Couple with drive: Morgan and Steve Lemieux help keep golf thriving at Blackstone National

When Morgan and Steve Lemieux of Charlton got married at Blackstone National Golf Club on Oct. 29, golf understandably played a major role.

After all, Morgan is an assistant teaching professional at Blackstone, and Steve is the Sutton club’s superintendent.

“I say he grows the grass, and I destroy it,” Morgan said.

With many of the 115 guests watching from the wedding reception at the Barn at Blackstone National, Morgan and Steve competed in a closest-to-the-pin contest on the nearby 180-yard, par-3 13th hole.

They played in front of some members who cheered them on from the 12th green.

Morgan missed the green with a 4-hybrid, but she had a pretty good excuse. She teed off while wearing her veil, white wedding gown and wedding shoes. She admitted she was fortunate that her strapless wedding gown remained in place.

Steve won the contest by hitting a 6-iron to within 15 feet, but he had taken his blue suit jacket off.

Getting married at Blackstone was the perfect setting for them.

“It was awesome that we got to go out on the course,” Morgan said. “You don’t see many couples do that. When they get married at a course, they do it for the looks of it. We feel very much at home here.”

The wedding ceremony didn’t begin until 4 p.m., so Steve reported to work as usual at 5:30 a.m. that day, but he left about 10 a.m. to get a haircut and buy some shoes. Morgan’s teaching schedule had ended for the season, and she took the day off from her other job as a farm manager, overseeing pet zoo animals, horses and dogs at Stowe Farm in Millbury. She also owns a horse at the farm.

They're Oxford High classmates

Morgan, 26, and Steve, 25, began dating the summer after they graduated from Oxford High in 2015. Steve was a left-handed pitcher for Oxford, which reached the state semifinals his junior year. Then he went to Southern New Hampshire University to play baseball, and Morgan transferred there a year later from Worcester State University.

As a sophomore at SNHU, Steve tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, he was never the same pitcher.

During college, he worked summers in the pro shop and on the maintenance crew at Leicester CC. Nick Bates, his teammate at Oxford and roommate at SNHU, worked with him at Leicester, and Bates later became an assistant golf pro at Blackstone.

Bates urged Steve to apply to work on the Blackstone grounds crew, and he became an intern under superintendent Jake Ronchi in 2020. The following year, he became an assistant superintendent and spray technician. In 2022, after Ronchi returned to Medinah CC in Illinois, Steve was hired as co-superintendent with Brian Bruso. After Bruso left to work on a course in Florida, Steve became superintendent last Jan. 1.

Steve has completed the two-year Rutgers Turf Management Program, and at age 25, he’s probably one of the youngest superintendents in New England.

“They stuck their necks out on the chopping block going with me, and it was definitely a risk,” Steve said.

Don Hearn, executive director of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England, said he didn’t know of any younger superintendents, but he didn’t have any records on that subject. Hearn said he was 25 when he became superintendent at Weston Golf Club in 1972.

“I give the club credit for sticking with him, and I’ll give him credit for being qualified at such an early age,” Hearn said.

“Installing Steve as superintendent might have been a bold move,” said Blackstone general manager Matt Stephens, who made the move, “but it wasn’t reckless. It was a measured and calculated decision based on a three-year work record. We felt comfortable with his placement, especially with the support of our consultant.”

Stephens hired Scott Mackintosh, co-owner of Atlantic Golf and Turf in Millbury, as a consultant to the grounds crew the past two years.

Stephens hired Lemieux and Bruso as co-superintendents so they could continue the work on the greens that Ronchi had begun.

“At a club like ours,” Stephens said, “where you have to earn people’s business every day, it’s really important that we have really good greens.”

They expanded and leveled some tees and removed more than 250 trees to allow sunlight and airflow to reach the greens. They also improved the drainage on the greens and resurfaced five tee boxes.

A superintendent’s job is more challenging than ever this summer with the scorching heat and frequent downpours.

“The only word I can say is intense,” Steve said. “It’s a lot of keeping up with the sprays, the cultivation practices and a lot of hard work from the staff.”

Steve said Morgan lets him know when she’s not happy about something that happened during one of her rounds.

“If she hits a shot at a tree, that tree has to come down,” he said, “but she’s definitely supportive.”

Picking up the game

While Steve recovered from elbow surgery in college, his doctor told him he could swim, play pickleball or play golf to exercise. So he purchased his first set of golf clubs, and the following year, he got Morgan to take up the sport. They played a round at Pembroke Pines CC near SNHU, and Morgan shot an 84, and she beat Bates. Word of her round reached the golf coach, and she was invited to join the team as a walk-on her junior year. Then she captained the team as a senior and graduate student and played No. 1 as a grad student.

Stephens knew of Morgan because he coached against her in college when he coached the Assumption women’s golf team. He tried to convince her to play for Assumption as a graduate student, but she declined. So he offered her a job as an assistant teaching professional at Blackstone, and she accepted. Stephens gave a toast at their wedding.

“We always think of Blackstone National,” Stephens said, “as a family type environment. So to me, it was a really cool thing. I can see them down the road, even if it’s not here, where she’s running the place, and he’s taking care of the golf course. They’re both really talented, bright kids.”

Steve begins his work day at 5:30 a.m. and plays several times a week in the afternoons. Morgan usually plays only once a week — on Friday afternoons in the sweeps with her husband.

“That’s usually when the competitiveness comes out of both of us,” Steve said. “We’re usually at each other’s throats by the third hole.”

They usually take turns winning.

“Right now, he’s been kicking my butt because he plays more than me,” Morgan said.

They’re both very good golfers. Steve carries a handicap of 0.9 from the blue tees, and Morgan is a plus-3 from the whites.

“We obviously love golf,” Morgan said, “and we picked it up later in life, so we’re still in love with the game. We haven’t quite burned out from overdoing the golf game yet. I think it’s really good we’re able to share golf together. Not a lot of people can say they have a similar hobby with their husbands or wives. So I can’t complain about it. I try to get him to play golf as much as possible.”

Entering college, neither Morgan nor Steve had any idea they’d enter the golf business. Morgan majored in psychology and did graduate work in mental health, but she couldn’t pass up Stephens’ offer to put her through the LPGA teaching program. She’s an associate now and should graduate from the program in another year or year and a half.

Steve majored in criminal justice and minored in sociology and planned to become a state policeman. But golf seemed like more fun.

Feel free to pass on suggestions, comments

You can suggest story ideas for this golf column by reaching me at the email listed below. Comments are also welcomed.

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

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Couple with drive: Morgan, Steve Lemieux help keep golf thriving at Blackstone National