Golf: last sport standing for Mike Rose.
“I was a star of the football team in fifth grade, but I broke my leg in a practice game. My mother refused to sign the player participation sheet, so that took care of my football career,” Rose, 78, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., said. “Basketball I was good, but when I went into junior high school, everybody was all of a sudden taller, faster and could jump higher. That took care of basketball. Baseball was my favorite. Then curveballs came in. Fastballs went faster. That took care of my baseball career.”
Christened with sharp hand-eye coordination and influenced by his parents, Leon and Bobbie, Rose turned to golf. As a ninth grader, he made the Abington Senior High School golf team.
“The first day I went to practice at Huntingdon Valley (Country Club). [To the lower left of the first tee], they used to have a little tee. There was a man there hitting 5-irons to a caddie between the Nos. 18 and 1. And it was Big Bill Hyndman. So, the first high school golf I had was seeing William Hyndman, III.”
It wouldn’t be the last time Rose crossed paths with Hyndman. Fast forward to the 1978 GAP Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship at North Hills Country Club. Rose and teammate Ben Goldman, before teeing off in the afternoon, enter the grill room and spot Hyndman and his teammate, O. Gordon Brewer, Jr.
“They just shot [5-under-par] 66. They were chirping it up having a good time,” Rose, an honorary Philmont Country Club member, said. “[Ben and I are] 1 under par with four holes to go. Ben holes it from the fairway for eagle on the 15th hole. I birdied the 16th hole. He birdies Nos. 17 and 18, and we’re in at 65. We go into the grill room. Gordon and Big Bill are still chirping it up, having a good time. And Gordon says, ‘Well how did you do boys?’ I said, ‘Well Gordon we slipped in with a 65.’ That was sweet.”
As sweet as ice cream — a career as voluminous an ice cream bar.
Rose won the Amateur Championship medal and Silver Cross Award in 1977. He made 13 match-play appearances, reaching the quarterfinals on three occasions (1977, 1982, 1984). In 1984, he fell to Blaise Giroso in an 18-hole playoff for the Joseph H. Patterson Cup. Rose captured the Middle-Amateur Championship in 1995 and the now-defunct Tournament of Champions in a record six consecutive years (1980-85). He made 13 Compher Cup (1978-80, 1982-88, 1995-96, 2001) and 11 Mason-Dixon Matches (1977-84, 1986, 1995, 2003) appearances.
“I was very good at managing my golf game. I always wanted to hit the right shot at the right time. Philmont was a great course to develop that kind of game because of all of the trees that we had,” Rose, an investment advisor for 30 years, said. “My mother was my inspiration and teacher as far as short game is concerned. I was a good putter. Most of us used the old bullseye back then. We could really putt, and we could really chip.”
Rose teamed with his mother Bobbie to take 10 Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Griscom Cup titles (1968-69, 1976, 1982-83, 1988-91, 1993, 1995). He and his wife Sally won the Husband-Wife Championship on nine occasions (Class C: 1983; Class B: 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994-95, 2003, 2005, 2008).
“My days of competitive golf are pretty much over. But I still enjoy going out there, still trying to make shots, still making a birdie from time to time. I’m out here for the enjoyment.”
In the Boyle Cup, Rose prevailed in 2001 with his sister, Bonnie George, and in 1978 with Jan Albert, George’s close friend.
“I can get into the hall of fame as the only man in the [Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia] Hall of Fame. That’s my goal,” Rose, an Indiana University alum, said.
Rose, along with Bobbie and Bonnie, do reside in the Philadelphia Jewish Hall of Fame. Family by his side enriched experiences in national and international events. Rose qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1983 and 1999, the U.S. Amateur in 1987 and the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2004. Those opportunities led to three R&A appearances: Mid-Amateur (1984, 2000) and Amateur (1990).
Rose’s competitive prowess translated at both the senior and super-senior stages. In 2003, he won the Francis B. Warner Cup and Senior Amateur Championship en route to Senior Player of the Year honors. In 2012, Rose won the Brewer Cup and Super-Senior Silver Cross Award en route to Super-Senior Player of the Year honors.
Off the course, Rose articulated Philadelphia golf. Starting in 1989, he cohosted a Saturday night golf show on SportsRadio 94WIP alongside Bob Vetrone, Sr. Rose today provides golf reports for 97.5 The Fanatic. In 1996, he launched Great Golf Magazine, a publication that highlights golf courses to play throughout the Philadelphia region. Each issue includes “The Rose Factor,” an editorial penned by Rose.
“Ugly golf gets results. It’s worked for me. Give luck a chance. It’s called The Rose Factor. Try it,” a 2025 excerpt reads.
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 125,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
