June 30, 2004: Headlines: COS - Suriname: Golf: Sports: Southern Pines Pilot: Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Suriname: Peace Corps Suriname: The Peace Corps in Suriname: June 30, 2004: Headlines: COS - Suriname: Golf: Sports: Southern Pines Pilot: Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-22-73.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.22.73) on Saturday, July 03, 2004 - 4:08 pm: Edit Post

Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open.

Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open.

Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open.

NANCY O'CONNELL: Orchards Ready for Top Women

This is a special week for the small college town of South Hadley, Mass., home of The Orchards Golf Club, site of the 2004 US Women’s Open.

In 1922 Joseph P. Skinner, owner of the Skinner Silk Mills, commissioned Donald Ross to design a golf course for his daughter Elisabeth, on 200 acres of land adjacent to his estate in South Hadley. Elisabeth was a very accomplished amateur golfer and was known as one of the best women golfers in New England.

Upon the death of Skinner, the golf course was sold to Mount Holyoke College for the sum of $25,000. It has become an integral part of the town because Mount Holyoke offered memberships and allowed the club to be governed by a board of directors that was made up of members and faculty.

In the late 1990s Mount Holyoke struck a deal with Arnold Palmer Associates to manage The Orchards and under this arrangement The Orchards has continued to flourish. The clubhouse interior has become more modern, a new drainage system has been added and its reputation as one of the finest layouts in New England remains untarnished.

The design of the golf course has not been tampered with over the years except to renew the greens whenever needed.

South Hadley is the hometown of my five children and for over 28 years we held a family membership at The Orchards. My late husband, Stan, and I are honored to be in The Orchards Hall of Fame.

So you can see how important it is for me to return to this course and to be a part of the excitement that surrounds having it host the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open Championship. You didn’t belong to The Orchards unless you played golf. It didn’t have a swimming pool, tennis courts or a fancy dinning room.

It did have two putting greens and a driving range and a practice area for sand bunker shots. The membership also had the most male golfers with single-digit handicaps of any course in western Massachusetts. The clubhouse was rustic in design with just a snack bar for food, very small locker rooms and barely a parking lot. Any tournament event needed a tent to accommodate the players for lunch and dinner.

The Orchards also became one of the first courses to allow women equal playing time. It wasn’t easy to establish that protocol but it was put in place and became a model for other courses in the area. The Orchards Women’s Invitational, founded in 1980, continues to attract golfers from all of the New England states.

In 1987 The Orchards hosted the USGA Girls’ Junior Championship. Michelle McGann was the winner, sweeping her way through the match play contests, defeating Brandie Burton and Vicki Goetze-Ackerman along the way.

Orchards member Tracy Mehr, former Massachusetts state amateur champion, was tournament chairman, and Bob Bomtempo was the PGA professional. They, along with a dedicated membership, created a very successful USGA Girls’ Junior, thus setting in motion this opportunity to host a U.S. Women’s Open.

David Fay, USGA executive director, speaks glowingly about The Orchards. He says, “the world will be stunned when it gets to know the Orchards.”

His wife, Joan, is a 1973 Mount Holyoke graduate and, while playing in a college-function golf tournament in 2001, she was asked by Laurie Priest, MHC athletic director, to let her husband know that Mount Holyoke would be interested in hosting a second USGA event.

Fay called Priest shortly after Lake Merced Golf and Country Club needed to drop out of its commitment for the 2003 tournament. With a little juggling, The Orchards was offered the 2004 spot in the lineup.

Fay and the USGA, from all indications, will not be disappointed with the decision to bring this week’s Women’s Open to South Hadley. There are 375 enthusiastic members, and hundreds of volunteers from neighboring clubs, and around the country, all trained and ready to welcome over 25,000 spectators each day.

It was announced that this year holds the record for the number of volunteers that have applied to work the tournament. Western Massachusetts is ready for the world to see this beautiful and challenging gem of a golf course.

It has been groomed to perfection, seven new tees have been added to lengthen the holes and greens remain postage stamp€¯ in size, with the usual Donald Ross elevation. The course will play to par 71, over 6,473 yards, on narrow tree-lined fairways.

The action starts tomorrow. I will be on the course at 8 a.m. to pick up my credentials and to settle in at my desk in the media tent.

In the afternoon, I will enjoy watching the Patty Berg Swing Parade,¯ featuring Berg and our own Peggy Kirk Bell, joined by Pat Bradley and Kathy Whitworth. It is a group worth watching any day of the year.

I am particularly glad to be here and to have the opportunity to share this event with a couple of my kids, with many old and dear friends, and to know that my old club is going to showcase the best women golfers in the world.

Nancy O’Connell, who used to do the Fairway Notebook for The Pilot, is in the middle of a two-year Peace Corps mission in Suriname. She has returned to her former home to cover the U.S. Women’s Open. She will return to Suriname to complete her mission shortly after the tournament




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Story Source: Southern Pines Pilot

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Suriname; Golf; Sports

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