cronin. On the evening of the induction ceremony, all the R&A members wore green blazers adorned with the R&A insignia. Apparently, they were only allowed to have a set number of buttons on their jacket sleeves because, after everyone was seated, a member of the R&A came over to Francis and whispered in his ear, ‘Mr. Ouimet, we have a tradition here, a code that we always observe. It’s that members are allowed to have only one button on their blazer sleeve. The Chairman of the Green Committee is allowed two buttons on his sleeve. The President of the R&A is entitled to three buttons. Just one person is allowed to have more than three, and that is the King.’ With that, they took Ouimet into the kitchen and the chef sliced off Ouimet’s three extra sleeve buttons."
Every golfer savors a favorite round, and Larry is no exception. He reminisced, “It was a Sunday afternoon and Edie and I were playing Webhannet with Norm and Patsy Ritter. I’d taken a golf lesson from pro Ron Smith that morning. For some reason we started on the back nine, and I couldn’t hit anything, and I shot a 41 that felt more like a 51. But at the turn the lesson took hold. I shot a three on 1, a three on 2, a two on 3, a five on 4, a three on 5, a three on 6, a three on 7, a routine four on 8. Then I started to think about breaking 30. I hit a pretty good drive on 9 but landed short in front of the green and I putted it seven feet past the hole. Somehow I sank the putt for 29, posted a 70 for the round, and gave Ron a lot of credit.”
Having spent nearly every summer of his life at Kennebunk Beach, Larry’s memories run deep. “There used to be a barn near the second green where the Gilpatric house is now,” he said. “When we were 13 and 14, my brother Elmer and I used to sneak over there and smoke Camels and Chesterfields with some of our friends. One day Elmer got mad at me for some reason and ratted on me to our dad. That didn’t go over too well, and I didn’t go to the barn too often after that.”
“One year during the member-guest,” Larry continued, “Ted Hodgkins was master of ceremonies at one of the dinners, and he noted that Sherman Wentworth had made a hole-in-one on 6 that day. His amazing shot had somehow gone over the bunker and dropped in the cup. Ted stood there praising Sherman, and finally he asked Sherman to come up and tell the guests exactly how he did it. Sherman walked up the front, took the microphone and said, “Well, I pulled out my driver and hit it into the hole.”
“I remember too when the 10th hole used to have a pump in the middle of the fairway,” Larry said. “If you hit your tee ball well enough you could possibly hit the well, and that gave you ‘bragging rights’ for the day. We’d stand on the tee and say, ‘See if you can hit it to the pump.’ Another favorite Webhannet hole for the Ward family is the 11th where my wife Edie made a hole-in-one.”
Over the years Larry has had the privilege of playing numerous world-famous golf courses. “I love the Country Club in Brookline,” he states, “and Brae Burn Country Club outside Boston is another special course.” But for this gentleman who has summered for decades here at the beach, Webhannet ranks right up there with the best. He says, “It’s truly one of my favorite courses in the world.”
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On September 6, 2009, at the Annual Meeting of the Webhannet Golf Club, Lawrence W. Ward was made an Honorary Member of the club. He also received a standing ovation.