Photo by Lester Smith
Pictured on an early June evening by the Suffield Country Club’s putting green are, from the left: Brendan Looney, Thomas Durkin, Bryan McLennon, Zac DelVaglio, Matt Stafford, and Austin Rupp. Five are the match team of Suffield High School boys golf; one is a member of the Suffield Academy golf team. Together they are stars of the Club’s junior golf program and general handy-helpers for the Club Pro, Stan McLennon.
Stan McLennon, the Golf Pro at the Suffield Country Club, has been running a Junior Golf program at the club for 28 years. From that program there are six young men who have found something that they excel at and love to do and have taken to a different level. Five of them are on the Suffield High School golf team that is coached by Kyle McCullough. The sixth goes to Suffield Academy and plays on their team that is coached by Stan McLennon. The boys have been friends since they were ten years old and are a tight knit group and so proud of each others’ accomplishments.
Matt Stafford is a Senior at the high school and will be going to Bryant University in the fall and of course will be playing golf there. He has been all-state for three years, All Conference for four and the State Champion for Division III this year.
The rest are from the high school; they all have just finished their junior year. Zac Delvaglio was All Conference for the first time this year. Golf is his passion and fishing his hobby. Austin Rupp has been all state for two years, All Conference for three, and number five in their state division. Thomas Durkin was All State and All Conference for the past two years. This year he also was the most outstanding junior golfer in the North Central Conference. This is Brendon Looney’s first year on the team. Prior to this he had been on the high school baseball and hockey team. The golf team was in the state championship match at Crestbrook Park and came in third in the state. These are impressive accomplishments, both individually and as a team.
Bryan McLennon, as you may have guessed, is Stan’s son and goes to Suffield Academy. He has a low stroke average and shot his personal best round this year. He was one under 35 in a nine hole match with no bogies. He was also 15th out of 120 golfers in the New England Prep Tournaments. They have been a young team these past two years and have been rebuilding. This past year was their best year and they had nine wins this season.
More than just learning to play the game though, the boys say that Stan has taught them how to be a better person, respectful and have integrity. As the golf pro at Suffield Country Club. He may be very busy but the boys say that he will always take the time to be there for them and talk about the game and life in general. He has been like a second father to them and, of course, an actual father to Bryan. They also said how supportive and interested in them the other club members have been. And when they are not playing golf they are working at the club doing whatever needs to be done. At the end of the day though, the big reward and what they look forward to is the Buffalo Chicken. Well I guess you can count on food being a big draw for a teenage boy or in their case very mature young men.