The club will run a first-class outing, at a reasonable
rate . . . and on a terrific golf
course.
"Chicopee has always been a great deal,'' current head
golf professional Mike O'Neill said. "With its price point, the location,
conditions. And, from the back tees, it's a helluva challenge for the best
players.''
The 50th anniversary event takes place Saturday, May 30,
with a short dedication ceremony at 8:45 a.m. The four-person scramble starts
with a 9 a.m. shotgun, with a lunch buffet to follow.
Cost for golf, cart, lunch and prizes is $50, and $30 for
the season pass holders at the municipal course on Burnett Road.
"It's going to be a great day,'' O'Neill said.
"We've invited everyone . . . past commissioners, city councilors. It's
all about Chicopee Country Club.''
Chicopee CC has long had a reputation of being a
well-conditioned, challenging golf course and very affordable.
"Since the early days, Chicopee had pretty good acclaim
because of its reasonable rates . . . and that has never changed,'' said Jim
Low, a longtime golf committee chairman who has played golf there since its
opening. "The course was built during that boom (early 1960s) and that
lent itself to competitive rates.
"And it was a home run for a public golf course.''
It all started in 1965, when city resident Bob Leitch hit
the ceremonial first shot off No. 1.
"The mayor and his group didn't show up on time and the
starter was getting nervous,'' said Leitch, now retired from a longtime career
at Channel 22. "The media was in the next foursome and he said 'Who wants
to go?' I got ticket No. 1 and (the late) Rollie Jacobs took No. 2.
"I held the course record, I think 78, until the fourth
foursome came in.''
Low and longtime Chicopee CC golfer Tom Robak said
improvements and maintenance on the club's facilities and grounds have always
been done on minimal budgets.
"So many people and businesses have volunteered to help
with anything,'' Low said. "It's a special place. I even proposed to my
wife (Linda) on the 18th tee 41 years ago.''
There have also been only six superintendents, with Mike
Bach being the most recent. Dick Lussier, Sammy Theroux, Max Mierzwa, Donald
Nunes and Ray St. Peter have also held the post.
In recent years, the city has contracted with International
Golf Maintenance, Inc. to handle its maintenance. Their efforts have helped
improve and maintain a Geoffrey Cornish design that has both its challenges and
quirks.
"He wanted to do things like extend the ninth hole,
pushing the tees back another 60 or 70 yards,'' Low said of Cornish. "And
he put three pines, which had grown pretty tall, in the middle of the fairway
on 7. Over time, there's only one left.''
The course is bordered by Chicopee Memorial State Park and
Westover Air Base, with parts of the fourth and fifth holes in Ludlow.
Chicopee's layout has undergone a few changes over the
years, most notably a shortening of the fifth and 12th holes due to safety
issues of bordering residential properties.
And the eighth green, once too severe in its slope and
undulations, was re-constructed 30 years ago.
Chicopee has hosted its share of state and regional
championships and qualifiers, and the course record is "shared'' by
amateur Steve Bys and Elmcrest CC head pro Dan Lapierre.
Bys posted a 10-under-par 62 on the "old course,'' when
the 12th hole played as a par 4, in June 1991. He made 10 birdies, lost a
stroke for an unplayable lie and carded 31s on each side.
Lapierre's 62 was a 9-under effort from the blue tees, with
a pair of 31s in April 2003.
"There have been so many great players here . . . Bys, Mike
Lempart, the Lapierres, the Wightmans, the DiRicos, the Grochmals, the
O'Neills,'' Low said.
O'Neill is one of only six head professionals at the course,
the first being his uncle Roy O'Neill. Others to follow were Ed Rubis, Paul
Ryiz, Mark Jamrog and Tom DiRico. "And you go to any clubhouse, the name Ed Rubis is on a
plaque somewhere,'' Mike O'Neill said.
League play has helped the club thrive, a loyalty that Mike
O'Neill said is the club's "bread and butter'' along with its outings.
Uniroyal, Tigers A.C. and Chicopee Elks are among longtime leagues at the
course.
And with most any businesses, location has played a big role
in the club's success.
"Our location is super,'' O'Neill said. "We're
right off the Mass. Turnpike (Exit 6), 30 to 40 minutes from Worcester and 20
to 30 minutes from Hartford and Connecticut.''
DiRico has the honor of being the only golfer to make a
"2'' at the par-5 seventh hole, a feat he accomplished in 2005.The par-4 ninth hole is driveable for longer hitters and has yielded holes-in-one to Chicopee residents Adam Demarsh, Jeff Cyboron and John Glynn of Holbrook.
http://www.masslive.com/golf/index.ssf/2015/05/chicopee_country_club_to_celebrate_50th_anniversary_on_may_30.html
