wbjournal.com | March 20, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
Digital Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com
Staff Writers
Laura Finaldi, lfinaldi@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing, higher education)
Emily Micucci,
emicucci@wbjournal.com (Health care)
Editorial Intern, Savannah Donohue,
sdonohue@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub
Livia Gershon
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director,
Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Custom Publishing Project Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Kim Vautour,
kvautour@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
W
hen I was a teenager, my
mother bought me a set of
golf clubs from a local big
box store. I had enjoyed
playing with my dad and brothers occa-
sionally, but until that point had to rely
on using a partial set of my dad's old
clubs. My new ones came out of a boxed
set, were ill-fitting and had bad grips, but
they fit my skillset (I was and still am
terrible at golf ) and my level of interest
in playing, which was about five week-
ends a year with family and friends.
I still own those clubs, but they might
be the most unused item in my entire
house. When we moved into our new
place in 2015, I hung them from a hook
in the garage, until my wife tired of
bumping into them as she climbed into
her car. Today, they take up a very small
portion of my basement and have not
been used in about seven years.
Every year, when WBJ does its
Meetings Guide & Golf Directory, it
always makes me laugh at the impor-
tance golf still plays in the business
world. I know golfing and clubs still play
a significant role in the recreational lives
and business dealings for a large number
of Central Massachusetts business lead-
ers (WBJ's own publisher, associate pub-
lisher and sales account manager are
very active players), but it blows my
mind people have the time for such a lei-
surely activity. As amazing as it sounds
to be out on a manicured grass field on a
sunny day (especially now, as I stare out
my window at a foot of snowfall) I can't
imagine finding four or five hours in a
workday to golf, much less leaving my
wife and children for that amount of
time on a weekend.
Luckily for the golfing industry, busi-
ness people make the game a priority in
their professional and personal lives.
They are, of course, the people who
WBJ's Golf Directory is catered to. Even
as people like me haven't had the time
for the sport, the Central Massachusetts
golf industry has done a lot to diversify
its offerings since the Great Recession,
which you can read more about starting
on page 12.
And one of these days, I may dust off
Finding time for golf
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weeky, 24x per year, including 5 special
issues in April, July, September, November and
December, by New Engand Business Media. 172
Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals
postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2015. All
rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address
changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330,
Congers, NY 10920-9894.
Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for
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at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478
Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark
Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860.
Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does
not return them to the sender.
Worcester Business Journal
172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604
508-755-8004 tel.
• 508-755-8860 fax
www.wbjournal.com
A division of:
NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
12 FOCUS on Meetings Guide & Golf
Directory
13 The List: Top meeting facilities
19 The List: Top tourist attractions
22 The List: Top hotels
25 The List: Top golf courses
30 The Rainmaker
31 Know How
32 On the Move
35 Photo Finish
36 Business Leads
37 Opinion
38 Shop Talk: Jason Eastty, Escape Games
Worcester
8 Acquisition targets
Years of losses have made local
Massachusetts insurers prime targets for
larger health companies looking to
consolidate.
21 Fitchburg's Disney
Three years after getting $17 million in
tax breaks, Great Wolf Lodge is turning
North Worcester County into a tourist
destination.
I N T H I S I S S U E
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
my old clubs and hit the links again. If
you see me, I'll be the one in the high
rough or the woods, looking for yet
another lost ball.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
