Kristen LaCount makes history of her own as The Country Club’s first female general manager

The Nation Club, one particular of 5 founding customers of the United States Golfing Affiliation, features a golfing study course drenched in heritage. From newbie Francis Ouimet’s spectacular victory in the 1913 US Open to the US team’s boisterous Ryder Cup triumph in 1999, the study course has been the backdrop for some of the most fascinating golf in the previous century and a 50 percent.

The club is traditional and exceptional. Females were not admitted as comprehensive members right up until 1989, but twin-occupation households are now frequent and the club places an emphasis on households. Gendered areas no lengthier exist: no men’s grille, no restricting females to morning rounds of golf.

Are women taken care of similarly at TCC?

“With a lady as the common supervisor?” LaCount laughs and raises an eyebrow. “I think it speaks volumes that [women] stand on their personal as users. The way that we welcome them is that each relatives who’s right here is part of the club group it is a family ecosystem.

“Whether it’s me or other employees, we wouldn’t be listed here if it wasn’t an awesome natural environment to be a section of and truly be highly regarded.”

It definitely is all about spouse and children for LaCount. She expended her childhood at the club, aiding the executive chef — her father — in the kitchen area through fast paced occasions, rolling chocolate truffles and building gingerbread homes for the clubhouse at Xmas. By the time she was a teenager, she was doing work at the pool’s snack bar, building burgers and frappes.

No will need for relationship applications in the LaCount spouse and children the club has served as matchmaker. LaCount’s mothers and fathers satisfied while doing the job there. So as well did LaCount and her partner, Dan Kerrigan, the club’s former maitre d’ who now owns restaurants in Brookline and Milton. Besides for scattered restaurant gigs although she was in school, it is the only put LaCount has ever worked.

“It’s not prevalent to see another person stay in a single location such a lengthy time, but what produced it effortless was each individual yr was so various,” stated LaCount, who began as an assistant manager correct out of school in 2003 and methodically worked her way as a result of positions of escalating obligation till she was the assistant GM.

Web hosting a US Open up is one thing distinctive for LaCount. “I get chills just thinking about it,” she stated.Craig F. Walker/World Personnel

She commenced to enjoy golf much more critically in her 20s to make her appreciation for the sport and so she could, as she set it, “hang” when she played with club or organization colleagues. Now she encourages her employees to do the similar.

“A significant lightbulb went off for me in 2013 when we had a nationwide championship right here [the US Amateur],” mentioned LaCount. “Experiencing that and what it it did for the club and the staff members and me individually, that is when I recognized I wished to be supervisor of a club that put on major championships.

“You’re on a higher consider of the Marathon and what that does for the metropolis. Being in Boston is unique for anything at all sporting activities-related. Virtually any activity could occur listed here and this local community is likely to get behind it and get energized for it.”

All through the 2013 US Newbie, The Place Club obtained the nod to be host of the 2022 US Open.

“I get chills just imagining about it,” explained LaCount, who has been preparing ever due to the fact.

When she’s not in a development assembly or maybe conferring with Brookline officers about visitors and parking, she’s out on the program with superintendent Dave Johnson, speaking about grass types and soils, or assembly with 1 of TCC’s activity pros (the club delivers more than golfing: there is tennis, swimming, skeet taking pictures, pond skating, and, of system, curling).

She balances her relentless perform ethic with heat and curiosity.

Two years ago, when longtime GM and LaCount’s mentor David Chag made a decision it was time to step down, LaCount realized she preferred to move up.

“We made a decision dependent on how very long she experienced labored at the club [17 years] we would give her initial crack at an interview for the task,” claimed club president Lyman Bullard. “She arrived in and was remarkable and total of new thoughts. She was the greatest particular person fo
r the task. We weren’t making an attempt to make history but we did.”

LaCount took demand in Oct of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, with a key intercontinental party just more than a year away.

“She came into an atmosphere that’s been historically male-dominated,” Chag stated. “She’s a tenacious character. You are not heading to roll above decisions [on her] with out remaining questioned. She’s diplomatic but she stands on her possess.

“She’s an extraordinary leader. I marvel at the truth that she can do this and raise a loved ones.”

LaCount has a daughter and a son and lives with her family members in a cottage in the center of the golfing class — which is excellent when you want to participate in a couple of holes on a warm July evening, but demanding for the reason that it leaves you on obligation at every single second.

On June 16, some 156 golfers from all over the world will converge on Brookline, and tens of thousands of spectators will abide by them. TCC welcomes the US Open up for the reason that it is very pleased of the club’s background and its significance to golfing.

“This is the significant leagues,” claimed LaCount, who will be under as a great deal force as the golfers. “We’re opening the gates to the planet. You want to make sure that we’re putting our ideal foot forward.”