Brookside Golf Course in Ashland, Ohio has three memorial benches organized by the Friends of Brookside Golf Course group. The latest one honors Zach McGregor, a high school golfer who grew up playing at the course but died at age 18. The group hopes it will be able to have benches at every hole on the course someday.
Brookside Golf Course in Ashland, Ohio has a new memorial, the Ashland Source reported. Zach McGregor, who died on November 22, 2018, was honored with a bench donated by his mother, Jen Reed.
McGregor had a passion for the sport and played junior golf at Brookside when he was a kid and was a member of the Mapleton High School golf team, the Source reported. For Reed, she knew there was no other place this bench could have gone.
“Ever since I got Zach’s diagnosis, I had been thinking about doing a bench or a tree or something here,” she said. “This opportunity came about and I had to do it.”
Now that one of Zach’s younger brothers is a part of the Brookside junior golf program and his other younger brother is gaining interest as well, Reed hopes they are able to see this bench and feel that connection with Zach, the Source reported.
“I thought it would be a really neat thing for them to see the bench here whenever they come to Brookside, whether it’s for junior golf or when they get on the Mapleton golf team,” she said. “They’ve watched Zach’s love for golf and I think they feel a connection to Zach by playing golf as well.”
One element that Reed was sure to include on the bench’s plaque is one of Zach’s favorite quotes from golf legend Arnold Palmer, the Source reported. The quote reads “Success in this game depends less on strength of body, than strength of mind and character.”
This bench now marks one of three at Brookside Golf Course, the Source reported. Event organizer and Friends of Brookside Golf Course Secretary Gene Haberman hopes they will be able to have benches at every hole on the course someday.
“We are always trying to support this golf course and specifically a golf program for the young people in the community,” he said.
Ultimately, Zach’s legacy will live on at Brookside and those who come after him will be sure to play with even half as much drive and determination as he did, the Source reported.
“Zach couldn’t do many activities or many sports,” Reed said. “But golf is where his heart was, so I think that’s very important.”
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