The Orchards by Donald J. Ross, Summer 2009

[Ronald Montesano]

http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f140/buffalogolfer/The%20Orchards/?action=view&current=fe98089e.pbw&evt=user_media_share

Here is a slideshow from a course that absolutely took my breath away.  I had it going scorewise until I made two mistakes on 16 and 17, turning a 72 into a 79.

[Dan Herrmann]

Thanks for the pics - Definitely a course I'd love to see in person someday.

I thought the US Women's Open the held there was one of the best (don't remember the results, but I sure remember The Orchards!)

[Ronald Montesano]

It sure was, Dan, back in aught-four...Annika seemed to have it going, with the fiery Rosales an apparent fresh breath on the scene.  Then, in rode Meg Mallon to a two-stroke victory.  A USGA championship of such proportions should simply not be able to be held in a small New England town (or a small town anywhere) yet it was, and to such acclaim.  Perhaps the present-day intelligentsia of the LPGA will recall this day and strive to resuscitate Corning and other small-town tour venues.  The USGA made it work; why not the LPGA?

BTW, a tour of the college courses of the northeast is one of the great month-long junkets on anyone's bucket list.  Williams, Yale, Mount Holyoke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate and the list goes on.