ABERCROMBIE – Grant Dunlop and his longtime golf buddies were first out of the blocks on Friday morning.
Dunlop, of Abercrombie, has been a member at Abercrombie Golf & Country Club for 57 years – he joined the club when he was nine years old – and he is believed to be the longest-tenured current member.
Dunlop’s longevity is why AG&CC director of golf Jonathan Garron had reserved a 9:30 a.m. start time for Dunlop and his friends on Friday – the club’s opening day of 2018.
Playing with Dunlop were Harvey Cormier, Clark Savage and Jim MacDonald and they were the first group out on the 99-year-old course on a beautiful, late-April day.
“I haven’t missed a year since 1961,” Dunlop said, taking a short break after the foursome had finished up on the 16th green, where Savage had rolled in a birdie putt of 16 feet (give or take).
“We’ve been playing together for years,” said MacDonald, and while they couldn’t agree on exactly how long the four players have been playing golf together, they pegged it as somewhere in the vicinity of 35 years.
They have something else in common, too: all four have won an Abercrombie club men’s championship, Dunlop, MacDonald and Cormier have also won senior’s division championships at the club, and Savage has a Super Senior title.
