Grand Haven Mens Golf Assoc.

I was born and brought up in Bantam Connecticut.  Bantam is a small town in the northwest part of the state.  It is in a rural area with the largest natural lake in the state.   As a youngster I spent much of my time outside with family and friends.  Fishing was a four-season activity in the Lacko house facilitated by living a mile from the lake.  My dad was an avid fisherman as was my grandfather and the fishing gene was passed down to my brother and I.  There was also water and snow skiing and flying model airplanes to keep me engaged.  In school I ran cross country and rowed for Litchfield High School.  After high school I attended Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worchester Mass, graduating with a degree in computer science.  In college I rowed and was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.  After college I went to work for The Hartford Insurance Group working in Information Technology.  I had the opportunity to be exposed to many of the latest IT technologies.  I had several technical positions, an internal consultant position and multiple management positions.  While working at The Hartford I bought, rehabbed, and managed several three family houses in Hartford and East Hartford.  Rehabbing houses was a great opportunity to further develop and refine my woodworking, plumbing and electrical skills.
 

It was at The Hartford that I met my wife Pam.  Together we enjoyed skiing, softball, volleyball, and camping.  We married and bought a house in Simsbury, a town in the northern part of Connecticut.  We were blessed with two children, Rebecca, and Mathew.  Life in Simsbury with the kids was great.  Years of soccer, swimming, little league, and lacrosse.  We were active members of Saint Albans Episcopal Church where I was the junior warden and head of the property commission for years.
 

Pam retired from the corporate world to spend time with the kids and after they grew older, she started Smartclicks LLC a computer consulting company.  Thirty years with The Hartford was enough and I retired in 2006.  My plan was to do some work on our house, fish the Farmington River, garden and help a little with Smartclicks LLC when needed.  The business kept growing and I found myself helping more than a little.  It turned out I was spending half my days providing technical and consulting services to individuals and small businesses in and around town.
 

For years dad, my brother and I had been heading off to Montana to flyfish the Big Sky waters.  Mathew decided to attend Montana State University and after graduation started a guiding company.  I now have first-son reports on the best times and places to fish.  In 2018 after our daughter also moved to Montana.  With both kids in Montana the trips west are now as much for family as fishing.  Lately golfing has become a family activity of choice while in Bozeman, Montana.  I have also added the Bahamas as a yearly warm weather bone fishing destination.
 

In 2019, with the family all gone from Connecticut, we had enough of the cold weather, it was time to move south.  We had friends in Palm Coast and after several visits found a great house in Grand Haven.  With a golf course and the Intracoastal Water Way it checked off all the boxes for moving south.  Golfing was always Pam’s sport of choice.  I tagged along a few times a year when weather, friends and time permitted.  In 2020 I started my quest to learn to golf, how hard could it be?  It has been both a frustrating and humbling experience.  It did, however, provide a major diversion from the Covid disaster.  Being outside trying to learn the game of golf was great.  Now if I could only make a putt, I could come closer to boggy Golf.