Foxborough, Mass – Greg Sampson was happy to see Mike Suvalle selling his New England Golf Guide at the Northeast Golf Show again this month.
“It’s good to still see a print product that’s a golf guide,” he said.
The Northeast Golf Show has been around for 36 years.
Sampson and Rich Castiglione have run it at Gillette Fieldhouse at Patriot Place in Foxboro since 2022. They also own Northeast Golf Magazine so they believe in print.
Suvalle has been involved with the New England Golf Guide for about 15 years and has been editor for about 10. Printed guides may seem old fashion to some, but Suvalle insists the guide provides golfers with features golf websites don’t.
Suvalle credited the guide’s $5,000 worth of coupons with helping make it successful.
“The sales pitch is simple: Use one coupon and you get your money back,” Suvalle said.
The coupons include offering four greens fees for the price of three, two greens fees for the price of one and a free cart with the purchase of two greens fees. Other coupons offer $10 off greens fees.
Suvalle pointed out that GolfNow, an online tee time booking service, caters more to customers seeking last-minute tee times to save money. Tee times at popular courses can be difficult to get so if you wait until the last minute to book one, you could get shut out.
New England Golf Guide customers can book tee times up to a week in advance like everyone else.
“If you want to plan and use a coupon, we’re the best bet,” Suvalle said.
The guide lists more than 600 public golf courses in New England as well as 10 private courses. The private courses aren’t open to the public for golf, but are for weddings and other functions.
The guide rates each course on a scale of one to five and provides directions, the cost to play, any junior or senior discounts and the course’s yardage and rating. It also lists other amenities, including whether there’s a driving range.
“There are a lot of people who love this as a directory,” Suvalle said. “It’s not just about the coupons.”
When Lee Barber and Mac Macclary bought the guide in 2010, they sold more ads than previous ownership did in order to become more profitable. Macclary bought out Barber about seven or eight years ago. Macclary used to live in Waltham and currently resides in Dallas.
As far as Suvalle knows, the New England Golf Guide began taking part in the Northeast Golf Show when Barber and Macclary bought the guide in 2010. The guide has also had a booth at the Connecticut Golf Show since 2011 and the Maine Golf Show since 2017.
Shining Rock Golf Club in Northbridge is featured on the cover and is one of 38 public courses featured in the guide with stories. Eight private courses are featured as well. All the featured courses purchased ads in the guide.
The featured courses are also listed on the New England Golf Guide’s website, www.newenglandgolfguide.com, with links to each course’s website.
Suvalle and his staff sell the New England Golf Guide at 150-200 charity golf events each year and share the profits with the charities. Suvalle worked about 70 events last year.
Suvalle and his staff also sell the guide at about 25 golf courses and donate the profits to the Jimmy Fund.
The guide can be purchased for $28.95 online at newenglandgolfguide.com, at AAA branch locations, such golf retailer’s as Golfer’s Warehouse and at numerous sporting goods stores, book stores and pro shops.
Suvalle wouldn’t reveal how many guides are sold, but he said guides are often shared with multiple people and he estimated that 100,000 people read them each year.
The guide’s website averages more than 30,000 hits each month, Suvalle said.
Suvalle will turn 80 on May 1 and he has no intention of retiring any time soon.
“I’m not the type of person who would just sit around and do nothing,” he said. “I enjoy the work. I enjoy it very much. My attitude is when I can no longer pick up the boxes (of guides), then I’ll quit.”
Suvalle lives in Framingham and plays golf mostly at Stow Acres CC in Stow, Highfields Golf & CC in Grafton and Sandy Burr CC in Wayland.
Suvalle has a golfing accomplishment that would be tough to beat.
“I’m the only person that you’ve ever met or you’ll ever talk to,” he said, “who has three ones in a row on their scorecard.”
Unfortunately, Suvalle doesn’t mean he recorded three consecutive aces. Actually, he carded an 11 on a par 4 and followed that up with a hole-in-one on a par-3 while playing in a medal-play tournament about 50 years ago at the former Chestnut Hill CC in Newton.
The 11 included three shots that were hit out of bounds. Somehow he regrouped to card an ace with an 8-iron on the 150-yard par-3 for the only hole-in-one of his life.
“How crazy that is,” he said. “It’s insane.”
Did the ace make up for the 11 on the previous hole?
“Emotionally, of course,” he said.
The holes on which Suvalle carded an 11 and a 1 are now part of Newton Commonwealth Golf Course.
