Hank Majewski of Westminster was honored when he recently learned he was to be inducted into Middle Atlantic Section of The Professional Golfers' Association of America (MAPGA) Hall of Fame.

But he was also surprised.

"I didn't know they changed the rule," said the owner and PGA director of golf at Wakefield Valley Golf and Conference Center on Fenby Farm Road in Westminster.

"I thought you had to be retired to be in the Hall of Fame," he added.

Majewski is hardly retired, and sure enough, he's the first inductee into the Virginia-based MAPGA who is not retired -- that MAPGA rule was changed a few years ago.

Indeed, the Baltimore native is very much active, having spent five decades involved in the sport.

"I started caddying when I was 10 years old at the Baltimore Country Club," said Majewski, who was actually back at BCC for a visit on a senior tour stop last month. "I then played in junior programs in Baltimore and Washington, D.C."

Hall of Fame honors are nothing new for Majewski, 69, who was inducted into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame in 2005. He's also a member of the athletic Hall of Fame at the University of Baltimore.

Other honors to come his way include: 1982 MAPGA merchandiser of the year (private category), the 1988 MAPGA professional of the year and the 1988 national PGA professional of the year.

He's also served on the PGA national board for four years and attended two Ryder Cup events.

His latest induction is slated for Nov. 22 at the InterContinental Harbor Court Hotel in Baltimore.

Majewski grew up in the Hampden section of Baltimore, not far from the site of old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street.

He went to the University of Baltimore, where he played golf and basketball. The school played in the College Sports Division from 1928 to 1983, and Majewski said the level of competition was similar to present-day NCAA Division II.

The golf team traveled as far as New York, New Jersey and West Virginia for matches and played schools such as Mount St. Mary's, Loyola, Army, Navy, Hofstra, Fairleigh-Dickinson, Hampden-Sydney, Randolph-Macon, Lynchburg and then-Western Maryland College, now McDaniel.

Majewski became a PGA member in 1967, and from then until 1985 he was the PGA director of golf at Allview Golf Course and Hobbit's Glen Golf Club in Howard County.

He graduated from college in 1961 and was hired by the Columbia Association in Howard County to assist in the start up of the Hobbit's Glen course.

"There was nothing there (he said of Hobbit's Glen). They were just putting in roads," he said. "Our office was in a house they had bought on an old farm. There were no other buildings."

His number on the employee payroll was 003.

He also worked with Bob Haley to build the Bay Club Golf Course, which opened in 1988 in Berlin, near Ocean City. Majewski sold that course in 2000.

He purchased Wakefield Valley in 1983 and for the next two years commuted between Westminster and Howard County, then left Columbia in 1985 to work full-time at Wakefield Valley.

Why leave the courses in Howard County and come to Westminster? Majewski said the Carroll County course gave him an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

"I always wanted to own my own golf course," he said.

He's made the most of it -- Wakefield Valley has been named the third-best course in Maryland by The Washington Times.

Majewski and his wife, Sally, have been married for 47 years. They have three daughters and eight grandchildren.

Hank Majewski's induction ceremony into the MAPGA Hall of Fame will take place at the InterContinental Harbor Court Hotel in Baltimore on Saturday, Nov. 22. For more details, call the Middle Atlantic PGA at 540-720-7420 or go to www.mapga.com.

user comments (0)