Brian McLauchlan– Great Golfer, and Even Better Guy
I have known Brian McLauchlan for most of my life. He’s always been an elite golfer, but he’s an even better guy. He cherishes his family, friends and pretty much anyone else he meets. 
His smile is infectious and being around him is always a positive experience. We had the priviledge of sitting down with him shortly after he posted a remarkable round 32 during his 9-hole league at Foxfire recently. Hope you enjoy:
DB: Brian, take us through your early years, when did you start playing this game and when did you first start having success?
BM: I was with my cousins, Michael and Matthew, and my Uncle Dick who took me to Lyndon golf course when I was fifteen. I don’t recall a lot about the round, but all I remember is that Michael and Matthew were pissed off that I beat them and I had never played before and they had. That kind of set the tone that maybe I’ll be okay at this game. Dick was always impressed with everything you did. He would say “tremendous,” so that always gives you confidence no matter what you did. You could hit one good shot and you always thought about ‘tremendous,’ so just keep going, who cares about the other ones.
DB: So you had some early success at the age of fifteen, take us through your later teen years and early 20s and how you progressed at this game.
BM: Well, we played in the Liverpool High School golf league, which was great, and my buddy and I always got out early. So we would go to the course, play our nine holes, hand in the score before the rest of the team showed up. So we’d always get eighteen holes of golf in, instead of nine, so that kind of helped us along the way a little.
I was fortunate enough to move down to Hilton Head with my Aunt Janie. I got to play at Melrose, a private island course, that American Express CEO’s, Pepsi CEO’s would fly in to play. I had to take a boat there every day. But when I had a day off, I still took the boat in to play Melrose. It was an awesome course. The eighteenth hole was a split fairway, you either could play it safe left or you had bunkers, and you went right to the fairway and you had the ocean there and then you had to go over the ocean to the hole, so it was risk-reward. I was figuring that out, having fun with golf and living in Hilton Head. I started working on golf courses; so I was up at 5:30am every day to mow greens, do the sand traps, you name it. I took one lesson in Hilton Head, that was it. He asked me, “What do you want to learn?” I said long irons and around the green. So I learned how to hit a 4-iron and 5-iron and I learned a lot around the green. It’s not always a wedge; it’s not always your sand wedge. Eight, seven and six irons come in play, just bump and run it. So I learned a lot living in Hilton Head and working on golf courses.
DB: Let’s fast forward to some of your bigger golf accomplishments. 2007 was an incredible year for you. Tell us your memories from that year?
BM: I always get pumped for a Family Open, The Penn Masters, the Cortland League Championship, you name it, I get pumped the night before. I think about it, I get nervous, I just can’t sleep. Literally, I just think, what am I gonna do on this hole…what am I gonna do on that hole? So, I’m just plotting it out.
I knew Liverpool, like the back of my hand. I grew up playing there, and had a great group for that Family Open. I shot two under on the front, somehow, some way, with no bogies with two birdies. On number 10, I bogied from the middle of the fairway, wasn’t happy, and duffed a wedge. Then I just plotted around. On hole 17, I got stuck behind the tree. I saw Timmy Ryan and all the guys waiting for me on 18. I hit that shot from 150 yards and got it up to 18 feet. Made that birdie. On 18, I felt like a real golfer at one point…was stuck behind the tree again, looked at the pin and just said, get it on the green, two-putt and be on your way. Executed the shot. Sixty Nine.
DB: So you’re a proud winner of the 2007 Penn Masters. It was a wide open tournament coming down the stretch. Tell me some memories from your only Brownie Jug?
