But you still need to activate your account.
If history is any indicator, 8-year-old Devon Gerrish may be the fourth generation of his family to engage in the family business in Milo.
And that business, Katahdin Country Club, has a lot of history.
Seventy-five years’ worth, to be exact, and all of those years will be celebrated Saturday when the Gerrishes welcome one and all to a golf tournament and barbecue.
“The scramble golf tournament got so big, we had to go to two flights,” said Rick Gerrish, Devon’s father and the third generation of Gerrishes to run the nine-hole course on the north side of town.
Sixteen foursomes have already signed up for the 8 a.m. shotgun start, and another 10 groups had signed up for the 1:30 p.m. flight. There may still be room for more.
“We’ll have a tent set up and a barbecue,” said Rick Gerrish. “I’ve recruited some of the women to cook, and I’m going to help.”
That’s just one more facet to add to his repertoire because he and his wife Leanne have to do almost everything at the golf course as it is.
And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I worked in cable television for a while,” said Gerrish of the last job he held before returning to the golf course. Stringing the cables on the telephone poles took him all over New England.
“It was a rat race,” he said, and he didn’t care to be part of it.
Before that, he worked at a downstate automotive dealership.
He moved back to Milo and is content right where he is.
“It’s a good place to bring up kids,” said Jud Gerrish Jr., Rick’s father and the one who turned over the operation to Rick.
“You don’t get rich,” said Jud, “but you’ll do OK, as long as you do all the work yourself.”
Rick has learned how to sharpen the mower blades, an important consideration when a new mower head costs $500 and a whole unit is more than $2,000.
He’s also certified to apply pesticides and insecticides, and he and Leanne share golf shop duties as well.
The club was constructed in 1930 with Larry Striley of Bangor doing the design work. He also laid out Meadowbrook Golf Club in Bangor, which no longer exists.
Katahdin Country Club has persevered, though.
The club fell into financial difficulties and was sold in 1937. In 1940, Jud Gerrish Sr. purchased it for $2,500. It’s been in the family ever since.
Jud Jr. started working at the course when he was 11.
“When I was 14, I could do everything,” he said.
It was similar for Rick, who started at age 12, so Devon has a few years before he could be introduced to the family business.
While the course was originally a potato field, the soil is very sandy, allowing for good drainage. That means players can get out earlier in the spring than most other clubs.
“I made 201 trips around here last year,” said Greg McKusick of Milo. “I play in rain, snow, anything.”
Rick Gerrish knows that.
“There was one day it was raining so hard, I wasn’t going to bother to come out,” said Gerrish, who lives with his family in a house next to the golf shop. “I looked and Greg’s truck was out there.”
McKusick quickly pointed out, “That’s what they make [raingear] for.
“I play April to October, from the day it opens to the day it closes.”
And he will be among the people taking part in Saturday’s festivities, along with an appreciative group of Gerrishes.
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