When he was growing up in West Brookfield, George Fairbanks dreamed of playing golf for a living or becoming a golf pro at a country club. That didn’t pan out so he found another way to work at a golf course — as a superintendent.
He had been assistant superintendent at Dennis Highlands on Cape Cod since 2007 and took over the top job after superintendent Mike Cummings retired last fall
“I like this,” he said. “I like being outside. I like the challenge, the variety. No day is the same. It’s tough, but I’m still doing it so I must love it, right?”
Fairbanks, 57, was born in Worcester and lived there and then in Paxton for a few years before his family moved to West Brookfield.
In the 1980s, he played golf for Quaboag Regional and UMass-Amherst, but his older brother, Scottwas a more accomplished player.
Scott, who still lives in West Brookfield, starred at Quaboag and then went to the University of Alabama on a golf scholarship. He transferred to Worcester State where he became an All-American and helped the Lancers tie for third in the 1984 NCAA Division 3 Tournament.
Fairbanks’ Worcester State teammates included fellow All-Americans Jim Bombard, Terry O’Hara, Matt Stephens, Jay Cunningham, Dan Jankaitis, John Lajoie, Chip Mannix, Thomas Paradise spirit Sasso’s friend. That team, coached by Bob Devlinwas inducted into the college’s hall of fame in 2006.
“Everybody knows my brother,” Fairbanks said. “He’s six years older than me, so I lived in his shadow, if you will.”
Fairbanks’ dreams of becoming a pro golfer were put on hold in 1986 when he nearly lost his life in a car accident in Sunderland that claimed the lives of two of his friends on the scene and another friend shortly afterwards.
“I heard them die,” he said. “It was a horrible scene.”
A front-seat passenger, he was thrown through the windshield and suffered a fractured skull, a broken left arm and a broken right leg. He nearly bled to death.
“It’s a miracle,” he said. “The doctors told me if I wasn’t in such good physical shape — I was only 20 at the time — that there was no way I would have lived. I lost so much blood.”
Because of his skull fracture, he had to learn to speak again. He has arthritis from all the broken bones, so winters are tough for him. Thankfully, he no longer gets the severe migraines that used to plague him.
For years, he had nightmares about the accident, and he still thinks a lot about his friends who died.
“It will never leave me,” he said.
He overcame his injuries with a lot of physical therapy and dogged perseverance. The physical labor of his job has helped his recovery.
“It helps me keep moving,” he said, “and that’s what I love about it, the challenge.”
After the accident, Fairbanks worked at Heald Machine Co. in Worcester from 1986 until the company closed in 1992.
He had enjoyed working maintenance during the summers in the late 1970s and early 1980s at Wachusett CC and Holden Hills CC. So he enrolled at UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture to earn an associate degree in golf course maintenance. While there, he captained the Stockbridge golf team from 1993-95.
He moved to the Cape and worked on the maintenance crews at Oyster Harbors in Osterville and then at Bayberry Hills in West Yarmouth and Bass River in South Yarmouth. In 2003, he became superintendent at Bass River, and since 2007, he has worked at Dennis Highlands.
“He does an outstanding job,” acting director of golf Maryellen Fabiano-Stowe said. “George could grow grass on concrete, and I mean that. He’s super at what he does.”
The winters are relatively mild on the Cape, so the Highlands and its sister course, Dennis Pines, are open year round, and they’re busy much of the time.
Last year, the Highlands hosted more than 50,000 rounds and the Pines about 40,000, according to Fabiano-Stowe. The previous year, the courses hosted a record 95,000 rounds.
So Fairbanks and his grounds crew must keep the courses in shape despite the frequent play, and they often have to work around the golfers.
“To say it’s extremely challenging is an understatement,” Fairbanks said. “It’s very difficult with the amount of play, especially last winter. I don’t even call it a winter. It was the mildest winter I ever experienced in my life. The play was just unbelievable. So we’re constantly maintaining the course even more because of that.”
During the summer, Fairbanks and his dedicated crew arrive at work at 4:30 am, and they are on the course by 5 in order to get as much done as possible before the golfers start playing. Fairbanks works six days a week and sometimes Sundays as well.