BM: A lot to recall, but practice round right off the bat…me, my brother-in-law Krupa, Gerry Murphy and his buddy. We teed off on hole #10, we finished a Penn Masters practice round in less than four hours. We were done…I had a 79, Gerry shot 80, Krupa and Gerry’s buddy were a little higher. But we were done, checked into the hotel before people were even remotely done with their rounds. Round one was at Stone-Hedge. I finished with an 88…thought I was out of it. But then I heard the low round was an 85. I’m right back in it. Round two was at Blue Ridge Trail…held my own with another high 80 round. Final round Sunday, Michael Jaquin and I didn’t go to bed until around 4:00 or 4:30am. It was a fun night. We got to the course and there was a frost delay, so I kind of hung in the car, slept a little bit, listened to a lot of Phish. Then I got out there and just battled. Everyone was all over the place…tough conditions. Getting to the 18th hole, arguing with the Chairman, do I mark it, do I putt it. But because John Walkerwicz made an 18 footer to put the pressure on me. So I finished up and made it, hugged and embraced. It was a great time.
DB: Take us through your greatest eighteen hole round ever. Where was it at? What did you shoot?
BM: My favorite round ever was at the Country Club of Rochester, at a member guest, during the Sunday round. I fired a two over 73 on a course where the greens were ‘table top.’ They were double cut and double rolled. I did have a birdie stretch of four out of five holes, it was crazy. But two over par there at that course was amazing. It rivals Oak Hill. They have to make sure they scatter the member guests between the two, because Oak Hill members want to play there and CCR members want to play at Oak Hill. So, it was a treat to play there.
DB: After losing a couple of playoffs, you finally tasted victory at the 2018 GKM League Championship, where you overtook Ed Brown, who had a big lead going into the back 18 holes at Arrowhead. Briefly touch on that memory.
BM: It was just a battle. Stay in play, don’t have a bad bounce, and don’t hit a bad shot. Eddie, with three holes to play, had the worst tee shot I’ve ever seen him hit in my life. That was basically what let me win. He hit a bad shot, I hit a good one and it was a four shot swing on one hole with three to play. So the gods were in my favor that day.
DB: So the buzz everywhere around here at Foxfire, was that you posted a thirty-two! Tell us about that incredible nine holes.
BM: Was just thinking about it, it was our last night of the league. We were up a point, so I knew I had to step up, because I knew I was giving four shots to the leaders. So I just had to step up, the 10th hole (starting hole), hit a great drive down the middle and made par. 11th hole was the only fairway that I missed. Pin was back left, had a ten footer downhill, left to right breaker for par. My Uncle Chuck told me years ago how to use off the toe of your putter to deaden the downhill putts. I executed it perfect and made it. Missed birdie on the par-3 twelfth. Missed it on the lip. Made a nice 3 footer on 13 for par. 14 is the toughest hole on the course. I think, dog leg right. I hit a driver and had 180 yards in. I hit a six-iron, the best I ever hit it! I said “Krup, that’s the best shot I ever hit.” It almost went it, had about three feet for birdie. Made another 3 footer for birdie at the par-5 fifteenth. Left a 12 footer for birdie on 16 on the lip. Eight iron middle of the green at 17, left in the pin from 15 feet. Buried it. 18th hole, 3-wood middle of the fairway, had 100 in for my third shot, put it to five feet and buried it. 32. My lowest nine holes ever.
DB: Tell me about your favorite foursome that you like to play in, and then what would be your dream foursome?
BM: I know that I love to play with my Uncle Chuck. Chuck is my favorite golfer. I’ve learned a lot from him throughout the years. During Covid, I couldn’t wait for our Tuesday round at Greenview. Those Tuesday’s during Covid were life savers. Get out of the house and do something. Live again…anything with Chucky. I love playing with Michael, I love playing with my brother, I love playing with Krupa and Eddie. I don’t care, I’ll play with whoever. My dream foursome would be Watson, Nicklaus and John Daly. Just want to watch Big John swing away and have fun.
DB: You recently had a hole in one, tell us about that. Was that your first?
