Buffer for duffers: Tatnuck's Mike Robbins shined lucratively as youth in Pleasant Valley clubhouse

The best tip Tatnuck Country Club chairman of the board Mike Robbins ever received on a golf course was from two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw.

The tip had nothing to do with gripping the club or the swing plane. It was a $100 tip for shining Crenshaw’s shoes during a PGA Tour event at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton in the 1970s. Back then, $100 was a lot of money, and Robbins appreciated it.

“He was a young guy when he gave me that kind of money,” Robbins recalled.

Robbins grew up shining shoes for members at PV, and when the PGA Tour golfers and their pro-am partners played there each year, he’d shine for them as well. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and former President Gerald Ford were among the others whose shoes he shined. Robbins remembers having to chase some of the PGA Tour pros into the parking lot to collect the fee the club charged, never mind his tip.

Each Tuesday night, he’d pocket $50 for shining 40 pairs of shoes and 40-50 pairs of spikes for members after the twilight league. Sometimes, he’d stay until 2 a.m. while the members played cards.

“At midnight,” he recalled, “somebody would flip me the keys to their car and tell me to drive to Worcester and go to the Parkway and get sandwiches. At the end of the night, whoever won had to tip me.”

Other times, golfers who moonlighted as bookies had him hold their wads of cash while they showered and then tipped him $10.

Robbins was a student at Sutton High School and later at Nichols College at the time. He said the money he earned shining shoes helped pay for college, his first car and the down payment on his first house.

Robbins, who lives in Holden now, went on to learn how to handle money for himself and others as a banker. He retired as CEO of Cornerstone Bank at the end of 2020, but remains chairman.

His grandfather, Clifford Robbins, was the greenskeeper at Green Hill, a long time ago.

There's no 'r' in Essex for Mass. Amateur

The 115th Massachusetts Amateur will be played Monday-Friday at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea. That’s no misprint. It’s Essex County Club, not Country Club. The club is located in Essex County, north of Boston.

Essex CC opened in 1893 as the first nine-hole course in the state, and the club also had a polo field and two clay tennis courts. Donald Ross became the club’s pro in 1910 and designed a second nine holes and redesigned the original nine by 1917. The yellow house where Ross lived is still near the second green.

Essex CC became the sixth member of the United States Golf Association and the second in Massachusetts, joining The Country Club in Brookline.

This will be the eighth time the club has hosted the Mass. Amateur. The last one was in 2005 when Frank Vana Jr. of Marlborough CC won the event for the second consecutive year. Essex hosted the second Mass. Amateur in 1904 and also in 1911, 1928, 1938, 1970 and 1993.

Conner Willett of Charles River CC won the Mass. Amateur last year at Concord CC. Two golfers from Central Mass., Ethan Whitney of Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg and Ricky Stimets of Worcester CC, reached the round of 16. Whitney lost to Willett, 3 and 2, in that round.

The Mass. Amateur has been held each year since 1903 except for during World War I and World War II.

Two aces in round for Crusader

Matt Kane enjoyed carding his first career hole-in-one so much, he decided not to wait long to collect another. It took him only eight holes.

The 1999 Holy Cross graduate carded two aces in the same round at Cabot Cliffs Golf Course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, while on a golf trip with 11 friends last September.

Cabot Cliffs is a 2015 design by Bill Coore and Crenshaw, and Kane and his friends always enjoy playing their courses. Kane likes it even more now.

Kane, 46, of Wellesley hit a pitching wedge on a windy day into the cup on the 155-yard sixth hole to card the first ace of his life.

His caddie was a scratch golfer, and he told Kane that he would do everything he could to help him get another hole-in-one on the back nine.

Playing in the group in front of Kane, one of his friends hit an 8-iron from the elevated tee on the par-3 14th hole along the ocean, and his ball rolled off the green. Kane’s caddie instructed him to hit his tee shot directly over a front bunker and three feet onto the green so his ball would trickle down toward the cup.

“So I hit a pitching wedge again,” Kane said. “Normally, I would hit a 9 or an 8 depending on the wind. It landed three feet over the sand trap right on the green, trickled 30 feet down into the hole, and we went berserk.”

It would have taken too long to run down the hill to the 14th green, so Kane bolted down the 13th fairway and tackled his buddies.

The odds of carding two holes-in-one in the same round are 67 million to 1, according to the National Hole-In-One Registry. It’s happened only three times on the PGA Tour, Bill Whedon at the 1955 Insurance City Open, Yusaku Miyazato at the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open and Brian Harman at the 2015 The Barclays.

A friend recorded him taking the ball out of the cup after each ace. The first ball had a TPC Boston logo, and he’s glad he put it in his bag because he drove his tee shot on the next hole into the water. His second ball had a Webster Bank logo. Kane runs a group within Webster Bank that finances software companies.

Kane was so excited about his holes-in-one, he ended up carding double bogeys on both holes immediately following them.

The two balls, his scorecard and the pin flags from both holes are now mounted on a plaque.

Kane said the best part about carding two aces in the same round is he did it on the annual golf trip with his friends and he was playing with the three golfers who accompanied him the first year.

Everyone in his foursome shot in the 70s that day. Kane plays to a 5 handicap.

Kane wanted to card a third ace, one for each of his three daughters, on the last par 3 in his round. He came within 3 feet of accomplishing it.

Kane carded his two holes-in-one in the same round in the same month that two golfers from his alma mater pulled off another remarkable feat on a golf course.

On Sept. 4, Holy Cross golfers Christian Emmerich and Owen Egan recorded double eagles — shooting 2s on a par 5 — on consecutive swings while playing together at Blackstone National Golf Club in Sutton. Kane was well aware of that rarity.

“That’s insane,” he said.

The Double Eagle Club has listed the odds of recording a double eagle as anywhere from a million to 1, to 6 million to 1. There are no records of two players from the same foursome carding double eagles on the same hole, let alone on consecutive shots.

Kane said he probably wouldn’t have gone to Holy Cross if he hadn’t hurt his back playing hockey at Thayer Academy. He’s glad he ended up at HC because that’s where he met his wife and fellow 1999 graduate, the former Lori Costanzo.

Golf Channel leaving our Spectrum?

Spectrum mailed me a notification that as of July 27, my cable TV channel lineup would no longer include Golf Channel, as well as 10 other channels. I will receive 14 new channels, none of which interest me.

When I called Spectrum customer service at 1-877-687-8921, I was informed that the only way I could continue to receive Golf Channel was to pay $12 more a month for the Entertainment View package, which includes 77 extra channels. My cable bill is already too high, so that didn’t interest me, either.

Maybe if enough customers call to complain, Spectrum might change its mind about dropping Golf Channel. It’s worth a try.

First Tee heads to Cyprian Keyes

First Tee Massachusetts is expanding its programs to 10 courses this summer and will hold one in Central Mass. for the first time at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston. First Tee is a youth development organization that enables youths to build the strength of character. By integrating the game of golf with a life-skills curriculum, First Tee creates active learning experiences that build inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience.

Cyprian Keyes will host First Tee events on Fridays from July 14-Aug. 25 for youths ages 7-9 from 8:30-10 a.m. and for youths 10-11 from 10:30 a.m. until noon, and on Sundays from July 16-Aug. 27 for youths 12-13 from 8:30-10 a.m. and for those 14-18 from 10:30-noon.

The cost is $100 for each seven-week session, and financial aid is available. Register at www.firstteemass.org/register.

—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on Twitter@BillDoyle15.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Golf: Tatnuck's Mike Robbins shined lucratively as a youth in Pleasant Valley clubhouse