There are those who ask “why?” or “why not?”
Then there are the special ones who upon hearing an answer to their question that seems so wrong, get on a pathway of commitment to help reach a level of fairness that results in something that seems so right.
Meet Kaitlyn McCarthy, whose love of golf and of her college-of-choice delivered her to the intersection of Dilemma and Choice. Bentley College had the education she craved; it just didn’t offer a women’s golf program that she felt would enhance the collegiate experience.
“It was a really indecisive time,” she said of those days in 2021. “I was recruited elsewhere (to play golf) but I really wanted the Bentley business education.”
In the end, “I knew I had to sacrifice golf.”
Still, the decision to attend Bentley – a highly-regarded business school located in Waltham, Mass., 15 miles from Boston – didn’t exactly signal Kaitlyn McCarthy’s retirement from golf.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
At the outset of her Bentley career in the fall of 2021, Kaitlyn McCarthy had asked the question: “Why doesn’t Bentley have a women’s golf team?”
It’s a legitimate wonderment because sadly, too many don’t offer the sport to women. But we’ll table that discussion for another day and return the focus to McCarthy, whose engaging personality and embrace of golf had been witnessed for years.
“From the start, Kaitlyn stood out. She was driven, eager to grow, and never afraid to take on more,” said Matt Baran, head golf professional at The Ridge Club in Sandwich, Mass., where Kaitlyn McCarthy arrived as a 13-year-old to caddie.
“Kaitlyn would walk the line of golfers at the practice facility, cleaning clubs, and striking up conversations with ease. She was always outgoing, energetic, and never without that big, contagious smile.”
McCarthy had become smitten with golf years earlier. With her parents having bought a summer home on the Cape when she was 4, McCarthy’s introduction to golf came in a manner that has stood the test of time. A local PGA Professional in Hyannis, Dave Donnellan, was devoted to introducing children to the game and he succeeded masterfully with McCarthy. “He got my game going.”
Now this isn’t yet another story of a junior golfer with competitive achievements and an impeccable list of low scores and bright, shiny trophies. It’s deeper and warmer than that. It’s a story of young woman who fell in love with the game and learned at an early age what a lot of us came to realize much later in life – that the people and the connections and the entire golf community “leaves us all so blessed,” she said.
Mature well beyond her years, Kaitlyn McCarthy had been around quality people at The Ridge Club and elsewhere in golf circles, and she had gone through the process to be chosen a Ouimet Scholar. Knowing that Bentley didn’t have a women’s golf team didn’t deter her. Instead, she asked what was the logical follow-up: How can we make that happen?
“She was definitely convinced that Bentley could have, and should have, a women’s golf program,” Vaughn Williams told Ouimet Scholarship Fund videographers, who ran a video of McCarthy’s story for their social media pages.
Now the Athletic Director at Bentley, Williams had met McCarthy while playing golf at The Ridge Club. Promptly impressed by the young woman’s charisma and her desire to explore the possibility of women’s golf, Williams was reminded of an email McCarthy had sent him, one that requested a meeting.
When they finally met, Williams introduced McCarthy to a process that would be painstaking, but slow. “There was a lot of red tape,” said McCarthy. “We had meetings to discuss marketing, finances, funds, networking . . . I wanted to know, ‘How does this work’ and almost everyone would listen.”
Undaunted, Kaitlyn McCarthy soaked it all in. “I love to plan and organize, and I want to give back to the girls of the (Bentley) future.”
As the only senior on the inaugural Bentley women's golf team in 2024-25, Kaitlyn McCarthy received this plaque to commemorate her unwavering perseverance to see that the program got started.
Through her sophomore and junior years, the process remained fluid – at least until the spring of 2024, that is. McCarthy was studying abroad in Spain at the end of her junior year when she received news that in 2024-25 Bentley would for the first time in 25 years add a varsity athletic program.
What speaks volumes for Kaitlyn McCarthy’s character is the way she reacted to the news. She did not dampen her appreciation by thinking, “Oh, great, just one year for me.” No way. She oozes exudes "it," folks, so when David Scholnick of Marblehead, a passionate golfer with years of business leadership, got named coach of the startup program, his first move was a no-brainer.
“Kaitlyn had pushed for this program. She was my only senior so I made her my captain. She was a big reason why we were there,” he said.
So many of the pieces fit comfortably, but one struck Scholnick immediately. He had two sons (Andrew and Matthew) who, like Kaitlyn, were Ouimet Scholars. So, too, was Geoff Piva, the General Manager at Needham GC, which accepted the team’s request to be a home course.
“A lot of Ouimet undertones,” said Scholnick, who played at Salem State years ago for legendary coach George Jacobson and concedes he had never envisioned himself as coach of a women’s golf team, let alone one that was a start-up.
To get it going, he leaned heavily upon McCarthy, who had been preparing for this moment for a few years. She had studied the Bentley landscape; together with Scholnick they knew the freshmen and sophomores who had played high school golf. “Remember,” he said, “these ladies had come to Bentley to be students, not student-athletes.
“But we built it from scratch and Kaitlyn was my co-pilot. I would drive the van, she always sat up front, working Waze to get us there. She has enriched me.”
Small victories? Bentley women had some in their inaugural season. Just putting the team together in less than five months was impressive and “not once (in eight matches) did we finish last,” said McCarthy with a laugh.
Rusty as a competitive golfer (Kaitlyn hadn’t played serious golf since being part of the boys’ team in 2019-20 and 2020-21 at Medfield High School), she concedes her scores were higher than she would have liked. But her friends, teammates, colleagues, and acquaintances all have a different standard to measure Kaitlyn McCarthy’s importance to the Bentley landscape.
“In the end, I think she was just looking something equitable,” said Scholnick, who presented his only senior with a special plaque commemorating a selfless dedication to get this program up and running.
As he preps for the 2025-26 season, Scholnick said the recruitment process has had more structure than a year ago and so he’s cautiously optimistic. Even McCarthy, forever attached to the dream she helped make come true, has been impressed how “national and international players recognize Bentley.”
Yes, Kaitlyn McCarthy feels a sense of pride. Yet it’s the sense of urgency on another front that consumes her right now. A job with Prudential Financial will start in late September or early October, so for right now the focus is on all her work to get through the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulator Authority) licensing exams.
Baran, who made sure The Ridge Club was available to Bentley for a practice round last season, sees Kaitlyn McCarthy in the pro shop a few shifts a week and marvels at her presence.
“Her path (at The Ridge Club) took her from caddie to cart barn, and eventually into the golf shop. That kind of progression speaks volumes about who Kaitlyn is.
“When she shared her goal of launching a women’s golf team at Bentley, I had no doubt she’d make it happen. Her journey has been nothing short of inspiring, and I couldn’t be prouder to have seen it unfold from the very beginning.”
