BRIDGEWATER, Massachusetts – Thanks to Charlie Simonds’ love of golf and his son’s determination, hundreds of youths have had the opportunity to learn the game at no cost.
Simonds retired three years ago after serving as superintendent of Parks and Recreation in Bridgewater, Mass., for 26 years. Unfortunately, on Oct. 26, 2022 he died three days after suffering a heart attack while playing golf at Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Last year, Chuck Simonds, Charlie’s son, formed the Simonds Golf Academy, a 501(C)(3) public charity to introduce the game of golf to the next generation of golfers at no cost. This year, the Simonds Golf Academy will offer more than 100 free golf events to youths aged 8-15. Most of the youths live in Bridgewater, but youths from 15 towns have taken part.
This fall, the academy will offer 80 golf clinics at simulators at Champions Indoor Golf facilities in Bridgewater and Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth. Earlier this year, the academy held 22 clinics and camps at the simulators and on the driving range at Olde Scotland Links, an 18-hole municipal golf course that opened in Bridgewater in 1997. A winter session at the simulators is planned to begin in late January.
The Charlie Classic, a golf tournament at Olde Scotland Links, has raised more than $80,000 the past two Septembers to subsidize the clinics and camps. Andrew Gildea and Dean Hajedemos, owners of Champions Indoor Golf, and their staff offer instruction at a discount rate. They also teach on the range at Olde Scotland Links.
“It’s been a perfect partnership,” Simonds said. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
Simonds, 43, runs the golf academy as one of the academy’s many volunteers while he moonlights from his mortgage broker business.
“Our mission is to get more kids into the game of golf,” he said, “and doing it for free.”
Charlie was 6-foot-8 and known for his basketball exploits. He scored more than 1,000 points in basketball for Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton and for Stonehill College and he was inducted into each school’s hall of fame. He later coached his daughter Kelsey in AAU and she also went on to surpass 1,000 points for Cardinal Spellman and Stonehill and make both halls of fame.
Charlie also coached Chuck in freshmen and junior varsity basketball and helped out in varsity at Cardinal Spellman.
Charlie and his wife, Marcia, had six children and nine grandchildren. Some of the grandkids have taken part in the clinics.
John Kearney knew Charlie since the two attended Cardinal Spellman and they played a fair amount of golf together.
“Charlie was a big, loveable guy who would do anything at all for you,” Kearney said. “Very generous, even in high school. Very friendly, never combative.”
Kearney coached the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School baseball team to the 2013 Division 1 state championship, the school’s only state championship in any sport.
Charlie prepared the baseball, softball and football fields at Legion Field so a lot of people in Bridgewater grew to know him.
Golf was a huge part of Charlie’s life as well. He was a founding member of the golf commission in Bridgewater that oversaw the construction of Olde Scotland Links and he played a major role in building the clubhouse, which was named after him shortly after he retired. Part of his job as parks director was managing the golf course.
Just a few months after he retired, Charlie hit a 7-iron to within about six feet on the par-3 third hole at Thistle Golf Club. Then he collapsed on the tee. His son was playing in the group in front of him and he was among those who administered CPR. Charlie never regained consciousness and died three days later at age 68. He was far too young, but Simonds takes some solace in the fact that his father passed away while playing golf, the game he loved so much.
“I just find it to be wild,” Simonds said, “and him hitting such a great shot. I think about that. Could you script it a better way? It almost sounds made up.”
But of course Simonds misses him.
“I just feel bad because he was the guy who did everything for everyone else,” Simonds said. “He worked so hard his whole entire life. I finally talked him into retiring earlier and six months later he was dead.”
Charlie didn’t play as much golf as he would have liked because he was busy working, but after retiring he had hoped to play a lot more. Unfortunately, he didn’t get much of a chance to do so. But thanks to the academy, many young people will receive that opportunity.
“He would love that,” Kearney said. “I’m sure he’s looking down smiling at Chuck. From what I hear, it’s very well run and very well organized.”
“It’s cool that my dad’s friends’ grandkids are participating,” Simonds said. “I think he would love that. I think that’s why I do it. I don’t have any other motive to do something like this.”
The academy began by hosting a Junior Golf Open House for youths aged 6-12 last year and Simonds wondered if 20 or 30 would register. He was surprised when about 150 did. The academy has grown ever since.
This past summer at Olde Scotland Links, four weeks of three-day camps were held for youths aged 8-12 along with junior clinics on Tuesdays and Saturdays. This month, the academy launched four clinics for youths aged 8-12 and a fifth for those aged 13-15 at the simulators at Champions Indoor Golf in Bridgewater and Plymouth. Sixty youths will take part in five hour-long clinics each week at each location for eight weeks.
The 22 events the academy held this year prior to the fall had 450 participants, but some of them took part in more than one program. Simonds figures at least 200 youths took part in at least one program and he said he has received lots of emails from happy parents.
Simonds would like to see the academy’s teenagers get involved in community service as a way of paying forward.
To donate or register for a program, email Chuck Simonds at chuck@simondsgolfacademy.org or visit simondsgolfacademy.org.