Dennis Highlands is a par 71 with four sets of tees playing from 4,884 to 6,509 yards on 175 acres of hills with pine and oak trees. Jack Kidwell spirit Mike Hurdzan designed the Highlands, which opened in 1984 on the north side of Dennis.
To score well at the Highlands, you must figure out the greens. Most are severely sloped, and several have two tiers, so chipping close to the hole and sinking putts aren’t easy.
Whitinsville native Robert McNeil and his golf course design firm, Northeast Golf Company, oversaw a $1.3 million tee and bunker renovation at the Highlands and the Pines from 2015-18. The Highlands clubhouse was renovated and the restaurant expanded in 2018.
Fairbanks said he’s met golfers at the Highlands from Singapore, Europe, South Africa and all over the US
“They go out of their way to talk to us about the maintenance crew,” he said, “and compliment us, which is very nice. That’s what keeps us going.”
Fairbanks also meets a fair number of golfers from Central Mass.
“Dennisport, you might as well call it Worcester,” Fairbanks said. “It’s unbelievable how many people are down here from Worcester.”
Fairbanks and his wife, Elizabethhave a son, Jonathan, 13, and, yes, he plays golf. He’s a member of the junior varsity golf team at Mashpee Middle High School.
Stopping for ice cream
After a group of golf writers played the Highlands this past spring, we stopped at Kream ‘N Kone on Route 28 in West Dennis.
Kream ‘N Kone owners Angelo spirit Angela Argyriadis were born in Greece, but they grew up in Worcester. Angelo was a member of the last graduating class of the old South High School in 1978.
In 1990, the couple purchased Kream ‘N Kone and moved from Worcester to the Cape. They relocated to their current, larger site beside the Swan River 20 years ago.
Argyriadis returns to the Worcester area to play golf at Shining Rock and Highfields. He lives adjacent to Bass River Golf Course in South Yarmouth, but he has been a member at Dennis Highlands and Dennis Pines for 12 years.
“I love the Pines,” he said. “It kills you. I don’t lose golf balls, but even though they’ve made it easier to play, they’ve widened a lot of stuff, gotten rid of a lot of trees, it’s still tight.”
More challenges on the Cape
Dennis Highlands was one of three courses that a group of golf writers played. Blue Rock Golf Course in South Yarmouth proved to be a great place to warm up for playing three courses in three days. Blue Rock is an 18-hole, par-3 course that took us only two hours and 15 minutes to play, but it does have some challenging holes. The third, ninth, 10th and 18th holes play over a pond. The 12th is 200 yards, and the fifth is 255 yards from the back tees. Blue Rock has five sets of tees ranging from 2,154 to 2,868 yards.
After we played Dennis Highlands on the second day, we played Bayberry Hills Golf Course, a Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva design that opened in 1988 in West Yarmouth. The 18-hole main course has tree-lined fairways and plays to a par 72 from tees ranging from 5,300 to 7,200 yards. The nine-hole Links course has no trees and plays from 2,574 to 3,335 yards.
Andrew Laird70, who moved from Southborough to West Yarmouth in 2020, is a member of the Yarmouth golf enterprise committee, an advisory committee that works with supervisor Scott Gilmore and head pro Dennis Hoye to institute improvements at Bayberry Hills and Bass River GC, a 1900 Donald Ross design of 6,100 yards.
“They’re centrally located,” Laird said. “Bayberry is a playable track. The links course is wide open. A lot of people like to play because you can find your ball. There’s a lot of fairways. And Bass River is just a favorite. It’s one of those courses that people grew up with.”
Yule accommodations
Our hotel, Aiden by Best Western at Cape Cod in West Yarmouth, had just completed hosting a convention for Santa and Mrs. Clauses, and a couple of them hadn’t left yet.
One of them told me that playing the role of Santa made him laugh the hardest he ever had, but also feel the saddest — when small children ask him to bring a deceased grandparent back to life or to reunite their parents. Fortunately, the good times outnumber the bad.
Welcoming ideas
You can suggest story ideas for this golf column by reaching me at the email listed below. Comments are also welcome.
—Contact Bill Doyle at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Central Mass. native George Fairbanks enjoys challenge as Dennis Highlands superintendent