This change is pleasant

Infrequent that they are, there are times when a win-win situation arises and you say goodbye to an old friend, hello to another, and feel happiness for both.

Welcome to the winds of change at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton.

Longtime head professional Gary Young is moving on to becomes a rules official with the PGA Tour. Longtime New England PGA standout Paul Parajeckas is moving in as head professional.

The fact that neither could feel better about the moves speaks volumes for Ted Mingolla, who has run Pleasant Valley in a manner consistent with that of the gentleman who preceded him -- his late father, the legendary Cuz Mingolla.

Straightaway, one must understand that in Pleasant Valley, we're talking about one of New England's most important golf clubs. There may be better courses, and people have come along in recent years to build fancier places, but none have the history and those of us who love golf aren't indebted to them the way we are to the quiet club out in Central Massachusetts.

That's because Cuz Mingolla gave pro golf a presence in New England. He provided a stage upon which the likes of Ben Hogan and Kathy Whitworth, Arnold Palmer and Judy Rankin, Curtis Strange and Pat Bradley could perform.

And because the pros came at Mingolla's invitation, so did we. Tens of thousands of us would watch both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour in the '60s, then throughout the '70s, '80s, and well into the '90s, we built our summers around the world's best male golfers.

No matter that the PGA Tour constantly shifted the dates of those Pleasant Valley tournaments, we always found time on the calendar to make the trek out the Mass. Pike and down Route 146 so we could sit on the hill behind the 17th green, or stand by the clubhouse and watch the big boys rip tee shots into the 15th, or even walk along the rolling fairways to see the game played with splendor.

It's because Cuz Mingolla and then Ted gift-wrapped pro golf all those years that we felt a real attachment to the game. They were the days before shuttle buses and off-site parking, before $5 million purses and private jets, before wall-to-wall TV coverage and three layers of agents. The game was personal and we could get as close to it as we desired.

Young did, and so did Parajeckas, and they'll tell you how much it always meant to them.

"When the Tour was here all those years, I struck up friendships and always kept in touch with the staff members," said Young, whose 22-year run at Pleasant Valley included the last 10 PGA Tour events there.

The tournaments stopped coming after 1998 as a new era beckoned and it was as much about the theater presentation as it was about the golf.

There were hurt feelings, of course, but while the PGA Tour went its way, Pleasant Valley continued as a terrific club, and in Young, Mingolla had the consummate club pro. In turn, Young felt he had an extended family every day he went to work.

"I've put in a long time at Pleasant Valley," said Young, who was an assistant pro the first seven years of his tenure, "and this was a very difficult decision to make. So many members have come up to me and told me they couldn't have been happier for me. That means a lot to me, because this place is a big part of my life."

But at 41, Young felt "the time was right" to make a move and take on a job that has always intrigued him. He loves golf and embraces the rules. He would work alongside Mark Russell and his PGA Tour staff all those years when the pros came to tee it up, and the two became friendly. When a job opened up on Russell's staff, Young interviewed and was hired.

"I think my background inside tournament operations helped," said Young. "Mark always told me, 'We can make a golf person into a rules guy, but we can't make a rules guy into a golf person.' "

A few years ago, Parajeckas decided to halt his quest to make it on the Champions Tour. Against the longest of odds, he had tried to kick open the doors, and while he never did make it full time, he does not have to hang his head.

"I tried my best," said the former head pro at Woburn CC who has won virtually every tournament and honor within the NEPGA. "I'm pretty proud of what I've done. I've played in over 25 [Champions] Tour events, including majors, so there are no regrets. But at 57, I'm happy to settle back down."

He joined the Pleasant Valley staff a few years ago as an instructor, and when the offer came to replace Young, Parajeckas felt great fortune had tapped him on the shoulder.

"This place? This is where I grew up," said the Worcester native, and he told of being a 15-year-old and hitchhiking with boyhood friend Jack Gale -- himself an NEPGA professional -- to Pleasant Valley to caddie in the Carling World Open.

That was one of Cuz Mingolla's gifts to New England fans -- a tournament that attracted the game's best players. And to this day, whenever he gets out of his car and heads into the pro shop, Parajeckas peers out at the putting green at an image that has been with him all these years.

"I still see Tony Lema and Ben Hogan putting. I do. They're right there. I can see them. Lema and Hogan."

To Cuz Mingolla, Parajeckas owes thanks for that precious memory.

To Ted Mingolla, he gives thanks for the opportunity to make more memories at a place that has always felt like home.