Bill Plante and his son, Joe, played in the Labor Day Four-Ball at the golf club he owns, Heritage Country Club in Charlton, for three years in a row.
Then, sadly, Joe died of accidental fentanyl poisoning last October at age 28.
A couple of weeks later, John Jeniski asked Plante if he could take Joe’s place and play with him in the 2024 Labor Day Four-Ball.
Jeniski had been Joe’s favorite teacher at St. John’s High School and he has been a regular at Heritage for years.
“It absolutely just floored me to the ground,” Plante said. “I told John, ‘That would be such an honor.’ But it’s going to be hard.”
It would actually become even harder for them than Plante thought.
Last March, Jeniski’s daughter, Rachel, committed suicide at age 17.
“So we became tragically tied through golf and through the loss of our youngest kids,” Jeniski said.
“We ended up joined,” Plante said, “two people together that have had the ultimate loss.”
Plante, 59, attended Rachel’s funeral and at the bereavement luncheon he gave Jeniski a big hug and offered him a free membership at Heritage. Jeniski, 52, used to be a member at Heritage, but had played more often at Quinnatisset Country Club in Thompson, Conn., in recent years.
“I knew personally what I was going through,” Plante said. “It tears your soul out and I knew that he needed to be around all of his friends and all of the people who love him.”
“Honestly,” Jeniski said, “going up to Heritage this past year was one of the only things that kind of kept me sane. It was my escape. It was an oasis away from the reality of my life.”
While golfing at Heritage provides Jeniski an escape from his nightmares about losing Rachel, he realizes that the same isn’t true for Plante, his wife Cheryl and their daughter Sarah. That’s because Joe worked at Heritage and was such a big part of it.
“So the same way I feel every time I walk past her bedroom door,” Jeniski said, “or see her bicycle that will never be ridden again in our basement, Bill must be feeling that way throughout his days not only at home, but also at Heritage. For me it’s an escape, but he doesn’t get that same outlet and I feel terrible for my friend to have to suffer like that. But we are bonded for life through this horrible nightmare.”
Jeniski hasn’t golfed as much this year because of spinal stenosis. Medication and physical therapy didn’t help enough so he is scheduled to undergo surgery in November.
Plante admitted he didn’t have the drive to play as much golf this season following the death of his son and when he did play he didn’t play as well as in the past.
Throughout the golf season, the two grieving fathers spoke to each other about the pain they were experiencing. They knew it would be difficult emotionally to play together, but they realized it could be therapeutic as well.
So Jeniski teed off with Plante in the Joe Plante Memorial Labor Day Four-Ball, which is named after Bill’s late father.
While Jeniski drove to Heritage each day of the tournament from his home in Oxford, tears streamed down his face as he held a bracelet that Rachel had made and given him a month or so before she died.
“It’s almost like my little rosary,” he said. “I just hold onto it and flip through the beads and think about her.”
A twosome had to win three 18-hole matches to capture the championship. On the first day, Jeniski rolled in an 8-foot par putt on the 20th hole to give him and Plante a victory over Jeff Chamberland and Rudy Miranda.
“Joey and Rachel were looking down on us, I think, and helped us eke out the victory,” Jeniski said.
In the semifinals on Sunday, Jeniski and Plante defeated John Cantlin and John Vellia, 2 and 1. Plante said he felt as if he had his son on his shoulder that day because he carded five birdies and Jeniski had three.
“I was talking to him the whole way around,” Plante said of his son.
In the final on Labor Day, they outlasted Connor Gillespie and Nate Berthiaume, 2 and 1. Jeniski two-putted from 15 feet for par on 17 to end the match.
“We both kind of felt our kids’ presence in some way,” Jeniski said. “I’m not super religious, but it was just like a calming influence to some degree. Lots of people came on to the 17th green and gave us hugs. They were bawling. Billy was very emotional. I was emotional. It was an amazing kind of experience.”
Gillespie and Berthiaume shook their hands and told them that if they had to lose to anybody, they were glad it was them.
“Johnny and I both broke down and hugged each other for quite awhile,” Plante said, “and then multiple members came up with tears in their eyes. It was overwhelming, both of elation and of sorrow. It was two very intense emotions.”
“I’ve had buddies of mine who are tough as nails who start crying when I share this story with them,” Jeniski said.
Jeniski had played in the championship flight four previous times and had never won.
Plante has played in all 37 of the Labor Day Four-Balls at Heritage. He won it for the first time in several years and the seventh time in all. The way he looks at it, it was the first time he won it with his son.
“To win it was so overwhelming emotionally and joyfully and also hard,” Plante said. “It brought up a ton of tough feelings after the tournament. It’s a warm story, but it’s also a really sad story and, boy, it brought out both.”
Jeniski was hesitant about continuing to play golf this year after his daughter’s death, but his wife Tamar told him that Rachel would have wanted him to keep playing, that she enjoyed hearing about his rounds.
Jeniski said he wanted to win the four-ball more for Plante than himself.
Eight days after Joe died last fall, St. John’s won its eighth state golf championship and its first since Joe helped the Pioneers repeat as state champs in 2012. The Pioneers won it while wearing Joe’s initials and graduation year, ’13, embroidered in the school colors of red and white with a purple ribbon on their Titleist golf caps.
St. John’s coaches and golfers honored 2013 grad Joe Plant today by wearing hats with his initials, year of graduation and a purple ribbon embroidered on them. Plant unexpectedly passed away last week at the age of 28. pic.twitter.com/hK0sJ1BNWz
— Tommy Cassell (@tommycassell44) November 1, 2023
More: St. John’s claims first state championship since 2012 while honoring former golfer
A week or two later after St. John’s won the state championship, the golf team, coaches, parents and alums held a tournament at Wachusett CC. Plante was invited and he played in Jeniski’s foursome.
“It was obviously very raw and it was very tough for Bill at that time,” Jeniski said.
That night, Jeniski texted Plante to ask if he could take Joe’s place in the four-ball the following year and they went on to become champions.
At the Labor Day Four-Ball, Plante displayed a banner near the practice green to honor his late father and son, and another banner to honor Rachel and three former Heritage employees who had passed away since the last Labor Day Four-Ball, Kevin Butler, Bob Mosher and Dave Williams.
Rachel loved her dog Harley, music and family, especially her older twin siblings, Chloe and Mikey. She played volleyball at Notre Dame Academy and caddied at Worcester Country Club the summer of 2023 with Chloe.
“She was a beautiful, beautiful sweet kid,” Jeniski said of Rachel. “She was the happiest young kid I’ve ever seen as a toddler and tweenager. She always had a smile on her face. Things kind of changed in middle school when boys got involved and that kind of sent her for a loop and obviously COVID didn’t help the situation either. She just struggled the last couple of years.”
Jeniski credited the people at Heritage and St. John’s with helping him and his family cope with their devastating loss.
“There were over 400 people at the funeral and Rachel thought she didn’t have that many friends,” Jeniski said.
Jeniski and Tamar have been open about their daughter taking her own life. They’d like to help other parents recognize the signs of depression and prevent suicide attempts among their children. Jeniski pointed out that September is Suicide Prevention Month and he urged people to call 988 if they or anyone they know needs support.
—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @BillDoyle15.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Heritage CC event provides respite for two families coping with loss
