Easton Country Club Turns 50

Last Spring, General Manager Mark Lombardi held a gathering for club members - many of whom had been golfing at the course for over 30 or 40 years.

The celebration marked a milestone - the beginning of Easton Country Club's 50th golf season. While the celebration was for the club's paying customers, Lombardi, whose family has owned the golf course since its inception, said it was like a family gathering.

"Sometimes they can tell us more historical facts than we remember," he said. "Just seeing the golf course change and grow over the years, and different family members come and go. They remember my grandmother who lived on the course and worked in the proshop. She was a perfectionist and they would tell stories of her at the crack of dawn weeding the shrubs or staying late at night."

Originally a dairy farm purchased by the Lombardi Family just after World War II, it morphed into a nine-hole golf course in 1961. A few years later, Lombardi's father added an additonal nine holes. The club, located in South Easton on Purchase Street, has been a staple in the town ever since.

While Lombardi lived with his father, who worked as an attorney in Illinois, he said the course has always been a part of his life.

"We grew up just outside of Chicago," he said. "We remember hearing stories or we remember him having conversations over the phone with the people who managed the golf course. He actually leased it out twice and hired other managers. When enough of us were out of the house, he moved back here and ran it for about 20 years."

After joining the corporate world and working for Filene's, a twist of fate found Lombardi back in Massachusetts along with his father.

"Through luck of the draw I was eventually moved out and into the Boston area," he said. "We as a family decided that instead of some tennis courts that weren’t being used, we would build a function room and 11 years ago I left the corporate world and joined in the family business."

Along with his brother, Tom, who is the assistant general manager, the Lombardis have continued to provide Easton residents with a hometown golf experience.

Next Thursday, in celebration of 50 years, the club will offer a free round of golf to Easton residents. In lieu of a greens fee, residents are asked to provide a donation to the Easton Food Pantry. Easton businesses will also have time on the course after a networking breakfast.

The Easton Appreciation Day is a way for the Lombardis to give back to a town that they say has given them so much.

"I think the fact that we’re Easton residents makes it very personal, Lombardi said. "We take pride in being friendly and we take pride in seeing friends of our extended family enjoy the course."

Lombardi said running a family-owned business that is embedded in the community is a rarity - especially when the business has proven to have so much long-gevity.

"It’s a milestone. You don’t hear much of family businesses making it to the third generation," he said. "I know my father had many discussions with people who wanted to purchase the land and he could have discontinued the family business, but I think he liked the fact that he had what is part of Easton and what was a small family business that he enjoyed running it, so he maintained it."

Lombardi hopes next Thursday's celebration is only the beginning of a new era.

"We feel its a way to say ‘thanks for 50 great years and hopefully there will be 50 more - at least,'" he said.

To book a tee time Thursday or any other day, residents are asked to call 508-238-2500 x100. Thursday tee times are asked to be booked no more than three days in advance.