Finding comfort in golf

They know every detail of the stories behind the stones that built the clubhouse for the Depression-era relic, and stare in wonder at the before-and-after photos of each hole as they were built.

Every summer, they host a fund-raising event - this year’s ninth annual Newhall/Gaffey Benefit Golf Tournament is scheduled for Saturday - that feels more like a reunion.

And to understand why, and how, you have to understand their memories. To call it special would be selling it short.

“I don’t know if heaven’s up there,’’ said Gaffey, who’s spent 30 of his 75 years playing at Gannon, “but this is our version.’’

The 62-year-old Newhall added, “I call it my church, ‘Our Lady of the Fairway.’ ’’

For Newhall, it’s the place where he fell in love not once, but twice. The love affair with the game started when he was 16 years old, caddying for $4 per day. The one with his wife started not long after.

The tale, of course, is storybook.

One of the greatest honors at the course was to have its namesake, Larry Gannon, ask you to play with him early on a Sunday evening. That particular Sunday he asked Newhall to play a round of “1-2-5-6-9,’’ so called because those connecting holes bring you back to the clubhouse.

“I’m walking up that hill down to the first tee,’’ Newhall explains, sitting in the bird’s nest that overlooks both the first and last holes, “and that’s when I first met her.’’

Ann Newhall grew up with Larry Gannon’s daughters. She was almost always hanging around the course. When he saw her, Newhall turned to a friend and told him, “I’m going to marry her.’’ That night, they played golf together.

“She gave me a ride home,’’ he said, “and we’ve been together ever since.’’

Nine years ago next month, Ann died. She had battled a brain aneurysm nearly a decade earlier and beaten it, getting back on the golf course within two years while joining support groups to help others. But the factors that had caused the initial aneurysm were still there.

Within 11 days of Ann’s death, Tom Gaffey lost his daughter, Shelli, at age 34. She had been living with juvenile diabetes since she was 9 years old.

Certain things Gaffey will always remember, he said. He was a huge Red Sox fan, but Shelli always loved wearing her New York Yankees cap.

To earn money for herself, Shelli would work a few hours in the mornings at a little bar. That job spoke volumes about her character.

“I remember I had bought a life policy and I wanted to pay it,’’ Tom Gaffey recalls. “She said, ‘No, Dad, I wanted to pay it. I’ll pay my way.’ She made sure that was taken care of for herself.’’

Tom’s wife, Gail, gave their daughter a kidney. Two years later Shelli died, but Tom said “the last two years of her life were the best two years of her life.’’

Tom Gaffey and Tom Newhall have known each other almost a lifetime. The families knew each other. Their children were around the same ages. They were there for each other.

“The first thing I did was go to his house,’’ said Newhall, upon learning of Shelli’s death. “The first thing he did was seek me out.’’

They decided to use golf as a way to memorialize their lost loved ones, creating the tournament to benefit research into juvenile diabetes and brain aneurysms. They estimate that in the eight years that they’ve held the tournament, it’s raised more than $200,000. The money’s gone to Massachusetts General Hospital, where Ann Newhall was treated, as well as various hospices and cancer centers, they said.

Throughout the year, the funds also go to help Gannon course members struggling with their own medical issues.

Not long ago, a friend at the golf course had an aneurysm, and was treated at Mass. General on the very same floor where Newhall and Gaffey have sent donations.

The woman mentioned the Newhalls, a familiar name to the staff who had seen Ann work with support groups. “It was nice to be able to see that what we’ve done actually comes full circle to some people that supported us,’’ Newhall said.

In recent years, Gail Gaffey has battled breast and lung cancer, but at 74, she’s feels as strong as she’s ever been.

“Who knows that the dollar we gave is the one that found the cure that’s made her to be as healthy as she is right now,’’ Newhall said.

Thinking the amount of treatment available when his daughter was alive, and what the answers are now, Gaffey said, “Diabetes has come a long way compared to what my daughter saw as a young girl. With the progress and the development over the years, I think we’ve some way given toward that.’’

They also know how much the members at Gannon have helped as well.

“ Around here they showed up within hours,’’ Gaffey said.

“This is the biggest extended family in the world,’’ Newhall said. “Six hundred members and every one of them is like family to us.’’

This weekend’s golf tournament will give them a chance to reunite. The stories, of course, will be endless.

“We have our memories still and that’s fine, but as time goes by the memories get better,’’ Newhall said. “The pain’s gone to a great degree, and the memories are clearer.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.