BM: Second. The first one was Liverpool. I had moved home in 2000 and I was playing with cousin, Michael and two buddies that I knew from high school. One of them said, “I hear you’re a pretty decent golfer, are you going to show me something today?” Second hole, island green, wedge shot bounced and then sucked back right into the hole. I looked at him and said, “Does that count?!”
My second was this past Memorial Day, number 16 at Green Lakes. Hit a nice 5-iron, there’s no pictures on the scorecard, I hit it a little left in the rough, hit the green and rolled about sixty feet into the hole. Boom.
DB: So you’re 53 years old, and yet it seems like you are in the prime of your golfing life right now. What are your goals in the short term?
BM: Cortland next week, Family Open next year and of course The Penn Masters in May. I see our defending champ, Spencer Baum, out here a lot. If he was here when I shot the 32, I would have rubbed that right in his face. (laughs) Because he rubs it in our face whenever he comes out here. He’ll say something like “I hit all the greens and shot 3 under.” It’s tough now with all the young guns, but, I just want to keep going. Every start of year I think that I’ve got to get some practice in, I don’t even know if I can even swing a club. Just get out there and get a little feeling and just go with it. Lot of 3 woods this year. But lately, I don’t know why after all these years, I’m teeing the ball lower on the driver and I’ve been smacking it, so that helps a lot.
DB: What are your thoughts about the game of golf and friendships formed?
BM: I’ve made so many friends throughout the years from golf. From Hilton Head onward. I’ll play with anyone randomly, I don’t care. I hold my own, I chat, I think I might talk too much. You want to have fun, you want to play by the rules of the game. Be honest, putt everything out, play it down and have fun in your foursome. You’re out there to have fun and compete.
DB: Let’s take a break from golf for a moment. Tell us about your family life?
BM: So I moved back home right after the 4th of July back in 2000 from Atlanta. I had had enough. I was flying back home for weddings, for graduations, and this and that. With our family being so big, I said “enough,” I’ll move home. I met up with my future wife, Gretchen, at Limerick’s one night. My cousin Kristen was her roommate. We went out, and one thing led to another, and that was phenomenal. So I had a choice to make. Do I go to the SU 2003 National Championship game in New Orleans? Or do I buy a ring for my girl friend? So, I made the right choice, I bought the ring and renegged on going to our National Championship. So I think I made the right choice (chuckles). God’s looking down on me after that. It could’ve been crazy. I could have been in New Orleans and all that. I proposed to Gretch shortly after on ‘Masters Sunday’ and then got married later that year. We have a phenomenal daughter, Ryleigh. She’s a good lacrosse player, she’s doing cross country this year right now. She’s got a couple of inquiries for lacrosse. She’s on C-N-S, made varsity last year and made the state semi-finals, but they were sectional champs. She plays on a summer league team, but she’s just an incredible child we have. She just makes me glow every day. We had a dog, Izzy, who passed away a few years ago. But now we have a new one, Sugar, so our family is complete. Along with my wife Gretchen, our daughter Ryleigh is just the gleam in our eyes.
I hit up a couple of his family members shortly after the interview for a couple of closing thoughts
DB: Tell us your thoughts about being Brian’s partner in the League?
Mike Krupa: We’re in our 58th year in this league. We’ve talked a lot this year about missing Liverpool and the people that we’ve lost. We’ve lost a lot of good golfers in the last year. Charlie, Billy, etc. It’s like a new era and “Zilla” (Brian’s nickname) is now that second wave of golfer. He wants to win it every year. He wants to win the points, win the tournament, win everything. I’m up there and I’ve got a front row seat. It’s been a lot of fun. He wants to step on everybody’s throat. He gets around the green, and he’s dangerous. He can fire at any green he wants, he can make putts. But that 32 was the best thing I’ve ever seen.
DB: Tell us about your brother?
Tommy McLauchlan: Brian is a great golfer and he’s been a mentor to me in my life. I love him dearly.
DB: What are your thoughts about Brian?
Sean Kelley: Great golfer and even a better guy. That’s all you need to know.
