‘Retire from what?’ How two 80-somethings are making a Massachusetts golf course a labor of love.

Gordon Bliss’ wife, Jean, urges him once in a while to retire.

“I say, ‘Retire from what?’” he said. “I love what I’m doing. I want to keep doing what I’m doing and I don’t want to stop. So why would I retire from it? That’s not going to help me at all.”

Gordon, 82, and Jean, 80, own Blissful Meadows Golf Course in Uxbridge and at his age he still takes a hands-on approach. He thinks nothing of grabbing a hammer or hopping on a tractor. Jean still does her share of planting flowers and pruning.

Bliss’ grandfather and father never retired and he doesn’t plan to, either. He remembers helping his 89-year-old grandfather roof a three-story building.

“You want to keep going, doing the things you love to do,” he said. “It’s not work, it’s part of life.”

“His enthusiasm and energy are going strong,” his daughter, Kim Brunetti, said. “He is constantly coming up with new projects to work on and is always on his Kubota (tractor). Can’t really keep a good man down.”

Blissful Meadows was built on a farm that the Blisses purchased in 1964 along with a house, barn, all of the farm machinery and 100 acres of land for what the club’s website calls “the fair asking price of $14,900.”

Bliss was an engineering manager at Whitin Machine Works in Whitinsville at the time, and he and Jean raised their seven children on the farm, which they ran as a hobby, raising black angus beef cattle and Tennessee walker horses.

After the Bliss children grew up, the taxes on the farm skyrocketed 800%.

“So we decided we had to do something drastic or sell out,” Bliss said.

They decided to build a golf course to take advantage of a 75% tax break for recreational use of the land.

Brian Silva was hired to design the course. Construction began in 1989 and Bliss pitched in to help. The first nine holes opened in 1992 and the back nine opened in 1995.

“You’ve got to love people,” Bliss said. “You’ve got to love the game. You’ve got to love outdoor work. You’ve got to love working hard. And to me, it’s a lot like farming because you deal with the elements. You can have a rainy season where nobody’s playing golf, but you still have to maintain the course. You have dry seasons where you don’t have enough water to water the greens, but you still have to maintain them. You work hard. You’ve got to love it.”

The Blisses live in the 1745 farmhouse next to the 1880 clubhouse and former barn, both of which are listed in the national records for historic buildings. The club’s covered bridge, abandoned silver mine and Native American campground are other historical sites. The Bliss family has worked hard to maintain the New England farm character of the club by maintaining stone walls, the barn used for the tavern, weddings and pro shop, and historic equipment that can be found around the golf course.

Bliss is helping maintain the course this year before his grandson, Alex Bliss, takes over as superintendent in November. Alex studied turf grass management at UMass-Amherst and served as assistant superintendent at Blissful Meadows before he spent the past five years as first assistant superintendent at Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton.

“He’s been wanting to come back, but he wanted to get fully qualified,” Bliss said, “which he is.”

Lots of Blisses

Blissful is full of Blisses. Four Bliss daughters work at the course. Brunetti is the controller. Melissa Laskowski coordinates the weddings and her husband, Mark, manages food and beverage. Shauna Stefanic is the media coordinator and her husband Jeff is the head mechanic. Brindie Gingras is the head bartender and her husband, Jim, helps out as well. They are Alex’s parents.

Bliss’ son, Kevin, helped build Blissful and owns Crystal Lake Golf Club, less than 10 miles away in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

Kim Brunetti’s daughter, Olivia, is the club’s landscaper, having learned a lot from Jean.

In 2013, Blissful opened a 250-seat, open-door barn pavilion at the top of the parking lot and it has been a huge success. Bliss said that some years the pavilion has generated up to 50% or 60% of the club’s revenue by hosting weddings, functions and outings.

In another barn, Bliss keeps his 10 antique cars, ranging from a 1919 Ford Model T and a 1949 Ford convertible. He put two on display on a Saturday in July when the club hosted a wedding for 200 in the pavilion and another for 150 upstairs in the clubhouse.

Revenues

In 2019, Blissful had one of its best years. In 2020, despite closing for 12 weeks from March until June because of the pandemic, golf income increased 9.9% over the previous year. This year through August, golf income skyrocketed 27% over the same period last year.

Unfortunately, food, beverage, wedding and tournament income at Meadowview Tavern in the clubhouse plummeted 79% from 2019 to 2020. This year, however, income at the tavern has soared 171%. The club has 57 weddings booked this year, about 25 fewer than the club’s best year, but far more than the 10 it hosted last year.

The restaurant business is up about 200%.

“Best year we’ve ever had,” Bliss said. “You have to understand what people are looking for in the industry. They’re looking for an experience, a value and they’re not afraid to spend money if they get the service, the experience and the value that they want.”

Two years ago, Blissful was booked about 50% of the time. This year, the course is busy 75% to 80% of the time, an all-time high. Weekends have pretty much sold out.

Has it been fun?

“It has,” Bliss said. “No question about it. I enjoy it because I love the outdoors, I love being part of what’s happening.”

Bliss is no fan of stimulus checks that made people reluctant to return to work.

“Owning a public golf course right now is probably tougher than it’s ever been,” he said, “not because of the players, but because of the help. People are paid to stay home and you cannot find help. So we have fewer people working harder, putting in more time in order to accomplish what we need to.”

Bliss realizes the same is true for restaurants and other businesses.

“When people are paid to stay home and do nothing, there’s no incentive for them to come to work,” he said.

Bliss estimated Blissful had 75% fewer young workers for summer help than three or four years ago and he said the few that did report to work didn’t last long. So managers and higher-paid people have been forced to do most of the hands-on work at Blissful, Bliss said.

Bliss is proud that after a one-year hiatus his club will host the 29th annual Company Open charity golf outing Sept. 17. The event has raised more than $250,000 over the years to benefit local youth education and sports programs.

Bliss plans to keep working on it for as long as he can. Genetics are on his side. He had a great-grandfather who lived to 100.

“I’ll match him,” he said. “I’d better.”