Most people hope to leave a lasting mark on their community well before they retire. But Ed Mauro isn’t most people. As he approached 70, when most slow down, he was just getting started. Mauro had a vision: to turn a gravel pit and illegal dumping ground in Providence into a welcoming, affordable golf course where kids and beginners could fall in love with the game. That vision became Button Hole Golf.
Mauro’s introduction to the sport was simple. “My father stuck a club in my hand when I was 12, and that was it,” he recalls. By his early 20s, he was competing in the Rhode Island Golf Association’s State Amateur Championship, which he eventually won in 1965. In 1998, he became RIGA president. But it was in 1997, after learning about a United States Golf Association (USGA) initiative to support youth golf, that Mauro found his true calling.
He leveraged decades of connections – gained from his tenure as head of Lincoln-based manufacturer the Insco Group and his years on the course – to garner support for a short, instructional golf facility. Even before securing land, Mauro had enlisted local business leaders to back the idea. By 1998, he had formed a board and kicked off fundraising efforts. PGA Tour players Billy Andrade (born in Bristol) and Brad Faxon (raised in Barrington) signed on as co-chairs, and the dream began to take shape.
When Button Hole opened, it was primarily a youth initiative. But over time, it evolved. Today, the course serves not only kids, but also women, veterans, people with disabilities, and any Rhode Islander looking for a way into the game. Executive director Don Wright points to the list of sponsors on the organization’s website as a testament to the enduring support from the business community. He estimates around 1,000 kids come through the program each year, with about 40 percent receiving scholarships – critical for financially stressed families.
President Tom Stone notes that kids who complete the program become “Button Hole Kids,” a title that earns them lifetime bragging rights and the ability to play for just one dollar until they turn 18. Michael Houle is one of them. Now 22, he started at age eight and has been teaching at Button Hole for the past two years. “We start with the fun,” Houle says of his teaching style. “Once they’re smiling, we work in the rules, the etiquette, and eventually the technique.”
Director of Instruction Arys Batista, who’s been with Button Hole for over a decade, says the first hurdle is getting kids to slow down. “They’re used to basketball and soccer,” he explains. “I focus on teaching them patience.” During the winter months, he keeps things going by running golf simulators in schools and at the East Side YMCA.
Unifying kids from diverse backgrounds through golf has always been at the heart of Button Hole’s mission. Board member Mike Falvey takes that even further by hosting an annual event at Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Charlestown, where 18 kids from across Rhode Island get to play alongside business leaders, elected officials, and local celebrities. For Mauro, that kind of relationship-building is the real prize of the game.
Mauro remains modest about his accomplishments, but he lights up when he mentions his most recent hole-in-one – at age 91 on the 16th hole at Point Judith Country Club. The Narragansett club holds personal meaning, as his family was only the second of Italian heritage to gain membership there, breaking social barriers that once kept people like him out. That experience, he says, was part of the inspiration behind creating a place where everyone is welcome.
He also helped move the RIGA offices onto the Button Hole campus, further entwining the course’s future with the broader golf community. Bob Ward, RIGA’s executive director, doesn’t hesitate when asked about Mauro’s impact. “The creation of Button Hole is directly related to Ed Mauro’s passion to give back to the game he loves,” Ward says. “He never accepted no for an answer and found a great number of friends to buy into his dream. It’s nothing but a great success story for the history of golf in Rhode Island.”
While Don Wright says no official details have been announced yet, Button Hole is gearing up to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, along with announcing plans for a new learning center. For Mauro, who turned a forgotten corner of Providence into a place of purpose, it’s another milestone in a long, rewarding round.
Learn more at ButtonHole.org
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