FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (May 3, 2012) -- After sponsoring countless golf tournaments at Fort Meade for more than a decade, Matt Hauser stood on the tee-box preparing for the final hole he'll play at the Courses. With mixed emotions, Hauser was just happy to have hit the ball well.
"We'll miss this more than you know," he said.
Hauser was among the 144 golfers who squeezed in a final round at the Courses during the Commander's Cup on Sunday afternoon before the facilities shut down after more than 70 years of golf.
The Courses at Fort Meade, which opened in 1950, originally featured 18 holes, a driving range, putting green and clubhouse, and hosted notable golfers, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1952, the Courses grew by another 18 holes.
But in recent years, the Courses lost nine holes and the driving range during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure when headquarters for the Defense Media Activity and Defense Information Systems Agency were built on a portion of the course.
Last year, 35,000 rounds of golf were played at the 27-hole facility.
The Courses closed Tuesday for major construction projects tied to mission expansion, making the Commander's Cup the last tournament to be played on Fort Meade.
"This is not a very solemn event right now," said Garrison Commander Col. Edward C. Rothstein prior to the tournament. "This should be a happy occasion."
Golfers who have claimed the Courses as their home course for years flocked to the event to give the facility a proper farewell.
"I wouldn't miss the last tournament," said Joe Pacileo, who has played at the Courses for 15 years. "It's the end of an era."
Lewis Shipp, who began playing at Fort Meade when he joined the National Security Agency in 1967, returned for the Commander's Cup for the first time in three years. He called the experience of participating in the final tournament "bittersweet."
"It was a place you could always get a starting time, and you could always play," Shipp said. "You always met your friends, people you knew from the [NSA] or from around the base. Even if you came out and you didn't have a foursome and you joined some people, they were good people. ... I know all the people who play here are going to miss it."
At noon, golfers lined up in their carts ready to begin the 18-hole scramble tournament. After a brief welcome from Rothstein, players were sent on their way for the last time.
"It was kind of sad, just knowing that it was the last time to play here," said Rick Herrera, a patron since 2010.
Following the round of golf, participants returned to the Clubhouse for a banquet. Rothstein assured golfers the Commander's Cup will continue to live on, even if held at another course.
"This is the last drive you're going to have on [the] Parks or Applewood [courses]; this is the last putt you're going to have on these phenomenal greens," he said. "But it doesn't mean it's going to be the last time you drive or you putt as part of the Fort Meade community."
Winners of the tournament also were honored during the 40-minute banquet. John Dustin, Rod Frank, Bill Knapp and Bill Lange finished the competition with the lowest score, after shooting a 57.
Michelle Miller, Phil Nelson, Joan Lovelace and Don Vandeusen finished in second place with a score of 61. Also shooting 61, Jerry McFadden, Joe Belich, Fred Comings and John Petterson finished third. The tie-breaker was decided by the results of the last nine holes.
Individual-hole contest winners also were announced. Neil Dohtery won the men's closest-to-the-pin competition on the 18th hole; Lovelace won the women's closest-to-the-pin on the sixth hole; and Ralph Darvey won the mixed closest-to-the-pin on the first hole.
Fleetwood Lilley won the 17th hole's longest drive competition. Belich had the straightest drive on the 15th hole.
Despite the closing, golfers said the tournament was still a good time.
"It couldn't have been a better end," Pacileo said.
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