Bradley Klein remains on course after changing careers, from classroom to golf writer/consultant

Bradley Klein was a professor of political science at Holy Cross in the late 1980s and of government at Clark University in the late 1990s, but today he’s known as an accomplished writer and consultant — of golf, not politics.

Klein, 68, of Bloomfield, Connecticut, did write a book on politics in 1994, but he authored nine more about golf after he stopped teaching in 1999. Following 14 years as a professor at St. Lawrence University, Trinity College, Holy Cross and Clark, he decided to concentrate on golf journalism and golf course design consulting.

His 2011 book, “Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses,” won the USGA International Book Award.

In 2015, Klein earned the Donald Ross Award for distinguished lifetime achievement from the American Society of Golf Course Architects for his contributions to golf and golf course architecture.

More recently, he has written about golf for Golf Channel, Sports Illustrated, The First Call and several other publications.

Asked how many people he knew of who write books about politics and golf, he replied, “One.”

Klein earned his Ph.D. in political science at UMass Amherst in 1984, but he also has been a scholar of golf course architecture for 40 years. He has consulted on more than 140 golf course construction and renovation projects across the globe, including at Sterling National CC just before that club opened in 1991 and recently at three local Ross designs, Worcester CC, Tatnuck CC and Whitinsville GC.

Klein has worked at Tatnuck CC with architect Matt Dusenberry, a former design associate of Greg Norman. Klein and Dusenberry have worked on a handful of other golf courses in New England.

At Tatnuck, they’re renovating bunkers and drainage with superintendent Craig Resley. They’ll eventually expand the greens.

“It’s a small piece of land, and it’s a lovely, quiet residential club,” Klein said.

“It’s a throwback, it’s a course from an earlier day,” he said. “It’s got a kind of quirkiness, semi-blind couple of shots, but I think they made the most of a tight piece of land. It’s got very interesting shots. We’re trying to open it up a little bit and expand some of the greens. They’ve lost some of those over the years. That’s normal though.”

As a Ross expert, Klein finds it fascinating that Ross lived in a house just two miles from Tatnuck CC during World War I. He also enjoys the laid-back feel of the club.

“It’s relaxed, it’s uncluttered,” he said. “A lot of people carry their bags or walk with a pull cart. It’s a very different atmosphere. It’s nice to see.”

At Worcester CC, he worked with Gil Hanse to educate the membership about Hanse’s master plan that will be implemented starting in the fall of 2024 to rebuild bunkers and tees, expand greens and remove trees. The 11th green will be lowered to its original height.

“It’s a very traditional old piece of land,” Klein said, “and it’s a golf course where they built the tees and greens and transitioned through the routing because they weren’t moving much land back then. It’s very dramatic. I don’t think people fully appreciate that from the fifth tee to the ninth green, you’re walking uphill almost 180 feet. That’s a big climb.”

Klein said his favorite area of Worcester CC is the openness of 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 after trees were removed and the fairways were basically joined together.

“That was Gil’s idea,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”

At Whitinsville, Klein has worked on and off with Hanse for several years to implement a master plan to remove trees and define fairway lines and mowing patterns, first with former superintendent Dave Johnson and more recently with current superintendent Shaun Mitchell.

Klein said the aerial photos of Whitinsville on opening day in 1925 show only seven trees on the course.

A new fifth tee has been built, and more tee and bunker work is planned.

“Hopefully, just tweak the second hole and nurse that along,” he said. “We’re trying to avoid having to rebuild it. It depends on what happens. They’ve had some agronomic issues with that green.”

Klein said the bunkers on the second hole will probably have to be rebuilt, but they’re trying to delay that as long as possible.

Klein pointed out that Whitinsville has benefited from having a working-class membership.

“I don’t know if the members know how good their golf course is,” he said. “What they’ve done is they’ve left it alone. It’s one of those courses where the virtue of the place is they left it alone, they didn’t have the money to spend.”

Klein is also helping Rhode Island CC select an architect, and he’s consulting at Longmeadow CC and Wampanoag CC in West Hartford.

Klein takes his work seriously, but himself less so. His email address is igolfbadly@aol.com.

After he graduated from Binghamton University in 1976, Klein caddied for four weeks on the PGA Tour, beginning with the B.C. Open at En-Joie CC in nearby Endicott, New York. He caddied on and off during summers from 1976 through 1983, and he was Bernhard Langer’s first PGA Tour caddie in the U.S. in 1981 and 1982.

“It was the best job in the world,” he said. “Money purses were tight. You traveled four, slept on the floor, you hustled the pro-ams, but it was a great way to see the best players in the world and to see great golf courses and have fun in your 20s when you were single.”

His largest payday as a caddie was for about $720, when Langer tied for sixth at the World Series of Golf. He thinks he remembers that the deal called for him to make $200 plus 3 percent of whatever Langer earned.

In the 1977 Pleasant Valley Classic at Pleasant Valley CC in Sutton, Klein caddied for Fred Marti, who shot a 64 to take the first-round lead.

“I thought, ‘This was easy,’ ” Klein recalled. “The next day he shot 80, and we were first off the tee on Saturday morning.”

Fans used to pack the hill behind the 17th green at PV.

“PV was great because the crowds were enormous,” Klein said. “Cuz Mingolla’s tournament was a big, big event.”

He remembers paying only about $40-$60 for the week to stay in some inexpensive hotel near the Massachusetts-Rhode Island line.

“In those days, that was a $250,000 total purse,” Klein said. “Now you get that for a four-way tie for sixth.”

In 2007, he was inducted into the Professional Caddie Hall of Fame.

Klein estimates he’s played about 150 of the 410 courses that Ross designed, and he has seen another 50 or so.

Golf courses have changed a great deal since Ross designed them.

“I think he would have a conundrum about how far the ball goes,” Klein said, “because he was building par 5s at 460 or 480 yards. He wasn’t building 600-yard par 5s very often.”

Many modern architects place most bunkers around the greens and landing areas for tee shots, but Klein said Ross liked to scatter his bunkers throughout a golf course to bring them into play for golfers of all levels.

“I think he would try to make the game interesting, fun and a puzzle for every class of player,” Klein said.

Is Ross the greatest golf architect of all time?

“No, but he led an interesting life,” Klein said.

If you want to know how interesting of a life he led, read Klein’s book.

Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Bradley Klein remains on course after changing careers, from classroom to golf writer/consultant