Firecracker Golf Tournament is a Blast

A 4th of July tradition- the Firecracker golf tournament- will be played this weekend. Here is a column I wrote about the tournament for the Mason County Beat in 2005.


The Firecracker-- the second of the four "major" golf tournaments in Maysville - will be played this weekend at Kenton Station Golf Course.
The tournament was first held in 1968, the year after the late Pete McHugh and his wife, Margaret, opened the nine-hole course on what had been the family farm.
Bill McHugh was in high school when his parents opened Kenton Station. I asked him about his memories of the Firecracker.
"The early years of the Firecracker it was match play," McHugh said. "[In the] early '70s it was changed to medal play. It was easier to manage the size field on the course with medal play. When the tournament first started, it was a three-day tournament."
The Firecracker was, and is, a highlight of the golf season at Kenton Station.
"Memorial Day, we had the two-man best-ball, "McHugh said. "And then, I think in 1972, we started the Super Scramble. The Firecracker was the big individual tournament for the year."
McHugh does not know who came up with the name for the tournament, but he says the Firecracker has always been played on the weekend closest to the 4th of July.
Earl Boles, a Florida resident who had relatives here, was the winner of the first Firecracker.
"They called him 'The Hustler,'" McHugh said. "That was just about what he was.
He pretty much traveled around and ... played tournaments. [Boles'] shoes, pants and shirts all matched ... I remember seeing in his trunk and it was just full of different color golf shoes."
There weren't many golf carts back then, so caddies were needed for the tournament.
"When we first started, we only had, I don't know, four (or) eight carts," McHugh said. "Most people out there walked" McHugh says a lot of the local kids caddied at that time.
Before Kenton Station opened, Maysville residents who weren't members of the Maysville Country Club, had to go out of town to play golf.
"We were fortunate," McHugh said. "West Union (and) Manchester were open. Fleming County had opened I think the year before we did. There weren't too many golf courses on this side of the river."
With the construction of the AA Highway and growth of Maysville, Kenton Station Golf Course is now in "town." But for many years it was in the country. You had to drive the narrow, winding Kenton Station Road to get to the course.
"When you met a car, you really had to slow down," McHugh said. Kenton Station Road used to run from U.S. 68 to Slack Pike.
Even when the Firecracker switched to a medal play format, it was a three-day event for several years.
"It did go to two days just because it was too much on the family for three days," McHugh said. "It was a marathon."
The list of champions of the Firecracker includes many of the top local golfers as well as outstanding golfers from throughout the region. The tournament always draws a strong field. What the McHughs started, the Feldhauses (the current owners) have continued. This year's Firecracker will be played Saturday and Sunday. The field will be placed into flights after the first round.
This community has several great sports traditions and the Firecracker is one of the best.