Local course has cool way of honoring its late, avid golfers

If life-loving golf fanatic John Sesi were alive today, he’d no doubt be proud to know his legacy lives on at one of his favorite places: Ypsilanti Township’s Green Oaks Golf Course.

An impressive memorial to Sesi — complete with a heart-warming memoriam written by his brother, Naz, and an image of his face carved in bronze — stands next to one of the 54-year-old municipal golf course’s 18 tee boxes.

“If you needed to build a better mousetrap, catch a bigger fish, or hit a longer drive, John was your man …,” reads the memorial that celebrates the life of the man who died in 2001 at the age of 39.

A spokesperson for Green Oaks said the course is one of the few in southeast Michigan that allows monuments like the one dedicated to Sesi.

“As long as the family of the person who passed away supplied the memorial — whether it be a plaque on a rock or simply a plaque that pays tribute to the person — the Green Oaks grounds crew would place it next to the tee box the family requests,” the spokesperson said.

Long-lasting tribute

“It’s a really cool thing for the families of the golfers who enjoyed some of the best moments of their lives on this course.”

Earlier this year, another form of tribute was completed with the blessing of Ypsilanti Township, which operates the low greens fees/well-manicured course.

“A few years back a golfer recorded a hole-in-one on one of our par 3’s,” the spokesperson said. “After he passed away earlier this year, his family asked if they could spread his ashes behind the green on the hole where he got his ace. The township obliged.”

Another back-nine monument pays tribute to Green Oaks regular Dick Brown, “Who will be sadly missed but never forgotten,” the plaque donated by Brown’s friends and family at F.O.E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) #2250 reads.

Present-day golfers at Green Oaks pay tribute to the memorialized golfers by placing golf balls and tees near the plaques.

While there are no bodies laying beneath the gravestone-like plaques at Green Oaks, the memorials serve a similar purpose — paying tribute to a person who had a passion for life (and golf).

“Courses and cemeteries are essentially the same thing,” quipped writer Jason Scott Deegan in an article for GolfPass.com featuring how many courses in Ireland are built next to cemeteries. “(They’re both) open spaces of green pastures where old folks (dead and alive) congregate.”

Sesi’s memorial closes with these words written by his brother, who no doubt yearns to play one more round with his brother, who would be 61 years old if still alive today: “Brother John, you will always be remembered for the good one person brought to so many. Walk in Peace, my brother, walk in peace.”

And may Sesi’s eternal drives find nothing but the middle of the fairway.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4647 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.